At what age is circumcision typically performed in the Jewish tradition?
Circumcision
Circumcision is very important to most branches of Judaism, with over 90% of male adherents having the procedure performed as a religious obligation. The basis for its observance is found in the Torah of the Hebrew Bible, in Genesis chapter 17, in which a covenant of circumcision is made with Abraham and his descendants. Jewish circumcision is part of the "brit milah" ritual, to be performed by a specialist ritual circumciser, a "mohel", on the eighth day of a newborn son's life, with certain exceptions for poor health. Jewish law requires that the circumcision leaves the glans bare when the penis is flaccid. Converts to Conservative and Orthodox Judaism must also be circumcised; those who are already circumcised undergo a symbolic circumcision ritual. Circumcision is not required by Judaism for one to be considered Jewish, but some adherents foresee serious negative spiritual consequences if it is neglected.
Kuria people
Traditionally, circumcision was done at the age around 13 years, but this differed significantly from one clan to another. The Abairege had most of their men circumcised at 15–18 years and above. However, this has changed to the onset of puberty. To this date, various organisations are working to ensure the tradition of female genital mutilation is aborted. Also, due to increased spread of HIV/AIDS organisations advocate for care during circumcision rituals. Many families are opting to take their children to hospitals and the traditional circumcision experts have now opted to use individual razors for each person during circumcision. After the cut, the boys or girls that have undergone the practice are normally led back home by fellow villagers amidst singing and dancing and money is pinned onto their "shukas". The "shukas" are one-piece coloured sheets that the circumcised tie around themselves so as to let the blood drip freely to the ground. Once circumcision has taken place, according to tradition, the boy or girl is deemed ready for marriage.
Circumcision controversies
Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman culture found circumcision to be cruel and repulsive. In the Roman Empire, circumcision was regarded as a barbaric and disgusting custom. The consul Titus Flavius Clemens was condemned to death by the Roman Senate in 95 CE for, according to the Talmud, circumcising himself and converting to Judaism. The emperor Hadrian (117-138) forbade circumcision. Overall, the rite of circumcision was especially execrable in Classical civilization, also because it was the custom to spend an hour a day or so exercising nude in the "gymnasium" and in Roman baths, therefore Jewish men did not want to be seen in public deprived of their foreskins.
Javanese culture
For a boy, khitan, or circumcision, is an important transition toward adulthood. The ritual usually held when the boy is 6 to 12 years old. Following the circumcision it is customary to sacrifice a goat, hold a slametan and wayang kulit (shadow puppet) performance. Circumcision is one factor that differentiate the Javanese with related Balinese and Tenggerese, which still predominantly Hindu.
History of male circumcision
Circumcision has ancient roots among several ethnic groups in sub-equatorial Africa, and is still performed on adolescent boys to symbolize their transition to warrior status or adulthood. In Judaism, circumcision has traditionally been practised among males on the eighth day after birth. Male circumcision and/or subincision, often as part of an intricate coming of age ritual, was a common practice among Australian Aborigines and Pacific islanders at first contact with Western travellers. It is still practiced in the traditional way by a proportion of the population. According to “National Hospital Discharge Survey” in United States, as of 2008, the rate of circumcision of infant boys in hospitals in United States was 55.9%.
Infant baptism
Covenant theologians point out that the external sign of the covenant in the Old Testament was circumcision. Circumcision was performed upon the male children of Israelites to signify their external membership in God's people, not as a guarantee of true faith; the Old Testament records many Israelites who turned from God and were punished, showing that their hearts were not truly set on serving God. So while all male Israelites had the sign of the covenant performed on them in a once off ceremony soon after birth, such a signifier was external only and not a true indicator of whether or not they would later exhibit true faith in Yahweh.
Prevalence of circumcision
The overall prevalence of circumcision ("tuli") in the Philippines is reported to be 92.5%. Most circumcisions in the Philippines are performed between the ages of 11 to 13.
Circumcision and law
The Children's Act 2005 makes the circumcision of male children under 16 unlawful except for religious or medical reasons. In the Eastern Cape province the Application of Health Standards in Traditional Circumcision Act, 2001, regulates traditional circumcision, which causes the death or mutilation of many youths by traditional surgeons each year. Among other provisions, the minimum age for circumcision is age 18.
Jewish views on marriage
Evidence from Rabbinic material indicates that Jewish males normally married at the age of thirty, to adolescent women. In medieval Jewish Ashkenazi communities, girls were often married at very young ages. Since the Enlightenment, child marriage is extremely rare in the Jewish community.
Religious male circumcision
On the other hand, the emperor Hadrian (117-138) forbade circumcision. His successor Antoninus Pius (138-161) upheld the decree, but around 140 included an exemption for Jews who circumcised their sons, although not their servants, slaves, or converts. Even before that, in 95 CE, Flavius Clemens, a nephew of the emperors Titus and Domitian, suffered the penalty of death for undergoing circumcision, and embracing the Jewish faith with his wife Domitilla (see Grätz, "Gesch." iv. 403 et seq., 702).
Circumcision
Circumcision is the world's oldest planned surgical procedure, suggested by anatomist and hyperdiffusionist historian Grafton Elliot Smith to be over 15,000 years old, pre-dating recorded history. There is no firm consensus as to how it came to be practiced worldwide. One theory is that it began in one geographic area and spread from there; another is that several different cultural groups began its practice independently. In his 1891 work "History of Circumcision", physician Peter Charles Remondino suggested that it began as a less severe form of emasculating a captured enemy: penectomy or castration would likely have been fatal, while some form of circumcision would permanently mark the defeated yet leave him alive to serve as a slave.
Circumcision and law
Laws banning circumcision are also ancient. The ancient Greeks prized the foreskin and disapproved of the Jewish custom of circumcision. 1 Maccabees, 1:60–61 states that King Antiochus IV of Syria, the occupying power of Judea in 170 BCE, outlawed circumcision on penalty of death. one of the grievances leading to the Maccabean Revolt.
Adult bar and bat mitzvah
An adult bar/bat mitzvah is a bar or bat mitzvah of a person older than the customary age. Traditionally, a bar or bat mitzvah occurs at age 13 and 12 for boys and girls respectively. However, many adult Jews who have never had a bar or bat mitzvah choose to have one later in life, and many who have had one at the traditional age choose to have a second. An adult bar or bat mitzvah can be held at any age after adulthood is reached and can be performed in a variety of ways.
Circumcision of Jesus
The "Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord" is a Christian celebration of the circumcision, eight days (according to the Semitic and southern European calculation of intervals of days) after his birth, the occasion on which the child was formally given his name, Jesus, a name derived from Hebrew meaning "salvation" or "saviour". It is first recorded from a church council held at Tours in 567, although it was clearly already long-established.
Khitan (circumcision)
Islamic sources do not fix a particular time for circumcision. It depends on family, region and country. A majority of Ulema however take the view that parents should get their child circumcised before the age of ten. The preferred age is usually seven although some Muslims are circumcised as early as on the seventh day after birth and as late as at the commencement of puberty.
Infant baptism
Presbyterian, Congregational and many Reformed Christians see infant baptism as the New Testament form of circumcision in the Jewish covenant (Joshua 24:15). Circumcision did not create faith in the 8-day-old Jewish boy. It merely marked him as a member of God's covenant people Israel. Likewise, baptism doesn't create faith; it is a sign of membership in the visible covenant community.
