# The sign according to the Jew



## Scott Bushey (Jul 3, 2004)

Brit Milah: Circumcision 
Of all of the commandments in Judaism, the brit milah (literally, Covenant of Circumcision) is probably the one most universally observed. It is commonly referred to as a bris (covenant, using the Ashkenazic pronunciation). Even the most secular of Jews, who observe no other part of Judaism, almost always observe these laws. Of course, until quite recently, the majority of males in the United States were routinely circumcised, so this doesn't seem very surprising. But keep in mind that there is more to the ritual of the brit milah than merely the process of physically removing the foreskin, and many otherwise non-observant Jews observe the entire ritual. 

The commandment to circumcise is given at Gen. 17:10-14 and Lev. 12:3. The covenant was originally made with Abraham. It is the first commandment specific to the Jews. 

Circumcision is performed only on males. Although some cultures have a practice of removing all or part of the woman's clitoris, often erroneously referred to as &quot;female circumcision,&quot; that ritual has never been a part of Judaism. 

Like so many Jewish commandments, the brit milah is commonly perceived to be a hygienic measure; however the biblical text states the reason for this commandment quite clearly: circumcision is an outward physical sign of the eternal covenant between G-d and the Jewish people. It is also a sign that the Jewish people will be perpetuated through the circumcised man. The health benefits of this practice are merely incidental. It is worth noting, however, that circumcised males have a lower risk of certain cancers, and the sexual partners of circumcised males also have a lower risk of certain cancers. 

The commandment is binding upon both the father of the child and the child himself. If a father does not have his son circumcised, the son is obligated to have himself circumcised as soon as he becomes an adult. A person who is uncircumcised suffers the penalty of kareit, spiritual excision; in other words, regardless of how good a Jew he is in all other ways, a man has no place in the World to Come if he is uncircumcised. 

Circumcision is performed on the eighth day of the child's life, during the day. The day the child is born counts as the first day, thus if the child is born on a Wednesday, he is circumcised on the following Wednesday. Keep in mind that Jewish days begin at sunset, so if the child is born on a Wednesday evening, he is circumcised the following Thursday. Circumcisions are performed on Shabbat, even though they involve the drawing of blood which is ordinarily forbidden on shabbat. The Bible does not specify a reason for the choice of the eighth day; however, modern medicine has revealed that an infant's blood clotting mechanism stabilizes on the eighth day after birth. As with almost any commandment, circumcision can be postponed for health reasons. Jewish law provides that where the child's health is at issue, circumcision must wait until seven days after a doctor declares the child healthy enough to undergo the procedure. 

Circumcision involves surgically removing the foreskin of the penis. The circumcision is performed by a mohel (lit. circumciser; rhymes with oil), a pious, observant Jew educated in the relevant Jewish law and in surgical techniques. Circumcision performed by a regular physician does not qualify as a valid brit milah, regardless of whether a rabbi says a blessing over it, because the removal of the foreskin is itself a religious ritual that must be performed by someone religiously qualified. 

If the child is born without a foreskin (it happens occasionally), or if the child was previously circumcised without the appropriate religious intent or in a manner that rendered the circumcision religiously invalid, a symbolic circumcision may be performed by taking a pinprick of blood from the tip of the penis. This is referred to as hatafat dam brit. 

While the circumcision is performed, the child is held by a person called a sandek. In English, this is often referred to as a godfather. It is an honor to be a sandek for a bris. The sandek is usually a grandparent or the family rabbi. Traditionally, a chair (often an ornate one) is set aside for Elijah, who is said to preside over all circumcisions. Various blessings are recited, including one over wine, and a drop of wine is placed in the child's mouth. The child is then given a formal Hebrew name. 

It is not necessary to have a minyan for a bris, but it is desirable if feasible. 

As with most Jewish life events, the ritual is followed by refreshments or a festive meal. 

The Circumcision Controversy 
In recent times, circumcision has become controversial. Some have hypothesized that infant circumcision has harmful psychological effects and may cause sexual dysfunction. Many websites have sprung up promoting this point of view, and even in Israel there are those who want to outlaw circumcision as child abuse. 

To the best of my knowledge, there is no concrete, scientific evidence that circumcision has any harmful effect. The rate of complications from circumcision is one of the lowest of all surgical procedures, and the most common complication is simply excessive bleeding. At most, the latest scientific evidence indicates that the health benefits of circumcision are not as great as previously assumed, thus there is no reason to perform routine circumcisions for the purposes of hygiene. However, as stated above, Jewish circumcision is not performed for the purpose of hygiene. 

From the traditional Jewish point of view, there is no controversy. The ritual of circumcision was commanded by our Creator, and He certainly knows what is and is not good for us. The G-d who commanded us not to harm ourselves certainly would not command us to do something harmful to ourselves, and even if He did, the observant Jew would nonetheless heed His wishes.

Link:
http://www.jewfaq.org/birth.htm#Brit

[Edited on 7-3-2004 by Scott Bushey]


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## Scott Bushey (Jul 3, 2004)

More...............

WHY BRIS? 
From: Far Rockaway, New York - [email protected] - 6/16/2000 


(SEE THE RECENT NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE) 

Recently, I was online at a site for expectant mothers when I happened upon a bulletin entitled &quot;To circumcise or not.&quot; One Jewish woman typed in a message asking for opinions on whether or not she should give a Bris to her unborn baby. She had many women respond to her (quite strongly, I may add) that it is a cruel, barbaric procedure that can traumatize the baby. People went so far as to cite medical studies proving that a Bris is traumatic for a child, decreases future tolerance to pain, increases the risk of infection, has long term psychological affects, etc. 

