This week's topic is close to my heart. Most of the links embedded in here are to my expansion of these subjects in my mohel website
Tazria-Metzora
by Rabbi Avi Billet
Everyone knows that the Bris Milah, the “Covenant of Circumcision” dates back to the covenant forged between God and Abraham, covering chapter 17 of Bereshit.
What is sometimes overlooked is that the commandment to circumcise is not as much based on that family tradition begun 4000 years ago, but based on a verse in our Torah portion, describing the immediate aftermath of the birth of a boy, “and on the eighth day, his foreskin shall be excised.” (Vayikra 12:3) This view, that we circumcise not as much because of Abraham, but more on account of the commandment given at Sinai, is championed by Maimoinides in his commentary to Mishnah – Hullin chapter 7 – where he writes:
“You must know that everything we are careful about or do today, we only do it because of a commandment of God [delivered] through the hand of Moshe…. And we do not circumcise because Abraham circumcised himself and the men of his household, but because God commanded us, through Moshe's hand, to circumcise…”
In this week, which included Holocaust Remembrance Day, the obsession over Jewish circumcision is easily recalled through Holocaust films such as “Europa Europa” (1990), where the circumcised status of the protagonist, Solomon Perel, who hides as a member of the Hitler youth in the film (and real-life story), is not only an obsession of the film, but circumcision in general is also used as a punch line for the Germans when one of their prisoners proves he is not Jewish through showing them he is uncircumcised.
For the Jewish people, circumcision is not only a tradition, and a mitzvah, but our oldest identification mark. While it is true that circumcision today is a widespread custom through much of the world, and was even practiced at different time periods in ancient Egypt, it is largely identified as a Jewish act, perhaps more identifiable in this sense than anything other than Passover.
The Jewish gangsters of the ‘30s and ‘40s violated just about every Jewish tenet one could imagine, but they mostly married Jewish and all circumcised their sons. Why? Probably because they were proud of being Jewish, even if they did not practice (though Samuel Levine didn’t kill on the Sabbath!). Circumcising their boys was considered a mark of identification as a Jew.
In his Guide to the Perplexed 3:49, a chapter which must be read in its entirety, Maimonides makes this point: “This commandment has not been enjoined as a complement to a deficient physical creation, but as a means for perfecting man's moral shortcomings. The bodily injury caused to that organ is exactly that which is desired; it does not interrupt any vital function, nor does it destroy the power of generation. Circumcision simply counteracts excessive lust…”
While I don’t think I need to sell circumcision to the readers of this column, there are some things worth noting about the so-called religious circumcision industry, and the methods of circumcisions employed today. As in anything, let the buyer beware, and always do your research before hiring a mohel!
Methods of circumcision: there are primarily three methods utilized by mohels today – freehand, shield, and clamp. Very few people use the freehand method, and those who do argue it is the least painful to the baby. It is also the second most dangerous as it doesn’t adequately protect the baby from an accidental amputation. Using a shield is the safer traditional method, which protects the parts we don’t want to touch, while not entering the realm of the problematic clamps. When used correctly, clamps have the chance to give the most asthetically pleasing and bloodless circumcision. While asthetics are certainly something to concern with, a bloodless bris is invalid (see halakhic objections to the clamp here), and google “botched circumcision” to see how dangerous clamps can be (possibly even more dangerous than freehand). Find out which method your mohel uses before hiring.
Metzitzah: the ancient ritual of removing blood from the circumcision spot immediately after the incision has been in the news of late because of the largely-Hassidic custom of doing this with the mouth directly. In a modern world, this method should go the way of the dodo-bird as halakhically valid metzitzah through a sterile-tube conforms with modern sensibilities and does not put the baby at risk. Not to mention that any time a 'metzitzah story' makes it to the newspapers a tremendous chillul Hashem (desecration of God's name) is perpetrated. Find out how your mohel does metzitzah before hiring!
Sterility: Some mohels autoclave their instruments. Some dip them in alcohol before circumcising. Inquire – he’s your baby! Some mohels wear gloves when they circumcise. Some refuse to. If you wouldn’t let a dentist clean your teeth (assuming no blood!) without wearing gloves, how can you consider allowing a mohel to circumcise your baby, causing a significant open wound, without his wearing sterile gloves?
Marking the foreskin with a surgical pen: Experienced surgeons mark their incision spot before operating, to guide their work and to remove one element of human error. While all surgeries and circumcisions are done by humans, capable of human fallibility and imperfection, marking is still a better method than estimating the extent of the foreskin. The benefit to babies with less foreskin or smaller surface area to work with cannot be overstated, and the appeal of a more precise and exact circumcision should be obvious to all. Inquire how your mohel assures or ascertains the proper amount of foreskin removal!
All of these suggestions are meant to help glorify this mitzvah and make its specific fulfillment more appealing and more honorable. Better than negative press about bris milah is no press about bris milah, when we simply fulfill our mitzvah without fanfare and we are blessed to have circumcisions that go without incident, and babies healing properly and families moving on with their Jewish lives, when the first mitzvah in the life of a baby is worry-free and filled with joy.
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