Religion and children
Ritual circumcision is used to mark Jewish and Muslim and Coptic Christian and Ethiopian Orthodox Christian infant males as belonging to the faith. Jewish boys and girls then confirm their belonging at a coming of age ceremony known as the Bar and Bat Mitzvah respectively.
Circumcision
Circumcision is one of the world's most widely performed procedures. Approximately 37% to 39% of males worldwide are circumcised, about half for religious or cultural reasons. It is most often practiced between infancy and the early twenties. The WHO estimated in 2007 that 664,500,000 males aged 15 and over were circumcised (30–33% global prevalence), almost 70% of whom were Muslim. Circumcision is most common in the Muslim world, Israel, South Korea, the United States and parts of Southeast Asia and Africa. It is relatively rare in Europe, Latin America, parts of Southern Africa and Oceania and most of Asia. Prevalence is near-universal in the Middle East and Central Asia. Non-religious circumcision in Asia, outside of the Republic of Korea and the Philippines, is fairly rare, and prevalence is generally low (less than 20%) across Europe. Estimates for individual countries include Taiwan at 9% and Australia 58.7%. Prevalence in the United States and Canada is estimated at 75% and 30% respectively. Prevalence in Africa varies from less than 20% in some southern African countries to near universal in North and West Africa.
Circumcision controversies
The Book of Genesis explains circumcision as a covenant with God given to Abraham, but some scholars reject the historicity of these accounts and look elsewhere for the origin of Jewish circumcision. One explanation, dating from Herodotus, is that the custom was acquired from the Egyptians, possibly during the period of enslavement. A competing hypothesis, based on linguistic/ethnographic work begun in the 19th century, suggests circumcision was a common tribal custom among Semitic tribes (Jews, Arabs, and Phoenicians).
Circumcision in Africa
Circumcision in Morocco had been performed by barbers. This is now performed by medical surgeons. Circumcision of almost two-year-old at the time prince Moulay Hassan prompted thousands of other young boys to be circumcised. The procedure is considered "purification" (t'hara) by Muslims. 
Nigerian culture favours circumcising baby boys when they are aged between eight to forty days. Neonatal (child) circumcision is performed on more than 85% of boys in Nigeria, Western Africa, and majority of the procedure is done by nurses (56%) and doctors (35%) with a small proportion (9%) performed by traditional practitioners (2). The reasons are cultural and religious.
History of male circumcision
In some South African ethnic groups, circumcision has roots in several belief systems, and is performed most of the time on teenage boys:
The young men in the eastern Cape belong to the Xhosa ethnic group for whom circumcision is considered part of the passage into manhood. ... A law was recently introduced requiring initiation schools to be licensed and only allowing circumcisions to be performed on youths aged 18 and older. But Eastern Cape provincial Health Department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo told Reuters news agency that boys as young as 11 had died. Each year thousands of young men go into the bush alone, without water, to attend initiation schools. Many do not survive the ordeal.
History of male circumcision
The Council of Jerusalem in Acts of the Apostles 15 addressed the issue of whether circumcision was required of new converts to Christianity. Both Simon Peter and James the Just spoke against requiring circumcision in Gentile converts and the Council ruled that circumcision was not necessary. However, Acts 16 and many references in the Letters of Paul show that the practice was not immediately eliminated. Paul of Tarsus, who was said to be directly responsible for one man's circumcision in Acts 16:1–3 and who appeared to praise Jewish circumcision in Romans 3:2, said that circumcision didn't matter in 1 Corinthians 7:19 and then increasingly turned against the practice, accusing those who promoted circumcision of wanting to make a good showing in the flesh and boasting or glorying in the flesh in Galatians 6:11–13. In a later letter, Philippians 3:2, he is reported as warning Christians to beware the "mutilation" (Strong's G2699). Circumcision was so closely associated with Jewish men that Jewish Christians were referred to as "those of the circumcision" (e.g. Colossians 3:20) or conversely Christians who were circumcised were referred to as Jewish Christians or Judaizers. These terms (circumcised/uncircumcised) are generally interpreted to mean Jews and Greeks, who were predominant; however, it is an oversimplification as 1st-century Iudaea Province also had some Jews who no longer circumcised, and some Greeks (called Proselytes or Judaizers) and others such as Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Arabs who did. According to the Gospel of Thomas saying 53, Jesus says:
Prevalence of circumcision
Circumcision was the second-most common procedure performed on patients under one year of age. There are various explanations for why the infant circumcision rate in the United States is different from comparable countries. Many parents’ decisions about circumcision are preconceived, which may contribute to the high rate of elective circumcision. Brown & Brown (1987) reported the most important factor is whether the father is circumcised.
First haircut
The ritual first haircut () was a pre-Christian, all-Slavic tradition, though it survived in Poland well into the 18th century. This first haircut traditionally took place between the ages of 7 and 10, and was conducted by either the boy's father or a stranger, who would thus enter into the boy's family. Before that age the boy's life was connected to his mother and he was treated as a child. The ritual haircut, coupled with the granting of an additional given name (usually the third), marked the boy's coming of age and a transition to the world of men, in which he was to be looked after by his father. The ritual also constituted the father's formal act of recognition of the boy as a son.
Religious male circumcision
Although many were prepared to conform to Greek culture, observant Jews saw circumcision as a mark of Jewish loyalty and many who kept to the Mosaic Law defied the edict of Antiochus Epiphanes prohibiting circumcision (, , and ). Jewish women showed their loyalty to the Law, even at the risk of their lives, by themselves circumcising their sons. "For example, two women were brought in for having circumcised their children. They publicly paraded them around the city, with their babies hanging at their breasts, and then hurled them down headlong from the wall ()." At the same time, the Zealots forcibly circumcised the uncircumcised boys within the borders of Israel ().
History of male circumcision
The 1st-century Jewish author Philo Judaeus (20 BCE - 50 CE) defended Jewish circumcision on several grounds, including health, cleanliness and fertility. He also thought that circumcision should be done as early as possible as it would not be as likely to be done by someone's own free will. He claimed that the foreskin prevented semen from reaching the vagina and so should be done as a way to increase the nation's population. He also noted that circumcision should be performed as an effective means to reduce sexual pleasure: "The legislators thought good to dock the organ which ministers to such intercourse thus making circumcision the symbol of excision of excessive and superfluous pleasure." There was also division in Pharisaic Judaism between Hillel the Elder and Shammai on the issue of circumcision of proselytes.
Circumcision and law
Laws restricting, regulating, or banning circumcision, some dating back to ancient times, have been enacted in many countries and communities. In modern states, circumcision is generally presumed to be legal, but laws pertaining to assault or child custody have been applied in cases involving circumcision. There are currently no states that unequivocally ban infant male circumcision for non-therapeutic reasons. In the case of non-therapeutic circumcision of children, proponents of laws in favor of the procedure often point to the rights of the parents or practitioners, namely the right of freedom to religion. Those against the procedure point to the boy's right of freedom "from" religion. In several court cases, judges have pointed to the irreversible nature of the act, the grievous harm to the boy's body, and the right to self-determination, and bodily integrity.
