Boston, MA – A bill calling for prison time and fines for those who perform circumcision on any male under the age of 18 was rejected by the Judiciary Committee of the Massachusetts state legislature. [Originally reported first by VIN News here]
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The text of the proposed measure specifically mandated that no exception be given, even though the law would obstruct religious observance of the commandment of circumcision.
The measure also called upon the Department of Public Health to implement an educational program to discourage religious groups from carrying out the commandment of circumcision.
A goal of the legislation, according to an advocate group’s website, included enforcement by local police.
In a letter to the Committee following their vote, the Community Guardians Group (CGG) wrote that the people of Massachusetts “are inheritors of a rich heritage of courageous thinkers and leaders who have sought to advance the causes of righteousness and justice for all people… But there are also matters which lie outside the power entrusted to government.” The CGG mentioned that included among the things not to be restricted by government, is the commandment of circumcision, given by G-d Almighty.
The CGG offered thanks to G-d Almighty that this attack on their religion was halted, and commended the members of the Judiciary Committee for definitively rejecting this hateful plan.
Who the heck do lawmakers think that they are???? They have no right to ban circumcision when it is an important part of the Jewish faith. They are no better than pagan governments that banned it in the time of the Maccabees. That they didn’t vote for the ban is irrelevant. That even such a bill could be considered should be a real wake-up sign to people in this country who care about religious freedoms. And non-Jews need to be concerned about this too. Today they come for us. And if they ever get away with it, they will try to ban your freedoms tomorrow!
According to these nuts it should be illegal to draw blood from a child for the sake of a blood test, as the child might have not consented to it. How about making it illegal for a parent to have a childs ear pierced for the sake of earings.
reply to #1 . If you would have read the original story, you would have known that it was a private citizen that submitted the bill, which by law the committee must review. It was never expected that it would go to vote, and if knowing that there are private citizens that are anti-circumcision is a wake up call than I guess a lot of things would suprise you
to #4 , actually, I phoned the Massachusetts State Senate Judiciary Committee office earlier on your question. A lawyer on staff there told me that although the state consitution allows citizens to submit a bill by petition, that’s not what took place here. The citizen asked his Senator to sponosor it “on request.” That means the senator walked it in the door in the name of his consitutent and said “this is what a voter gave me.” The Senator was not required to do it. Its even less clear that the Committee was required to give an offifical audience to this rhetoric by holding a public hearing.
This is a good decision. For most yidden, milah is NOT discretonary and had the law bene enacted, the Bostoner rebbe would have quickly become the Bridgeporter Rebbe. I understand why the law was considered under state legislative procedures but this was a complete waste of time and money.
What a wonderful country America is. Any citizen, including you and me, however crazy the bee in his bonnet, can go to his local elected representative and ask him to help him get his meshugaas into law.
Then it goes before a committee and the judiciary and then to congress and ultimately to the president. If the proposal has any real merit it will become law and if, like this one, it is a meshugaas that is how it will stay.
G-D bless America and democracy.