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Aposthia
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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>{{REFjournal
|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.
== Aposthia in Judaism ==
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.''
== Aposthia in Islam ==
Some traditions in [[Islam ]] say Muhammed was born without a [[foreskin]].<ref name="MeriBacharach">{{REFbook
|last=Meri
|first=Josef W.
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