Religious male circumcision
However important it may be, circumcision is not a sacrament, unlike a Christian baptism. Circumcision does not affect a Jew's Jewish status. A Jew by birth is a full Jew, even if not circumcised. Even so, the punishment for not being circumcised in rabbinic Judaism is believed to be "Karet", being cut off; meaning premature death at the hand of G-d (Mo'ed Katan 28a) and a severe spiritual punishment, the "soul's being cut off," and not being granted a share in the world to come (Hilchot Teshuvah 8:1,5).
History of male circumcision
The tradition of male circumcision is said to have been practiced within the British Royal Family, with varying accounts regarding which monarch started it: either Queen Victoria on account of her rumored adherence to British Israelism and the notion she was a descendant of King David (or on the advice of her personal physician), or her grandfather King George. The German-born King George was also the Prince-Elector of Hanover, and rumors existed that the Prince electors were circumcised. This is highly dubious since there is no evidence that Victoria was a supporter of the British Israeli movement, and the links between the royal family and the ancient House of David were only first proposed by its followers in the 1870s, long after she bore her sons (there is also evidence lacking that her sons, particularly Edward, had circumcisions); there is also no indication that the prince electors (or George himself) were circumcised and that the king introduced it upon his arrival to Britain and his ascension to the throne in 1714. If male members of the royal family were circumcised, the reason was due to their embrace of a custom popular amongst the upper-classes in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Prince Charles and his brothers are believed to have been circumcised (the former by a reputable rabbi and mohel), but the supposed tradition ended before the births of William and his brother Harry due to their mother Diana's objections. Speculations arose in the media that William's son George may have been circumcised following his birth in 2013, but this is also highly unlikely.
Circumcision and law
In 2009 it was reported that a 20-year-old man whose father had him ritually circumcised as a baby is preparing to sue the doctor who circumcised him. This is believed to be the first time a person who was circumcised as an infant has made a claim in the UK. The case is expected to be heard in 2010.
Circumcision and law
In Israel, Jewish circumcision is entirely legal. Though illegal, female circumcision is still practiced among the Negev Bedouin, and tribal secrecy among the Bedouin makes it difficult for authorities to enforce the ban. In 2013, Rabbinical court in Israel ordered a mother, Elinor Daniel, to circumcise her son or pay a fine of 500 Israeli Shekel for every day that the child is not circumcised. She appealed against the Rabbinical court ruling and the High Court ruled in her favour stating, among other considerations, the basic right of freedom from religion.
Religious male circumcision
Subject to overriding medical considerations, the circumcision must take place eight days after the birth of the child, even when this falls on "Shabbat". The child must be medically fit for a circumcision to be performed, and Jewish law prohibits parents having their son circumcised if medical doctors hold that the procedure may unduly threaten the child's health (e.g. because of hemophilia). If by reason of the child's debility or sickness the ceremony is postponed, it cannot take place on "Shabbat".
Ndut initiation rite
There are two main types of Ndut initiation rites. The first concerns the circumcision for Serer boys whilst the second concerns the initiation of Serer girls. Serer religion and culture forbids the circumcision of Serer girls (female genital mutilation). Only Serer boys are circumcised. Serer girls receive their initiation through "njam" or "ndom" (the tattooing of the gums). Preparation for the initiation starts early in childhood. In many cases, boys are circumcised when they reach 13 years old. However it is not uncommon for some to be circumcised when they are 19 to 26 years old. Likewise, Serer girls receive their initiation when they are 11 to 18 years.
Ishmael
When he was 13 years old, Ishmael was circumcised at the same time as all other males in Abraham's household, becoming a part of the covenant in a mass circumcision. His father Abram, given the new name "Abraham," then 99, was circumcised along with the others ().
Circumcision controversies
Dr. John Harvey Kellogg recommended circumcision of boys caught masturbating, writing: "A remedy for masturbation which is almost always successful in small boys is circumcision, especially when there is any degree of phimosis. The operation should be performed by a surgeon without administering anaesthetic, as the pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon the mind, especially if it be connected with the idea of punishment." But he was opposed to routine circumcision of infants: "It is doubtful, however, whether as much harm as good does not result from circumcision, since it has been shown by extensive observation among the Jews that very great contraction of the meatus, or external orifice of the urethra, is exceedingly common among them, being undoubtedly the result of the prolonged irritation and subsequent cicatricial contraction resulting from circumcision in infancy."
Genital modification and mutilation
Circumcision is the surgical removal of part or all of the foreskin from the penis. It is usually performed for religious, cultural or medical reasons and leaves some or all of the glans permanently exposed. Jews and many Americans typically have their infants circumcised during the neonatal period, while Filipinos, most Muslims and African tribes such as the Maasai and Xhosa circumcise in teenage years or childhood as an initiation into adulthood.
Religious male circumcision
The "Jewish Encyclopedia" in the article "Gentiles", section "Gentiles May Not Be Taught the Torah", states:
Today, most Christian denominations are neutral about biblical male circumcision, neither requiring it nor forbidding it. Circumcision was controversial during the period of Early Christianity (before 325) and the first Church Council in Jerusalem (c.50), which declared that circumcision was not necessary for new gentile converts (a record of the council is found in ). But it is customary among the Coptic, Ethiopian, and Eritrean Orthodox Churches, and also some other African churches. Some Christian churches in South Africa oppose circumcision, viewing it as a pagan ritual, while others, including the Nomiya church in Kenya, require circumcision for membership.
Circumcision controversies
The Apostle Paul referred to these practices in his letters, saying: "Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised." But he also explicitly denounced the forcing of circumcision upon non-Jews, rejecting and condemning those Judaizers who stipulated the ritual to Gentile Christians, labelling such advocates as "false brothers" (see below). In the mid-2nd century Rabbinical Jewish leaders introduced a radical method of circumcision, the "periah", that left the glans totally uncovered, making it almost impossible to restore the foreskin.
Khitan (circumcision)
Most Shia traditions regard the practice as obligatory. They rely on sayings that come from classical Shia authors. In one narration Muhammad was asked if an uncircumcised man could go to pilgrimage. He answered "not as long as he is not circumcised". They quote Ali as saying: "If a man becomes Muslim, he must submit to circumcision even if he is 80 years old." Another narration from Al-Sadiq says: "Circumcise your sons when they are seven days old as it is cleaner (athar) and the flesh grows faster and because the earth hates the urine of the uncircumcised." It is also believed that the urine of the uncircumcised is impure, while if one prays with unclean genitals their prayer may not be considered as acceptable, even of those who have been circumcised, meaning that it may have to be repeated again at a time when the believer has purified themselves and removed the impurity. Another hadith of Muhammad states: "the earth cries out to God in anguish because of the urine of the uncircumcised", and that "the earth becomes defiled from the urine of the uncircumcised for forty days".
Forbidden relationships in Judaism
The classical rabbis saw 18 as the ideal age to become married, and anyone unmarried after the age of twenty was said to have been cursed by God; rabbinical courts frequently tried to compel an individual to marry, if they had passed the age of twenty without marriage. Nevertheless, the classical rabbis viewed study of the Torah as a valid reason for remaining unmarried, although they were only rarely willing to regard life-long celibacy favourably. Since the classical rabbis viewed marriage as a duty deriving from the instruction to "go forth and multiply", they also believed that the duty to marry ended once the husband had fathered both a son and a daughter; despite this, they also argued that no man should live without a wife even after he has several children.
