On B’rit Milah: Conscience and Covenant 
by Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler

Recently, I read the d'var Torah written by Shelley Lindauer, former Executive Director of the WRJ forParashat Lech L'Cha, dated October 15, 2010. Ms. Lindauer began her d'var with her feelings of ambivalence about the mitzvah of b’rit milah, circumcising Jewish boys on their eighth day of life, and her own "crisis of conscience" about having been assigned this portion about which to reflect publicly on the Women of Reform Judaism e-mail list.

As a Reform rabbi, I acknowledge (and celebrate!) the fact that our tradition invites a multiplicity of readings of, responses to, and interpretations of the Torah and its commandments. As a woman, as a liberal American in the 21st Century, and as one deeply sensitive to human suffering in all its forms, I completely understand her hesitation as she approaches the subject of circumcision.

I discussed the d’var Torah with my mother-in-law, Dr. Rachel Adler, who is also the Associate Professor of Modern Jewish Thought and Judaism and Gender at the School of Religion, University of Southern California and the Hebrew Union College Rabbinical School at the Los Angeles campus. She was one of the first theologians to integrate feminist perspectives and concerns into Jewish texts and the renewal of Jewish law and ethics. She told me that when her son was circumcised, she sat in the other room and wept. But then she said, “That doesn’t mean I didn’t want him to be circumcised. It was just hard for me.” She urged me to share with you her strong belief that circumcising Jewish boys on their eighth day of life is a powerful spiritual mark of Jewish identity.

We live in a time and place rife with shifting communal norms, wholesale rejection of many ancient traditions, and rampant disconnection and dislocation from Jewish history. Sometimes it’s difficult for us to integrate our personal fears with our deeply held beliefs.

Many rabbis and congregational members know that the "anti-circ" movement in the United States today is strong and vocal. Anti-circumcision advocates flood the media with mistruths and omissions, using words like "mutilation" to appeal to our collective consciences. I embrace Ms. Lindauer's inherent right to hold disparate beliefs from mine, to write down and share her personal reflections about b’rit milah with her constituents, and even to invite the recipients of her d'var Torah to "... share this email with their sisterhoods." However, being the Director of the Berit Mila Program of Reform Judaism and Executive Director of the National Organization of American Mohalim, I feel obligated to discuss present thinking in the medical community:

• "Reduced sensitivity and sexual pleasure" in circumcised men has its origin in folklore and perhaps even in the long history of anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism. It is neither a proven nor accepted medical or scientific truth. In fact, studies have disputed the idea that circumcision lessens sensation (showing either no change in sensation, or, in some cases, increased sensation as a result of having been circumcised). According to a study of 1410 men ages 18-59 cited in the book, On Circumcision by Dr. Ed Schoen, MD, “circumcised men engage in more elaborate sexual practices and uncircumcised men are more likely to experience sexual dysfunction especially later in life” (65).
• It is true that the "percentage of boys circumcised in the United States dropped from 90% to ABOUT 65% in the past forty years." This is due to the changing population of immigrants from South and Central America and Asia where circumcision is not typically practiced. Another reason that the rate of circumcision has dropped is a financial one: many insurance companies in a number of states now deny coverage of the procedure.
• The revised view of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is that circumcision has potential health benefits. Uncircumcised newborn boys have a higher rate of urinary tract infections than girls. Uncircumcised males are much more likely to acquire sexually transmitted diseases during sexually active years. Tens of thousands of adult African men are being circumcised monthly because circumcision has been shown to significantly reduce the rapid spread of HIV and AIDS. Uncircumcised diabetics and men in nursing homes have a significant amount of foreskin problems. Cancer of the penis is almost non-existent among males circumcised as newborns.
• The claim that "complications may include infection, hemorrhage, and surgical damage" is an exaggeration of potential outcomes of circumcision. In fact, studies show that circumcisions have a complication rate of less than 0.5% and most are readily and easily corrected.

I feel that whenever possible it is important to present a multi-faceted and balanced picture of b’rit milah, especially since it is the first and, in many ways, most significant marker of Jewish identity and has been so for thousands of years. Many of us have heard the adage, “two Jews, three opinions” multiple times, but the tongue-in-cheek truism reflects the fact that Judaism has always made space for disparate voices to be heard, acknowledged, and responded to.

I hope that this, along with the d’var Torah initially published, will open conversations among Jews from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives on this topic.

Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler works at Aitz Hayim Center for Jewish Living in Glencoe, Illinois. She also serves as the Director of the Berit Mila Program of Reform Judaism and the Executive Director of the National Organization of American Mohalim. She received master’s degrees from the University of Judaism and from Harvard Graduate School of Education and was ordained as a rabbi by Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion in 2006. She is co-editor of the anthology, Joining the Sisterhood: Young Jewish Women Write Their Lives, which was published by the State University of New York Press in 2003.