Mister.Barbecue
July 1st, 2012, 05:02
I read a few pages of this book on Google Books. It's really fascinating.
It describes increasing pressure by the German society on religious customs like Kosher slaughter and circumcision, partly influenced by what is described as strong anti-semitism in Germany. What resulted were some "compromises" where laws were made, such as requiring a bris to have a medical doctor present, in addition to a mohel. This and other regulations "medicalized" the procedure, and descriptions of it removed as far as possible any mention of religious meaning. Meanwhile, claims started being made in the medical literature for medical benefits; some debate ensued in the medical community, but many German doctors went along with it. Many of them were Jewish.
Amazon link (http://www.amazon.com/Medicine-German-Jews-John-Efron/dp/0300083777) to "Medicine & the German Jews"
or you can read it on Google Books (http://books.google.ca/books?id=3_0xdaMXrc0C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false) (circumcision is mentioned between pages 222 and 233; maybe other places, too)
It's interesting that a similar thing is happening today. In the wake of Germany's ruling, several prominent Jewish writers have disavowed any right to circumcise for religious reasons--but "enlightened" Jews changed to justifying it strictly on medical grounds.
Jon Kay's National Post article (http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/06/27/jonathan-kay-muslims-and-jews-finally-come-together-to-champion-circumcision/) calls it "mutilation" and says it's unjustifiable. He later semi-clarified what he meant, saying ~"medical circumcision is still OK". He seemed to say, because we don't accept Muslim justifications for burqas, forced marriages and honor killings, Jews are hypocritical to invoke religious rights. He pointed out that Jewish groups were "at the forefront of the campaign to highlight the prevalence of such practices in unassimilated Muslim communities".
In Cut: the Film (http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Slicing-Through-Myths-Circumcision/dp/B002J0TP0K/ref=sr_1_1_vod_0_lgo?ie=UTF8&qid=1340320279&sr=8-1), at one point a (female) Jewish mohel says, "if new evidence was found showing there was no medical benefit, we would definitely stop doing it". I was incredulous.
Makes you wonder what the purpose of Operation Abraham is. Could Jews like Daniel Halperin and Aaron J. Fink be self-conscious enough to try to promote circumcision as a medical procedure just to keep the tradition going?
It describes increasing pressure by the German society on religious customs like Kosher slaughter and circumcision, partly influenced by what is described as strong anti-semitism in Germany. What resulted were some "compromises" where laws were made, such as requiring a bris to have a medical doctor present, in addition to a mohel. This and other regulations "medicalized" the procedure, and descriptions of it removed as far as possible any mention of religious meaning. Meanwhile, claims started being made in the medical literature for medical benefits; some debate ensued in the medical community, but many German doctors went along with it. Many of them were Jewish.
Amazon link (http://www.amazon.com/Medicine-German-Jews-John-Efron/dp/0300083777) to "Medicine & the German Jews"
or you can read it on Google Books (http://books.google.ca/books?id=3_0xdaMXrc0C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false) (circumcision is mentioned between pages 222 and 233; maybe other places, too)
It's interesting that a similar thing is happening today. In the wake of Germany's ruling, several prominent Jewish writers have disavowed any right to circumcise for religious reasons--but "enlightened" Jews changed to justifying it strictly on medical grounds.
Jon Kay's National Post article (http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/06/27/jonathan-kay-muslims-and-jews-finally-come-together-to-champion-circumcision/) calls it "mutilation" and says it's unjustifiable. He later semi-clarified what he meant, saying ~"medical circumcision is still OK". He seemed to say, because we don't accept Muslim justifications for burqas, forced marriages and honor killings, Jews are hypocritical to invoke religious rights. He pointed out that Jewish groups were "at the forefront of the campaign to highlight the prevalence of such practices in unassimilated Muslim communities".
In Cut: the Film (http://www.amazon.com/Cut-Slicing-Through-Myths-Circumcision/dp/B002J0TP0K/ref=sr_1_1_vod_0_lgo?ie=UTF8&qid=1340320279&sr=8-1), at one point a (female) Jewish mohel says, "if new evidence was found showing there was no medical benefit, we would definitely stop doing it". I was incredulous.
Makes you wonder what the purpose of Operation Abraham is. Could Jews like Daniel Halperin and Aaron J. Fink be self-conscious enough to try to promote circumcision as a medical procedure just to keep the tradition going?