Abortion
Abortion rates also vary depending on the stage of pregnancy and the method practiced. In 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 26% of reported legal induced abortions in the United States were known to have been obtained at less than 6 weeks' gestation, 18% at 7 weeks, 15% at 8 weeks, 18% at 9 through 10 weeks, 10% at 11 through 12 weeks, 6% at 13 through 15 weeks, 4% at 16 through 20 weeks and 1% at more than 21 weeks. 91% of these were classified as having been done by "curettage" (suction-aspiration, dilation and curettage, dilation and evacuation), 8% by "medical" means (mifepristone), >1% by "intrauterine instillation" (saline or prostaglandin), and 1% by "other" (including hysterotomy and hysterectomy). According to the CDC, due to data collection difficulties the data must be viewed as tentative and some fetal deaths reported beyond 20 weeks may be natural deaths erroneously classified as abortions if the removal of the dead fetus is accomplished by the same procedure as an induced abortion.
Circumcision
According to traditional Jewish law, in the absence of an adult free Jewish male expert, a woman, a slave, or a child who has the required skills is also authorized to perform the circumcision, provided that they are Jewish. However, most streams of non-Orthodox Judaism allow female mohels, called "mohalot" (, the plural of "mohelet", feminine of "mohel"), without restriction. In 1984 Deborah Cohen became the first certified Reform mohelet; she was certified by the Berit Mila program of Reform Judaism.
Some contemporary Jews in the United States choose not to circumcise their sons. They are assisted by a small number of Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis, and have developed a welcoming ceremony that they call the "brit shalom" ("Covenant [of] Peace") for such children, also accepted by Humanistic Judaism.
Circumcision
In some cultures, males are generally required to be circumcised shortly after birth, during childhood or around puberty as part of a rite of passage. Circumcision is commonly practiced in the Jewish and Islamic faiths.
Circumcision controversies
Ephron reports that non-Jews and also some Jewish reformers in early 19th-century Germany had criticized ritual circumcision as "barbaric" and that Jewish doctors responded to these criticisms with defences of the ritual or proposals for modification or reform. By the late 19th century some German Jewish doctors defended circumcision by claiming it had health advantages. Today the Rabbinical Council of America, the largest group of Modern Orthodox rabbis, endorses using a glass tube as a substitute of "metzitzah".
Sexual repression
Male circumcision has been practiced as a surgical means of sexual repression in some cultures, although it may be practiced for various reasons, with the World Health Organization recommending it as a means of reducing HIV/AIDS. Circumcision is also a religious tradition in Judaism and Islam. According to medieval Jewish theologian Moses Maimonides, the "reason" for male circumcision is "the wish to bring about a decrease in sexual intercourse and a weakening of the organ in question, so that this activity be diminished and the organ be in as quiet a state as possible."
Brit milah
The Reform societies established in Frankfurt and Berlin regarded circumcision as barbaric and wished to abolish it. However, while prominent rabbis such as Abraham Geiger believed the ritual to be barbaric and outdated, they refrained from instituting any change in this matter. In 1843, when a father in Frankfurt refused to circumcise his son, rabbis of all shades in Germany stated it was mandated by Jewish law; even Samuel Holdheim affirmed this. By 1871, Reform rabbinic leadership in Germany reasserted "the supreme importance of circumcision in Judaism", while affirming the traditional viewpoint that non-circumcised are Jews nonetheless. Although the issue of circumcision of converts continues to be debated, the necessity of Brit Milah for Jewish infant boys has been stressed in every subsequent Reform rabbis manual or guide. Since 1984 Reform Judaism has trained and certified over 300 of their own practicing "mohalim" in this ritual.
Ritual child abuse
The origins of circumcision date back to 2400 B.C.E. in Egypt, where an engraving of an adult male being circumcised was found in the tomb of Ankh-Mahor at Saqqara. It is believed that the Egyptians practiced circumcision for hygiene and also because of their obsession with purity, which was associated with intellectual and spiritual development. During the 4th millennium B.C., circumcision was practiced by the Sumerians and Semites in the Arabian Peninsula. Circumcision features in the narrative of Genesis Chapter 17 of the Hebrew Bible, where the circumcision of Abraham and his relatives is described. The practice is thought to have been brought to Africa by the Bantu-speaking tribes.
Circumcision and law
There are ancient religious requirements for circumcision. The Hebrew Bible commands Jews to circumcise their male children on the eighth day of life, and to circumcise their male slaves ().
Women in the Bible
When Ishmael was 13, Abraham received the covenant practice of circumcision, and circumcised every male of his household. Later "Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him" (Genesis 21:1-5). Hagar and Ishmael are sent away again and this time they do not return.
Circumcision
Evidence suggests that circumcision was practiced in the Arabian Peninsula by the 4th millennium BCE, when the Sumerians and the Semites moved into the area that is modern-day Iraq. The earliest historical record of circumcision comes from Egypt, in the form of an image of the circumcision of an adult carved into the tomb of Ankh-Mahor at Saqqara, dating to about 24002300 BCE. Circumcision was done by the Egyptians possibly for hygienic reasons, but also was part of their obsession with purity and was associated with spiritual and intellectual development. No well-accepted theory explains the significance of circumcision to the Egyptians, but it appears to have been endowed with great honor and importance as a rite of passage into adulthood, performed in a public ceremony emphasizing the continuation of family generations and fertility. It may have been a mark of distinction for the elite: the Egyptian "Book of the Dead" describes the sun god Ra as having circumcised himself.
Religious male circumcision
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries many Jewish reformers, doctors, and physicians in Central and Eastern Europe proposed to replace circumcision with a symbolic ceremony, while others sought to ban or abolish circumcision entirely, as it was perceived as a dangerous, barbaric and pagan ritual of genital mutilation that could transmit infectious diseases to newborns. The first formal objection to circumcision within Judaism occurred in 1843 in Frankfurt. The Society for the Friends of Reform, a group that criticized traditional Jewish practices, said that brit milah was not a mitzvah but an outworn legacy from Israel's earlier phases, an obsolete throwback to primitive religion. With the expanding role of medicine came further opposition; certain aspects of Jewish circumcision such as "periah" and "metzitzah" (drawing the blood from the circumcision wound through sucking or a cloth) were deemed unhygienic and dangerous for the newborns. Later evidence that syphilis and tuberculosis – two of the most feared infectious diseases in the 19th century – were spread by mohels, caused various rabbis to advocate "metzitzah" to be done using a sponge or a tube. Among the secular, non-observant Jews that chose to not circumcise their sons and keep them intact there was also Theodor Herzl.
A growing number of contemporary Jews and Intactivist Jewish groups in the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel, both secular and religious, started to question overall long-term effects, psychological and psychophysical consequences of trauma caused by circumcision on Jewish children, and choose not to circumcise their sons. They are assisted by a small number of Reform, Liberal, and Reconstructionist rabbis, and have developed a welcoming ceremony that they call the "Brit shalom" ("Covenant [of] Peace") for such children, also accepted by Humanistic Judaism.
