Judaism and Circumcision: The Mitzvah of the Brit Milah and a Pagan's take on the whole thing

**First, let me start off by saying that, while I’m not an “intactivist” by any means, my views in this post will not align with all of yours. That’s part of the nature of sharing your opinion. :) Despite these differences, though, please be aware that I do respect yours and your reasons for them. That being said, I’m not necessarily going to hold back for the sakes of those who disagree, so if you’re pro-circumcision for any reason and don’t want to argue with me about it, this is your heads up!**

[caption id="attachment_1271" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Brit Milah, or the Covenant of Abraham/Circumcision. via wiki"][/caption]

A friend of mine, Dana, recently posted an article to her FB page entitled, “50 Reasons to Leave It Alone.” I admit that I didn’t click on most of the embedded links, but one of the points did strike me as interesting, as I had honestly never known this:

43.) If you are Jewish, you should know that there is considerable debate about the religious necessity of circumcision.

In my experience, circumcision — or the brit milah, literally “covenant of circumcision”, or the Yiddish bris — was required according to certain Biblical passages, namely Genesis 17:10-14 and Leviticus 12:3:

10 This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt Me and you. 12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner, that is not of thy seed. 13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised; and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant.

Genesis 17:10-14

3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

Leviticus 12:3

Is it just me, or does even just the word “Leviticus” make you think of circumcision? Like I’m saying “cut” in another language. It gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Honestly, the whole thing has always given me the creeps. Like I was explaining to Dana, the thought really freaks me out, and I told Matt a bit ago that I could not be in the room while it was happening. If that’s the case, why would I let my son go through it at all? If I can’t be there to support and hold and cuddle and console him, why put him through it in the first place?

I understand that it’s a mitzvah and that the procedure is done differently by a mohel — a Jewish person trained in the art of the brit milah — than by a urologist at a hospital, but I still can’t help the involuntary feeling I get when I think about someone, anyone, harming our eventual child. Yes, it’s a religious rite of passage, and yes, it’s rather common among the Jewish population. It still seems wrong, though.

Part of it may be that I am, of course, not Jewish. I don’t understand some of the mitzvot, and in some way, as I never and will likely never (consciously) practice them, I never will.

But I do find some solace knowing that there are actually Jewish individuals, couples, and families who feel the same way I do, that circumcision doesn’t really serve any real medical or, even Judaically, spiritual purpose. Like many other commandments aside from circumcision, those deemed too brutal to actually do and were at least therefore modified to accommodate a modern Jewish life, why can’t the brit milah be modified to accommodate those who wish not to do this to their child? After all, it’s been done before!

And ultimately, it kind of stings that anything would be done to or for a child in the name of religion. I left the religion of my parents because I felt it wasn’t right for me, and I sometimes regret having gone through their ceremonies and rituals when I ended up abandoning it. I wasn’t committed, and I don’t expect my child to be committed, either.

To me, all the painful stuff aside, the act of the brit milah is one done for the parents, not for the child. There are increasing numbers of Jews who are not having the procedure done (almost all of whom are associated with a more humanistic Judaism), and are leaving the choice up to the boy when he grows older. In fact, several Jewish men have gone through this.

Add the element that our children will be raised in an interfaith household, and that circumcision is a decision that is made for a child who does not yet understand religion (much less a specific one!)… yeah, one can see why I’m not comfortable with the idea. I’d much rather leave it all intact and, should our possible son grow up and believe a brit milah is right for him, support him the entire way through.

Just as I would pretty much anything else he decides. :)