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PSY 215
Male Circumcision
Jews have practiced circumcision as a religious commandment for over three thousand years. It is considered a divine commandment and can be found in numerous passages of the Bible. For example, Genesis 17:11 “You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.” (New International Version.) It is designated 13 times as a Brith (covenant), between the almighty and the Jewish people. Unless there is a medical contraindication it should take place on the baby's eighth day even on the Sabbath or a holy day.
Circumcision for the Jewish culture is as important as keeping the seventh day Sabbath and eating Kosher. It is, as a practice, even older than strict Rabbinic Judaism and started, as the story goes, with Abraham long before the establishment of the Temple cult and the actual formation of the nation of Israel.
I personally do not have an opinion on whether someone who is not Jewish should or should not undergo this surgical procedure and fundamentally believe it is not really necessary for non-Jews to be circumcised. However, since I am Jewish and my father and mother before me and their fathers and mothers before them stretching back in time in an unbroken chain, week after week, month after month, year after year for the last 3,500 years I found it imperative that my sons be circumcised according to our ancient tradition.
I was astonished at the amount of positive health related benefits that are present with subjects who have undergone circumcision and in effect has changed my view about non-Jews undergoing circumcision. The fact alone that it minimizes the chance of childhood urinary tract infections is reason enough to have a male child undergo this procedure. Equally astonishing was the study that found how it reduced HIV infection in males in South Africa. The study recruited 3000 participants 50% who were circumcised at the onset of the study and the other 50% who...