Religious male circumcision
Circumcision in ancient Egypt was thought to be a mark of passage from childhood to adulthood. The alteration of the body and ritual of circumcision was supposed to give access to ancient mysteries reserved solely for the initiated. The content of those mysteries are unclear but are likely to be myths, prayers, and incantations central to Egyptian religion. The Egyptian Book of the Dead, for example, tells of the sun god Ra performing a self-circumcision, whose blood created two minor guardian deities. Circumcisions were performed by priests in a public ceremony, using a stone blade. It is thought to have been more popular among the upper echelons of the society, although it was not universal and those lower down the social order are known to have had the procedure done.
History of male circumcision
In the 18th century, Edward Gibbon referred to circumcision as a "singular mutilation" practised only by Jews and Turks and as "a painful and often dangerous rite" ... (R. Darby)
Feast of the Circumcision of Christ
The Feast of the Circumcision of Christ is a Christian celebration of the circumcision of Jesus in accordance with Jewish tradition, eight days (according to the Semitic and southern European calculation of intervals of days) after his birth, the occasion on which the child was formally given his name.
Forced circumcision
Greeks and Romans regarded circumcision as a mutilation of the male genitalia, but the practice is little discussed in Roman literary sources until the second century of the Christian era. There was a circumcision controversy in Early Christianity but this was resolved at the Council of Jerusalem c.50 which made it clear that circumcision of gentile converts to Christianity was not required. Josephus (who changed his allegiance from the Jews to the Roman Flavians) reports that two Roman officers who had taken refuge with Galileans during the war with Rome (early 67 AD) were put under pressure to convert to Judaism. Josephus, declaring that "every one should worship God in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience," claims to have saved the two Gentiles from forced circumcision. After the First Roman-Jewish War, a head tax, the Fiscus Judaicus, was levied against all Jews. According to Suetonius, Domitian (c.90) also applied this tax to those who were circumcisied, even if they claimed they were not Jews. Titus Flavius Clemens (consul) was put to death in 95 for adopting Jewish customs. In 96 Nerva relaxed the Jewish tax as applying only to those who professed to be Jews. Sometime between 128 and 132 AD, the emperor Hadrian seems to have temporarily banned circumcision, on pain of death. Antoninus Pius exempted Jews from the ban, as well as Egyptian priests, and Origen (d. "ca." 253) says that in his time only Jews were permitted to practice circumcision. Legislation under Constantine, the first Christian emperor, freed any slave who was subjected to circumcision; in the year 339, circumcising a slave became punishable by death.
Circumcision in Africa
In some South African ethnic groups, circumcision has roots in several belief systems, and is performed most of the time on teenage boys:
The young men in the eastern Cape belong to the Xhosa ethnic group for whom circumcision is considered part of the passage into manhood. ... A law was recently introduced requiring initiation schools to be licensed and only allowing circumcisions to be performed on youths aged 18 and older. But Eastern Cape provincial Health Department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo told Reuters news agency that boys as young as 11 had died. Each year thousands of young men go into the bush alone, without water, to attend initiation schools. Many do not survive the ordeal.
According to one article, as of December 2015, 10 million men have undergone voluntary circumcision in East and Southern Africa. since 2008.
Religious male circumcision
According to the Hebrew Bible, conversion to Judaism for non-Israelites necessitated circumcision (). In the 1st century CE, there was a controversy between the Shammaites and the Hillelites regarding a convert born without a foreskin: the former demanding the spilling of a drop of blood of the covenant; the latter declaring it to be unnecessary.
Brit milah
A growing number of contemporary Jews and Intactivist Jewish groups in the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel, both religious and secular, choose not to circumcise their sons. Among the reasons for their choice are the claims that circumcision is a form of child abuse that involves genital mutilation forced on men and violence against helpless infants, a violation of children's rights, and their opinion that circumcision is a dangerous, unnecessary, painful, traumatic and stressful event for the child, which can cause even further psychophysical complications down the road, including serious disability and even death. They are assisted by a small number of Reform, Liberal, and Reconstructionist rabbis, and have developed a welcoming ceremony that they call the "Brit shalom" ("Covenant [of] Peace") for such children, also accepted by Humanistic Judaism.
Religious male circumcision
The circumcision consists of three procedures, the first being the cutting of the foreskin. The second is the "priah", or peeling back of the epithelium after the foreskin has been amputated. According to Shaye J. D. Cohen, in Why Aren't Jewish Women Circumcised?: Gender and Covenant in Judaism, pg 25, the Torah only commands circumcision (milah). David Gollaher has written that the rabbis added the procedure of "periah" to discourage men from trying to restore their foreskins: 'Once established, periah was deemed essential to circumcision; if the mohel failed to cut away enough tissue, the operation was deemed insufficient to comply with God's covenant' and 'Depending on the strictness of individual rabbis, boys (or men thought to have been inadequately cut) were subjected to additional operations.' In addition to "milah" (the actual circumcision) and "priah", mentioned above, the Talmud mentions a third step, "metzitzah", or squeezing some blood from the wound.
Khitan (circumcision)
Whereas Jewish circumcision is closely bound by ritual timing and tradition, in Islam there is no fixed age for circumcision. The age when boys get circumcised, and the procedures used, tend to change across cultures, families, and time. In some Muslim-majority countries, circumcision is performed on Muslim boys after they have learned to recite the whole Qur'an from start to finish. In Malaysia and other regions, the boy usually undergoes the operation between the ages of ten and twelve, and is thus a puberty rite, serving to introduce him into the new status of an adult. The procedure is sometimes semi-public, accompanied with music, special foods, and much festivity.
Black Egyptian hypothesis
According to Diop, historians are in general agreement that the Aethiopians, Egyptians, Colchians, and people of the Southern Levant were among the only people on Earth practicing circumcision, which confirms their cultural affiliations, if not their ethnic affiliation. The Egyptian (adolescent) style of circumcision was different from how circumcision is practiced in other parts of the world, but similar to how it is practiced throughout the African continent. "Ancient writings discuss (Egyptian) circumcision in religious terms" and a 6th Dynasty tomb shows circumcision being performed by a "circumcising priest, rather than a physician." "The practice of circumcising by religious, rather than medical, authorities is still common throughout Africa today." Furthermore, in both ancient Egypt and modern Africa, young boys were circumcised in large groups.
Religious male circumcision
Authority derives from the age-group and the age-set. Prior to circumcision a natural leader or Olaiguenani is selected; he leads his age-group through a series of rituals until old age, sharing responsibility with a select few, of whom the ritual expert (Oloiboni) is the ultimate authority. Masai youths are not circumcised until they are mature, and a new age-set is initiated together at regular intervals of twelve to fifteen years. The young warriors (Il-Murran) remain initiates for some time, using blunt arrows to hunt small birds which are stuffed and tied to a frame to form a head-dress. Traditionally, among the Luhya, boys of certain age-sets, typically between 8 and 18 years of age would, under the leadership of specific men engage in various rites leading up to the day of circumcision. After circumcision, they would live apart from the rest of society for a certain number of days. Not even their mothers nor sisters would be allowed to see them.
