Lion and massive bleeding.
Occasionally, an overzealous circum-
ciser has been known to sever the
head of the penis, or glans, while
removing the foreskin.
Dr. Ricardo Gonzalez, chief of
pediatric urology at Detroit Medical
Center's Children's Hospital of
Michigan and a professor of urology
Wayne State University School of
Medicine, said that routine circumci-
sion for the masses may-not be worth
the risks.
"Let's assume that [the potential
health benefits] are true. Is that a
sufficient reason to do a circumci-
sion?" he asked. "Circumcision costs
millions of dollars in health costs
each year. It has never been proven
at the risks and costs of doing such
a surgical procedure are worth the
benefit."
In fact, he said, most Americans
who request circumcision for their
sons do so for purely cosmetic rea-
sons. Gonzalez frequently sees par-
ents of uncircumcised toddlers in his
office who want the procedure done
when it is not medically indicated.
"Now parents want their children
to look like their fathers," Gonzalez
said. "It is a cosmetic thing right
now.
Both the American Academy of
Pediatrics and the-American College
of Obstetrics and Gynecology agree.
A 1983 jointly issued recommenda-
tion based on earlier task force find-
\ ings stated, "There is no absolute
medical indication for routine cir-
cumcision of the newborn.
The findings have become part of
the basis of the anti-circumcision
movement. Taking root in the 1970s
around the same time that natural
childbirth was gaining adherents, the
movement's aim is to reduce the rates
of circumcision in America to those
-cound in Asian, Hispanic and
"
_
•
[rather] than postpone the opportu-
nity," he said.
Unlike some Jewish movements
that allow female rnohelim, only men
can perform an Orthodox brit milah
and only after they have been trained
in Jewish law and have interned
under a more experienced mohel.
And the mohel must be
Orthodox.
In the case of a child born of a
Jewish mother and a non-Jewish
father, the child is considered Jewish
and the mother is required to arrange
growth. Adherents have formed a
movement, NORM (National
Organization for Restoring Men).
The Michigan chapter is also headed
by Cohen.
"There are men like me who are
restoring to reclaim their right, to
reclaim what was taken from them,"
Cohen said. "It is saying that I did
not consent."
Gonzalez explained, however, that
the foreskin is a flap of skin with
Photo courtesy of Cheryl Ettinger
nerve endings that shields the head
of the penis. When removed, the
nerve endings cannot
grow back, even if the
skin is stretched. He
also feels the theory of
desensitization is
Left:
.
remote. "How can they
Cheryl Ettinger,
know
the difference?"
pictured with her
he
asked.
"It seems like
first son, mustered
they
are
trying
to solve
a lot of courage for
a
problem
of
sexual
dys-
her second son's
function."
circumcision.
While foreskin
regrowth may have a
l u restorative effect on
Right•
s some, anti-circumcision
Dr. Ronald Goldman
activists are trying to
is a psychologist
reduce the rate of cir-
who researches
r i curricision through edu-
the effects of
§ cation. In their litera-
circumcision.
ture, they dispel med-
ical reasons for circum-
cision and pepper the
men in the move-
pages with gruesome
ment found that
anatomical depictions
many reported a
of the procedure.
depression and mis-
But the literature
trust of authority
takes on an entirely dif-
that could be
ferent tone when addressing the
linked directly to the circumcision.
Jewish population. It states, for
Others said they had suffered from
example, that a child born of a
diminished sexual pleasure and a
feeling of not being whole as a result. Jewish mother who is not circum-
cised is still a Jew.
Some have tried to "regrow" their
"The movement is seen as anti-
foreskin, a procedure whereby the
Semitic, so we need to address that
existing penile skin is stretched and
--- it isn't anti-Semitic," Cohen said.
held in place to facilitate new skin
European countries, where circumci-
sion is prevalent only among reli-
gious groups.
The men's movement in the late
1980s picked up the cause, claiming
that the procedure is akin to female
genital mutilation practices in Africa.
The leaders of the movement
charged that as a result of circumci-
sion, they had suffered irreparable
emotional damage that followed
them through their lives. Surveys of
o
for the brit milah. In the opposite
case, where the mother is not Jewish,
a formal conversion is required before
a proper beit din or rabbinical court.
The brit milah is held independent
of the eighth day, he said.
Conservative:
Rabbi Joel Roth, former Detroiter
and professor at the Jewish
Theological Seminary in New York,
said the requirements of circumci-
sion in the Conservative movement
are identical to those in Orthodoxy,
except that the mohel can be
female.
"We see no valid legal reason why
women cannot serve as mohelim," he
Another difference is that the
Conservative movement, through
JTS, is offering a formal training pro-
gram to Jewish physicians who live in
areas that may be underserved by
mohelirn. The Brit Kodesh program,
in its seventh year, focuses on Jewish
law, figuring that the physicians who
take the program already know how
"We are careful not to criticize
Judaism, but to criticize the specific
practice of cutting flesh on an
unconsenting minor."
Cohen, the son of a Conservative
rabbi; began to question his own cir-
cumcision after becoming active in
the movement in the early 1990s.
The more information he read about
circumcision, the angrier he became
at his parents for having submitted
him to the procedure.
"They did it on belief, but they
did it to someone else: me," he said.
"A child did not give consent."
He made it his mission to reduce
the number of circumcisions in the
area, as well as in the Jewish popula-
tion, by providing information
through the local NOCIRC chapter,
which he began in 1992.
Cohen, the unpaid director of the
organization, argues that the practice
among Jews continues today in part
because of aesthetics: Jewish men do
not want their sons to look different.
He points out that many Jews are
not ritually observant of kashrut or
Shabbat but circumcise their sons.
And many of those who do cite med-
ical reasons rather than religious
faith.
"That should be disturbing to the
rabbis who are promoting the prac-
tice," Cohen said.
Others, he said, go ahead with the
bris because they feel a need for
Jewish continuity, as if the mark of
the covenant will keep the child
Jewish. But Cohen points out that
the intermarriage rate in the past few
years has been holding at about 50
percent, making circumcision a less
reliable means of continuity.
"The majority of the non-Jewish
population in the country circumcis-
es, so how can the Jewish population
BREAKING
on page 72
to perform a circumcision, Roth said.
However, Roth said all mohelim
should have proper training
'Anyone who did circumcision
without proper training is an insur-
ance nightmare ," he said
.
Reconstructionist:
Rabbi Mordecai Leibling, execumre
director of the Jewish
Reconstructionist Federation in
Wyncote, Penn., said that the
Reconstructionist movement recog
nizes the importance of brit milah but
3/20
1998
69