Couldn’t We Just Spread the Laws of Loshan Hora Instead?
This is just weirder than hell.
The Forward reports,
According to [Emily] Blake and Shoulson, non-Jews make up between 2% and 5% of their clientele. Some, like the DeCaros, are motivated initially by practical circumstances, but others seem drawn to the mohels for spiritual reasons, if not explicitly religious ones. Both Blake and Sherman have even been approached by “Torah-observant Christians� — those dedicated to observing Old Testament commandments — seeking to have their sons circumcised on the eighth day after the birth. In all cases, families say they are drawn to the intimacy and convenience of a nonritual circumcision performed at home.
Far-right Christians were traditionally one of the most important proponents for establishing routine neonatal circumcision.
Guess which other religious group was?
But fortunately, that kind of conflation of religion and health isn’t actively being pushed by Jews.
“Manhattan pediatrician Susan Levitsky makes a point of recommending non-Jewish patients to mohels. Levitsky said she’s been passing out Sherman’s number more often these days, because concerns over hospital-bred infections are rising. “Why would you want to be around an environment with germs?� she asked.�
Hey Susan, have you considered recommending that your non-Jewish patients don’t cut their baby in the first place? Cause there is no such mitzvah for the gentiles to do so, even if you are Reform
“As a former obstetrician/gynecologist, [Emily] Blake said she saw her work as a commitment to her patients as well as to her own faith. “I feel a calling to be a mohel; I feel a calling to do God’s work on Earth,� she told the Forward. “But I feel a human calling to do a good job for anyone I’m doing a surgery for.�
Isn’t it so lovely that there are some gentiles as well as Jews who get all spiritual and ecumenical when it comes to slicing off parts of the baby’s penis?
Ahhhhhhhhhh.
2 comments
The (one) episode of Desperate Housewives that I’ve seen deals with this issue. The anal red-headed one wants her kid circumcised, and her husband vehemently disagrees. He writes a letter to every doctor in the tri-state area informing them not to circumcise his son, as it is against his wishes.
In the end she gets a rabbi to do it, claiming that she and her husband are both Jews, raising the child Jewish.
Now, I’m pretty frum, and totally expecting to circumcise my own sons, but if one parent doesn’t want to, there should be more of a dialogue, as it is permanent. And I’m not so sure that it is a great idea to have mohels perform non-ritual circumcisions, but then again, the whole thing is sort of icky and primitive.
What I find really interesting is that if a parent picks up a knife and in a wild fit of rage chops their infant child’s earlobe off, that parent can be charged with child abuse and can end up in jail. But if a parent chooses to pay someone to pick up a knife and chop off a piece of their infant son’s genitalia, it’s considered perfectly acceptable. In fact, some people even call it a “warm and loving celebration.”
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