Prevalence of circumcision
The prevalence of circumcision is the percentage of males in a given population who have been circumcised. The rates vary widely by country, from virtually 0% in Honduras, to 7% in Spain, to 3.8% in the United Kingdom, to 45% in South Africa, to 82.5% in the United States, to over 90% in many Muslim-majority countries. In 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated 33% of adult males worldwide (aged 15+) are circumcised, with about two-thirds of those being Muslims.
Mohel
Biblically, the infant's father ("avi haben") is commanded to perform the circumcision himself. However, as most fathers are not comfortable or do not have the training, they designate a "mohel". The mohel is specially trained in circumcision and the rituals surrounding the procedure. Many "mohalim" are doctors or rabbis (and some are both) or cantors and are required to receive appropriate training both from the religious and medical fields.
Kipsigis people
Kipsigis men undergo circumcision at about 14 years of age. Afterwards, the boy lives in a "menjo" near a forest or away from the main community while they heal. During this period, Kipsigis males undergo three traditional ceremonies called the "kelab-eun", the "tyenjinet" and the "kayaet". After the first ritual, the boys are allowed to venture out into the forest for hunting using bows and wood-made-arrows. It is at this point in time that they master the use of the weapons of traditional warfare.
Circumcision
In addition to proposing that circumcision was taken up by the Israelites purely as a religious mandate, scholars have suggested that Judaism's patriarchs and their followers adopted circumcision to make penile hygiene easier in hot, sandy climates; as a rite of passage into adulthood; or as a form of blood sacrifice.
Childbirth in Ghana
In the past, boys in Ghanaian society often do not undergo circumcision as an infant. Boys will receive circumcision as they undergo initiation into adulthood at the age of ten to fourteen years of age. Ghanaians believe that the circumcision represents cleanliness and the pain will make the boys physically and mentally stronger.
With the advent of modern medicine however, male children are circumcised from as early as four (4) days after they are born, and this is normally done at the hospitals or locally by Wanzams, special men trained in circumcision.
Gender inequality in Egypt
Numbers of circumcised females decrease in lower age brackets. Among all females surveyed in a 2011 study of over 15,000 individuals, 75.5% of women aged 10–29 report being circumcised. The practice appears to be more common in rural areas where 83.7% of females have experienced FGM. While these numbers are lower than older age brackets, they are largely consistent with the 10- to 29-year-old group surveyed in an identical 2008 study. This would suggest that any decline in practice has slowed significantly or stagnated. The same study showed the majority of respondents, both male and female, believed that circumcision was necessary for girls (64%). More men (70.3%) believed it was needed than women (57.6%). Belief in the practice is stronger in the lower income quintiles and considerably weaker in the upper quintiles.
Tuli (rite)
Circumcision is not considered a religious rite as some four-fifths of Filipinos profess Roman Catholicism, which does not require it. Rather, circumcision is a social norm rooted in tradition that is followed by society at large. Most boys usually undergo the procedure not shortly after birth but prior to reaching puberty or before high school (around ages 10–14).
Forced circumcision
Forced circumcision refers to circumcision of males who have not given their consent to the procedure. In a biblical context, the term is used especially in relation to Paul the Apostle and his polemics against the forced circumcision of gentile Christians. The most common form of forced circumcision is performed widely in Israel and the United States, where it is known as neonatal circumcision. This form of circumcision involves the circumcision of a male newborn. Although their parents may consent to it, the males themselves do not, therefore making it forced. Among adults, forced circumcisions have occurred in a wide range of situations, most notably in the compulsory conversion of non-Muslims to Islam and the forced circumcision of Teso, Turkana and Luo men in Kenya, as well as the abduction of South African teenage boys to so-called circumcision schools ("bush schools"). In South Africa, custom allows uncircumcised Xhosa-speaking men past the age of circumcision (i.e., 25 years or older) to be overpowered by other men and forcibly circumcised.
Prevalence of circumcision
The Australian Longitudinal Study of Health and Relationships is a computer assisted telephone interview of males aged 16–64 that uses a nationally representative population sample. In 2005 the interview found that the prevalence of circumcision in Australia was roughly 58%. Circumcision status was more common with males over 30 than males under 30, and more common with males who were born in Australia. 66% of males born in Australia were circumcised and less than 1/3 of males under 30 were circumcised. There has been a decline in the rate of infant circumcision in Australia. The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) estimated in 2010 that 10 to 20 percent of newborn boys are being circumcised, but the prevalence of male circumcision is much higher due to the presence of older circumcised males remaining in the population. Medicare Australia records show the number of males younger than six months that underwent circumcision dropped from 19,663 in 2007/08 to 6309 (4%) in 2016/17.
Childbirth in Iraq
Female circumcision is controversial in Iraq. While it is not widespread throughout the country, it is still common practice in Iraqi Kurdistan. The decision to perform female circumcision is often made by the mother or grandmother on religious, social, or purity grounds. Negative consequences to the child's health include bleeding, sepsis, shock, psychological disorders, obstetrical complications, and urogenital problems. In 2010 the United Nations released a report that placed the prevalence of female genital mutilation at 78% of women in Kurdistan. A more recent survey of 1,508 women in Kurdistan recorded a prevalence of 23% of women, with the mean age at which it performed being 4.6 years old. Traditionally the procedure is performed at home by a midwife, traditional birth attendant, or relative. In 2011 a law was passed which made female circumcision illegal in Iraqi Kurdistan
Igbo Jews
Religious practices of the Igbo Jews include circumcision eight days after the birth of a male child, observance of kosher dietary laws, separation of men and women during menstruation, wearing of the tallit and kippah, and the celebration of holidays such as Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. In recent times, the communities have also adopted holidays such as Hanukkah and Purim.
Reform Judaism
"New Reform" saw the establishment and membership lay greater emphasis on the ceremonial aspects, after the former sterile and minimalist approach was condemned as offering little to engage in religion and encouraging apathy. Numerous rituals became popular again, often after being recast or reinterpreted, though as a matter of personal choice for the individual and not an authoritative obligation. Circumcision or Letting of Blood for converts and newborn babies became virtually mandated in the 1980s; ablution for menstruating women gained great grassroots popularity at the turn of the century, and some synagogues built specialized baths. A renewed interest in dietary laws (though by no means in the strict sense) also surfaced at the same decades, as were phylacteries, prayer shawls and head coverings. Reform is still characterized by having the least engaged public on average: for example, of those polled by Pew in 2013, only 34% of registered synagogue members (and only 17% of all those who state affinity) attend services once a month and more.
Circumcision of Jesus
The circumcision of Jesus is an event from the life of Jesus, according to the Gospel of Luke, which states in verse that Jesus was circumcised eight days after his birth (traditionally January 1). This is in keeping with the Jewish law which holds that males should be circumcised eight days after birth during a Brit milah ceremony, at which they are also given their name. The circumcision of Christ became a very common subject in Christian art from the 10th century onwards, one of numerous events in the "Life of Christ" to be frequently depicted by artists. It was initially seen only as a scene in larger cycles, but by the Renaissance might be treated as an individual subject for a painting, or form the main subject in an altarpiece.
