Brit Milah
From the English Wikipedia: The Brit Milah is the first part of the Jewish ritual circumcision procedure. It is supposedly required by the Abrahamic covenant, which is found in Genesis 17, however this chapter has been questioned and debunked by a Jewish scholar.[1]
The brit milah (Hebrew: בְּרִית מִילָה; Ashkenazi pronunciation: bʁis ˈmilə, "covenant of circumcision"; Yiddish pronunciation: bris (bʀɪs)) is a Jewish religious male circumcision ceremony performed by a mohel on the eighth day of a male infant's life, as required by the Abrahamic covenant and the Halacha. The brit milah is followed by a celebratory meal.
A boy born to a Jewish mother is a Jew without regard to his circumcision status.
The Christian elders, meeting at the Council at Jerusalem in about 49 A.D. rejected Brit Milah as a Christian practice, however it remains a Jewish practice.
Contents
Description
James Peron reported:
The original Biblical circumcision of Abraham's time was a relatively minor ritual circumcision procedure in which only the redundant end of the foreskin extending beyond the tip of the glans was removed. This was called "Milah". It is from this term that the Jewish Religious Covenant circumcision ritual Bris Milah or Brith Milah got its name.[2]
Brit Milah is performed by a mohel.
Risks
Medical science has identified several risks associated with Brit Milah. Brit Milah is a surgical operation and, like all surgical operations, has the risks of infection, bleeding, and surgical misadventure, up to and including loss of the penis and death.
Professor L. Emmett Holt (1913) reported 41 cases of tuberculosis in ritually circumcised boys who had been infected by tubercular mohels, of whom 16 had died at the time of writing.[3]
More recently, cases of infection of baby boys with herpes simplex have been reported. One death and brain damage in another has occurred.[4]
Brit Milah is a cause of urinary tract infection (UTI).[5][6][7][8] The infection appears within two weeks after the ritual operation.[9]
Two cases of penis amputation by mohel Hershel Goldman have been reported in Australia.[10]
Social developments
Jewish families increasingly are questioning the practice of male circumcision. The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reported that many Jewish families are rejecting ritual circumcision.[11] In the United States, a new organization, Bruchim, seeks to make non-circumcision acceptable in synagogues.
Video
Jewish Circumcision Ritual and Jews Who Say No
See also
- Abrahamic covenant
- Brit Shalom
- Judaism
- Metzitzah b'peh
- Pain
- Penile herpes simplex virus type 1 infection (after Jewish ritual circumcision)
- Periah
- Trauma
External links
Golish, Shlomo (2022). The Parent's Comprehensive Guide to Bris Milah
, The Bris Guide. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
Chessler AJ (1997): Judaism and Male Circumcision: The Bible and its Contradictions
, in: Justifying the Unjustifiable: Rite v. Wrong. Buffalo Law Review. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
References
- ↑ Glick LB (2005):
Chapter One
, in: Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America. Edition: 1st. Oxford University Press. Pp. 15-18. ISBN 9780195176742. Retrieved 2 March 2020. - ↑
Peron JE. Circumcision: then and now. Many Blessings. 2000 (Spring); III: 41-2. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
- ↑ Holt LE. Tuberculosis acquired through ritual circumcision. JAMA. 1913; LXI(2): 99-102. Retrieved January 2022.
- ↑
Frieden, Thomas: An open letter to the Jewish Community from the New York City Health Commissioner 
, City of New York. (13 December 2005). Retrieved 9 January 2022.
- ↑ Smith RM. Recent contributions to the study of pyelitis in infancy. Am J Dis Child. 1916; XII: 235.243.
- ↑ Cohen H, et al. Postcircumcision Urinary Tract Infection. Clinical Pediatrics. 1992; : 322-324.
- ↑ Goldman M, Barr J, Bistritzer T, Aladjem M. Urinary tract infection following ritual jewish circumcision. Israel Journal of Medical Sciences. 1996; 32(11): 1098-1102.
- ↑ Prais D, Shoov-Furman R, Amir J. Is circumcision a risk factor for neonatal urinary tract infections?. Arch Dis Child. 6 October 2008; DOI.
- ↑ Toker O, Schwartz S, Segal G, Godovitch N, Schlesinger Y, Raveh D. A costly covenant: ritual circumcision and urinary tract infection . Isr Med Assoc J. May 2010; 12(5): 262-5. PMID. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ↑
Lackey, Brett (24 May 2024)."Top circumcision doctor is banned from performing the operations after amputating two little boys' penises, tribunal hears", Daily Mail. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
- ↑ Ahituv, Netta (14 June 2021)."Even in Israel, More and More Parents Choose Not to Circumcise Their Sons", Haaretz. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
Quote:The survey also found that nearly a third of the parents would prefer to forgo circumcision but nevertheless have it done for social reasons (16.6 percent), health reasons (10.4 percent) and because it is important for the grandparents (2.1 percent).
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