I was horrified that people were trying to dissuade a Jewish mother from giving her son a Bris, so I posted my opinion on the bulletin board. I explained to the woman that before she makes any decision she should find out more about the meaning and importance of a Bris. I told her jokingly that my husband, father, and brother have all been circumcised and none of them ever regretted the decision. 

My questions are: Did I deal with this issue in the correct way? How can one refute these medical studies? And how can one prove that a Bris is not barbaric? 

THE AISH RABBI REPLIES: 

The truth is, there is no &quot;logical&quot; argument for such an elective procedure. 

Yet circumcision has been practiced on Jewish males for close to 4,000 years, ever since Abraham was so commanded by God. Why? 

Let's tackle the issues: 

It is a foundation of Judaism that we are to control our animal desires and direct them into spiritual pursuits. That's why the Bris is done on the organ where too many people unfortunately express &quot;barbaric&quot; behavior. If we bring holiness into our life there, then all other areas will follow. 

Another aspect of circumcision is that it is integral to Jewish identity. This point was made quite powerfully by a movie called &quot;Europa Europa,&quot; It is the true story about a young Jewish boy trying to escape detection by the Nazis. The boy looks Aryan and speaks German fluently, so he poses as a non-Jew and is eventually recruited into the elite training program for the next generation of SS officers. 

This boy was on his way to a fully non-Jewish life, except for one thing: His circumcision. He couldn't hide it. And that is what kept him Jewish throughout the entire ordeal. 

The man survived the war, and made a new life for himself in Israel. Instead, he may have ended up becoming a Nazi officer. It all depended on the Bris. 

* * * 

It is a principle of Jewish life that we do not perform mitzvot based on the &quot;practical benefit.&quot; At the same time, the mitzvot frequently have positive observable effects in our everyday life. 

Regarding the medical issues, Rabbi Yonason Binyomin Goldberger writes in &quot;Sanctity and Science&quot;: 

As an operation, circumcision has an extremely small complication rate. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine (1990) reported a complication rate of 0.19 percent when circumcision is performed by a physician. When performed by a trained mohel, the rate falls to 0.13 percent or about 1 in 1000. When a complication occurs, it is usually excessive bleeding, which is easily correctable. No other surgical procedure can boast such figures for complication-free operations. 

One reason why there are so few complications involving bleeding may be that, according to recent studies, the major clotting agents, prothrombin and vitamin K, do not reach peak levels in the blood until the eighth day of life. Prothrombin levels are normal at birth, drop to very low levels in the next few days, and return to normal at the end of the first week. One study showed that by the eighth day prothrombin levels reach 110 percent of normal. In the words of Dr. Armand J. Quick, author of several works on the control of bleeding, &quot;It hardly seems accidental that the rite of circumcision was postponed until the eighth day by the Mosaic law.&quot; 

Furthermore, circumcision has been known to offer virtually complete protection from penile cancer. According to a recent review article in the New England Journal of Medicine, none of the over 1,600 persons studied with this cancer had been circumcised in infancy. In the words of Cochen and McCurdy, the incidence of penile cancer in the U.S. is &quot;essentially zero&quot; among circumcised men. 

Several studies reported that circumcised boys were between 10-to-39 times less likely to develop urinary tract infections during infancy than uncircumcised boys. In addition, circumcision protects against bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections and a variety of other conditions related to hygiene. The extremely low rate of cervical cancer in Jewish women (nine-to-22 times less than among non-Jewish women) is thought to be related to the practice of circumcision. 

As a result of studies like these, a number of prestigious medical organizations have recognized the benefits of circumcision, and the California Medical Association has endorsed circumcision as an &quot;effective public health measure.&quot; 

* * * 

Back to the issue of Jewish identity, I want to share the following from &quot;Hassidic Tales of the Holocaust&quot; by Yaffa Eliach. 

One of the forced laborers in the camps relates that one day he heard frightening cries of anguish the likes of which he had never heard before. Later he learned that on that very day a selection had been made -- of infants to be sent to the ovens. We continued working, tears rolling down our faces, and suddenly I hear the voice of a Jewish woman: &quot;Give me a knife.&quot; 

I thought she wanted to take her own life. I said to her, &quot;Why are you hurrying so quickly to the world of truth...&quot; All of a sudden the German soldier called out, &quot;Dog, what did you say to the woman?&quot; 

&quot;She requested a pocketknife and I explained to her that it was prohibited to commit suicide.&quot; 

The woman looked at the German with inflamed eyes, and stared spellbound at his coat pocket where she saw the shape of his pocketknife. &quot;Give it to me,&quot; she requested. She bent down and picked up a package of old rags. Hidden among them, on a pillow as white as snow, lay a tender infant. The woman took the pocketknife, pronounced the blessing -- and circumcised the child. &quot;Master of the Universe,&quot; she cried, &quot;You gave me a healthy child, I return him to You a worthy Jew.&quot; 

Bris is the sign of the covenant. So a boy who is not circumcised has basically lost his spiritual attachment to the Jewish people.


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## Ianterrell (Jul 3, 2004)

Interesting! Thanks for providing this Scott. I was particularly intrigued by the effectiveness of the circumcision as a sign of distinction for the Jew.


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