Circumcision controversies
However, a growing number of contemporary Jews and Intactivist Jewish groups in the United States, United Kingdom and Israel, both secular and religious, started to question overall long-term effects, psychological and psychophysical consequences of trauma caused by circumcision on Jewish children, and choose not to circumcise their sons. They are assisted by a small number of Reform, Liberal, and Reconstructionist rabbis, and have developed a welcoming ceremony that they call the "Brit shalom" ("Covenant [of] Peace") for such children, also accepted by Humanistic Judaism.
Ethics of circumcision
The Danish Medical Association ("Lægeforeningen") has released a statement (2016) regarding the circumcision of boys under the age of eighteen years. The organization says that the decision to circumcise should be "an informed personal choice" that men should make for themselves in adulthood. According to Dr. Lise Møller, the chairwoman of the doctors’ association’s ethics board, "It is most consistent with the individual’s right to self-determination that parents not be allowed to make this decision but that it is left up to the individual when he has come of age."
Brit milah
The connection of the Reform movement to an anti-circumcision, pro-symbolic stance is a historical one. From the early days of the movement in Germany and Eastern Europe, some classical Reformers hoped to replace ritual circumcision "with a symbolic act, as has been done for other bloody practices, such as the sacrifices". In the US, an official Reform resolution in 1893 announced converts are no longer mandated to undergo the ritual, and this ambivalence towards the practice has carried over to classical-minded Reform Jews today. In Elyse Wechterman's essay "A Plea for Inclusion", she argues that, even in the absence of circumcision, committed Jews should never be turned away, especially by a movement "where no other ritual observance is mandated". She goes on to advocate an alternate covenant ceremony, "brit atifah", for both boys and girls as a welcoming ritual into Judaism. With a continuing negativity towards circumcision still present within a minority of modern-day Reform, Judaic scholar Jon Levenson has warned that if they "continue to judge "brit milah" to be not only medically unnecessary but also brutalizing and mutilating ... the abhorrence of it expressed by some early Reform leaders will return with a vengeance", proclaiming that circumcision will be "the latest front in the battle over the Jewish future in America".
Conversion to Judaism
In general, immersion in the mikveh is an important part of a traditional conversion. If the person who is converting is male, circumcision is a part of the traditional conversion process as well. If the male who is converting has already been circumcised, then a ritual removal of a single drop of blood will take place ("hatafat dam brit"). However, more liberal branches of Judaism have a more relaxed requirement of immersion and circumcision.
Circumcision and law
Before glasnost, according to an article in The Jewish Press, Jewish ritual circumcision was forbidden in the USSR. However, David E. Fishman, professor of Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, states that, whereas the "heder" and "yeshiva", the organs of Jewish education, "were banned by virtue of the law separating church and school, and subjected to tough police and administrative actions," circumcision was not proscribed by law or suppressed by executive measures.
Jehoshua A. Gilboa writes that while circumcision was not officially or explicitly banned, pressure was exerted to make it difficult. "Mohels" in particular were concerned that they could be punished for any health issue that might develop, even if it arose some time after the circumcision.
First haircut
Many Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish boys get their first haircut when they are three years old. The hair-cutting ceremony is known in Yiddish as the "upsherenish" or "upsherin" (shear off), and in Hebrew "halaqah" (smoothing).
Circumcision and law
One 1999 case, "Re "J" (child's religious upbringing and circumcision)" said that circumcision in Britain required the consent of all those with parental responsibility (however this comment was not part of the reason for the judgement and therefore is not legally binding), or the permission of the court, acting for the best interests of the child, and issued an order prohibiting the circumcision of a male child of a non-practicing Muslim father and non-practicing Christian mother with custody. The reasoning included evidence that circumcision carried some medical risk; that the operation would be likely to weaken the relationship of the child with his mother, who strongly objected to circumcision without medical necessity; that the child may be subject to ridicule by his peers as the odd one out and that the operation might irreversibly reduce sexual pleasure, by permanently removing some sensory nerves, even though cosmetic foreskin restoration might be possible. The court did not rule out circumcision against the consent of one parent. It cited a hypothetical case of a Jewish mother and an agnostic father with a number of sons, all of whom, by agreement, had been circumcised as infants in accordance with Jewish laws; the parents then have another son who is born after they have separated; the mother wishes him to be circumcised like his brothers; the father for no good reason, refuses his agreement. In such a case, a decision in favor of circumcision was said to be likely.
Abortion in Israel
Under a 1977 abortion law, a termination committee can approve an abortion, under sub-section 316a, in the following circumstances:Previously, cases where the woman is between the ages of 20-33, and/or was granted an abortion due to the baby having been conceived under illegal circumstances or incest, the fetus had a serious physical or mental defect, the mother was unmarried, or the mother's health was in danger, the state pays for the abortion. However, the law was modified in 2014 to allow a free state-funded "health basket" for any woman seeking an abortion. Women who get pregnant while serving in the IDF are entitled to free, state-funded abortion.
History of male circumcision
Born in the United Kingdom during the late-nineteenth century, John Maynard Keynes and his brother Geoffrey, were both circumcised in boyhood due to parents' concern about their masturbatory habits. Mainstream pediatric manuals continued to recommend circumcision as a deterrent against masturbation until the 1950s.
Kiga people
Out of anger at his father Mbogo, Kakiga ordered obligatory circumcision of all male children. Many did not support this, but he maintained that every Mungura shall have to be circumcised, and that Kings must be circumcised too. This is why the Abungura is the only clan in the entire Kiga tribe that undergoes circumcision. The circumcision was to be taken at the eleventh (11) age. The rest of the Bakiga do not circumcise under cultural obligation. But these days, some take it for other reasons, but not because they have to. Kakiga also left the Kiga legacy of the system of naming. The Kiga people take the family name after their grandfather, or after their father has died. That is why, it is very hard to trace the lineage of the Bakiga through family names. But among different clans, they still hold the norm of the founding father. For instance, Mbogo could be the son of Rwambogo. But in like a seventh generation, Mubangizi could be the son of Mubanga. All in all, the same names would be revolving around in the same family. But nowadays, many educated Bakiga find it useful to use their parent names, even if they are still alive. Even the Royal clan does it. This separation and rebellion will mark the complexity of the Kiga community, letting it look as though she never had a political system.
Brit milah
Many European Jewish fathers during the nineteenth century chose not to circumcise their sons, including Theodor Herzl. However, unlike many other forms of religious observance, it remained one of the last rituals Jewish communities could enforce. In most of Europe, both the government and the unlearned Jewish masses believed circumcision to be a rite akin to baptism, and the law allowed communities not to register uncircumcised children as Jewish. This legal maneuver spurred several debates addressing the advisibility of its use, since many parents later chose to convert to Christianity. In early 20th-century Russia, Chaim Soloveitchik advised his colleagues to reject this measure, stating that uncircumcised Jewish males are no less Jewish than Jews who violate other commandments.
