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Publication Date: January 2002
Publisher: National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership
Author(s): Daniel S. Brenner
Research Area: Culture and religion; Social conditions
Keywords: Culture; Psychology; Ritual; Family
Type: Other
Abstract:
The author discusses the cultural and medical trend against circumcision and speculates about its future in the Jewish community, defending it as an act of violence that creates a covenant between father and son and acts as a marker of Jewishness. He wonders whether and how it could be effectively replaced in a way that respects both Jewish law and circumcision's cultural, religious, and psychological significance.