The Future of Foreskins


 

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.