John 7
In a discussion which demonstrates this point to the learned Jews, Jesus then refers to the Mosaic law, and to the law and tradition of the patriarchs. The law of circumcision prescribed by Moses () originated with God's covenant with Abraham and required every male child to be circumcised on his eighth day. If this day was a Sabbath, the obligation to circumcise that day overrode the obligation to rest on the Sabbath (). Jews familiar with both laws would also have been familiar with the rule of precedence between them. But Jesus then refers to the healing at the Temple on the Sabbath day of a man who had had an infirmity for thirty-eight years (), on account of which the Jews wanted to kill Jesus ():
Brit shalom (naming ceremony)
Ritual circumcision of a male child on the eighth day of life is part of Jewish law. Although one does not need to be circumcised to be Jewish, Orthodox Jews consider an intended failure to follow this commandment as bringing forth the penalty of "kareth", or being cut off from the community, as well as being indicative of a conscious decision to cut oneself off from his people. However, even in the most Orthodox groups, Jewish identity is defined by matrilineal descent. A child born to a Jewish mother is identified as Jewish, regardless of the status of the genitals. In Progressive Judaism, uncircumcised boys are usually accepted for religious training and bar mitzvah if they are sons of a Jewish mother and have been raised with a Jewish identity. Movements that do not see Jewish law as binding, such as Reform Judaism and Humanistic Judaism, may allow this ceremony.
Abrahamic religions
Judaism practices circumcision for males as a matter of religious obligation at the age of 8 days old, as does Islam as part of Sunnah.
Maasai people
The central unit of Maasai society is the age-set. Young boys are sent out with the calves and lambs as soon as they can toddle, but childhood for boys is mostly playtime, with the exception of ritual beatings to test courage and endurance. Girls are responsible for chores such as cooking and milking, skills which they learn from their mothers at an early age. Every 15 years or so, a new and individually named generation of Morans or Il-murran (warriors) will be initiated. This involves most boys between 12 and 25, who have reached puberty and are not part of the previous age-set. One rite of passage from boyhood to the status of junior warrior is a circumcision ceremony performed without anaesthetic. In modern times, boys living close to towns with doctors may endure the ceremony in safer conditions, but still without anaesthetic because they must endure the pain that will lead them to manhood. This ritual is typically performed by the elders, who use a sharpened knife and makeshift cattle hide bandages for the procedure. The Maa word for circumcision is emorata. The boy must endure the operation in silence. Expressions of pain bring dishonor, albeit temporarily. Any exclamations can cause a mistake in the delicate and tedious process, which can result in lifelong scarring, dysfunction, and pain. The healing process will take 3–4 months, during which urination is painful and nearly impossible at times, and boys must remain in black clothes for a period of 4–8 months.
Religious male circumcision
During the Babylonian exile, Sabbath and circumcision became the characteristic symbols of the Jewish people. However, the Talmud orders that a boy must not be circumcised if he had two brothers, from the same mother as him, who have died as a result of their circumcisions; this may be due to a concern about haemophilia.
Childbirth in Sri Lanka
Muslim boys are circumcised between the ages of seven days and ten years. Some communities circumcise males as neonates, while others believe the child should be old enough to understand the significance of the event. Traditionally, a community member performed circumcisions in the boy's home, though some families now have the procedure done in a medical center. The celebration includes new clothes for the boy and a special meal prepared for family and friends.
Circumcision controversies
In 15th-century Spain, most Jews and Muslims were expelled and the Spanish Inquisition monitored and prosecuted converts to Christianity to ensure they were not secretly practising Judaism, consorting with Jews or engaging in Jewish practices such as circumcision.
Isaac
In rabbinical tradition, the age of Isaac at the time of binding is taken to be 37, which contrasts with common portrayals of Isaac as a child. The rabbis also thought that the reason for the death of Sarah was the news of the intended sacrifice of Isaac. The sacrifice of Isaac is cited in appeals for the mercy of God in later Jewish traditions. The post-biblical Jewish interpretations often elaborate the role of Isaac beyond the biblical description and primarily focus on Abraham's intended sacrifice of Isaac, called the "aqedah" ("binding"). According to a version of these interpretations, Isaac died in the sacrifice and was revived. According to many accounts of Aggadah, unlike the Bible, it is Satan who is testing Isaac as an agent of God. Isaac's willingness to follow God's command at the cost of his death has been a model for many Jews who preferred martyrdom to violation of the Jewish law.
Religious male circumcision
There are numerous references to circumcision in the Hebrew Bible. Circumcision was enjoined upon the biblical patriarch Abraham, his descendants and their slaves as "a token of the covenant" concluded with him by God for all generations, an "everlasting covenant" (), thus it is commonly observed by two (Judaism and Islam) of the Abrahamic religions.
Brit milah
A "Milah L'shem giur" is a "Circumcision for the purpose of conversion". In Orthodox Judaism, this procedure is usually done by adoptive parents for adopted boys who are being converted as part of the adoption or by families with young children converting together. It is also required for adult converts who were not previously circumcised, e.g. those born in countries where circumcision at birth is not common. The conversion of a minor is valid in both Orthodox and Conservative Judaism until a child reaches the age of majority (13 for a boy, 12 for a girl); at that time the child has the option of renouncing his conversion and Judaism, and the conversion will then be considered retroactively invalid. He must be informed of his right to renounce his conversion if he wishes. If he does not make such a statement, it is accepted that the boy is halakhically Jewish. Orthodox rabbis will generally not convert a non-Jewish child raised by a mother who has not converted to Judaism.
Jacob Snowman
John Cozijn and Robert Darby, who is an historian of the British circumcision movement, have suggested that the British Royal Family invited Rabbi Snowman ("rabbi" is an honorific commonly afforded to mohels) to circumcise the infant Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace most likely because of his extensive experience with circumcision, and perhaps because non-Jewish family physicians were deemed less familiar or adept with the procedure (which was widely performed on British middle- and upper-class male infants from the 1890s through the 1940s). Darby and Cozijn have cast doubt on claims, arising in the 1990s and widely reported after the birth of Prince George of Cambridge in 2013, that a Royal Family "circumcision tradition" extends back to Queen Victoria's era, or even to George I in the early 18th century, grounded in secretive Davidic or British Israelist religious tradition. It is unknown whether this putative "circumcision tradition" was continued with the birth of William in 1982, as Diana, Princess of Wales is believed to have disapproved of it.
Religious male circumcision
Religious male circumcision generally occurs shortly after birth, during childhood or around puberty as part of a rite of passage. Circumcision is most prevalent in the religions of Judaism, Islam, Coptic Orthodox Church, Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Eritrean Orthodox Church.
Circumcision of Jesus
Other late medieval and Renaissance depictions of circumcision in general show antipathy towards Judaism; caricatures show the procedure as being grotesquely cruel and the "mohel" as a threatening figure; Martin Luther's anti-Judaic treatise of 1543, "On the Jews and Their Lies", devotes many pages to circumcision. Some late-medieval German depictions depict the "Circumcision of Christ" in a similar vein, with the baby not held by his parents and the officiating Jewish officials given stereotypic features. In at least one manuscript miniature women are shown performing the rite, which has been interpreted as a misogynistic trope, with circumcision represented as a form of emasculation.
Tuli (rite)
According to the United Nations World Health Organisation: "In the Philippines, where circumcision is almost universal and typically occurs at age 10–14 years, a survey of boys found strong evidence of social determinants, with two thirds of boys choosing to be circumcised simply “to avoid being uncircumcised”, and 41% stating that it was “part of the tradition”
History of male circumcision
"This surgical operation, which is commonly prescribed for purely medical reasons, is also an initiation or religious ceremony among Jews and Muslims".