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'''Aposthia''' is a term that refers to the very rare condition of being born without a [[foreskin]].

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, E. S. Talbot claimed in ''Medicine'' that aposthia among Jews was evidence for the now-discredited Lamarckian theory of evolution.<ref>E. S. {{REFjournal |last=Talbot, " |init=ES |title=Inheritance of circumcision effects", '' |journal=Medicine'' |date=1898.}}</ref> It is likely that the cases he described were actually [[hypospadias]], a condition in which the [[urinary meatus ]] is on the underside of the penis.

The Midrash of ''Ki-Tetze'' [כי תצא] notes that Moses was born aposthic. Other sources tell us that Jacob, his son Gad and King David were also born aposthic. Jewish law requires that males born without a [[foreskin ]] or who lost their foreskin through means other than a formal [[circumcision]] ceremony (''[[Jewish circumcision|brit milah]]'' ברית מילה) to have a drop of blood (''hatafat-dam'', הטפת דם) let from the [[penis]] at the point where the foreskin would have been (or was) attached. The Talmud (Shabbat 135A) records a discussion of whether the importance of this letting of blood supersedes Shabbat, on which only a boy who was born the previous Shabbat can be [[circumcised]]. If a regular [[Brit Milah| circumcision ]] is delayed, there is no disagreement that this may not be performed on Shabbat. However, in the case of aposthia, there are two schools of thought.

:''R. Elazar Hakappar said that the school of Shamai and Hillel do not differ as to a boy that is born without a [[foreskin]]. Both agree that the blood of the covenant must be drawn from the [[glans]]. The school of Shamai, however, contends that this may be done on the Sabbath, while the other holds that the Sabbath must not be desecrated on that account.''

Some traditions in [[Islam ]] say Muhammed was born without a [[foreskin]].<ref name="MeriBacharach">{{REFbook

|accessdate=2 August 2011-08-02

* [http://www.mercksource.com/pp/us/cns/cns_hl_dorlands.jspzQzpgzEzzSzppdocszSzuszSzcommonzSzdorlandszSzdorlandzSzdmd_a_54zPzhtm Aposthia] in [[https://www.dorlandsonline.com/dorland/home Dorland's Medical Dictionary]]

* {{REFjournal |last=Amin-Ud-Din |init=M, |last2=Salam |init2=A, |last3=Rafiq |init3=MA, |last4=Khaliq |init4=I, |last5=Ansar |init5=M, |last6=Ahmad |init6=W. [ |url=http://www.emro.who.int/Publications/emhj/1302/article7.htm |title=Aposthia: a birth defect or normal quantitative recessive human genetic trait?] '' |journal=East Mediterr Health J.'' 2007 |note=March-April; 2007 |date=2007-03 |volume=13( |issue=2): |pages=280-6.286}}

[[Category:AbnormalitiesAbnormality]][[Category:Islam]][[Category:Judaism]]