New York – In what continues to be a story that refuses to die , the NY Daily News recently ran a rather disturbing and questionable op-ed against male circumcision, under the title “end the barbaric cutting of baby boys.” It was written by a lead opponent of male circumcision and member of the group that famously attempted to ban circumcision in San Francisco over the past several months. The piece also took direct aim at California Gov. Jerry Brown for halting the San Francisco measure to ban male circumcision.
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In what is now being hailed by religious leaders, Gov. Brown’s used the power of his office to stop the overreaching efforts of anti-circumcision activists in San Francisco when he wisely stepped in and signed a state wide ban, one that prohibits local municipalities from creating local ban’s on male circumcision.
The opinion piece featured in the Daily News and various publications across the country took direct aim at Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature on the anti- ban legislation and stepped up the efforts of “intactivists” in their battle to ban male circumcision across the country. see here.
In a pointed and articulate counter argument, prominent Jewish community activist, and Agudath Israel of America board member, Chaskel Bennett, penned a powerful opinion piece in today’s NY Daily News to refute and discredit the offensive attacks against male circumcision and those directed at “Bris Milah” in particular.
When contacted by VIN, Mr. Bennett responded, “make no mistake the anti- circumcision activists will continue their attacks on Bris Milah in the guise of “children’s rights” or whatever they wish to call it. We must be prepared to fight back in defense of our religious liberties. Governor Brown took decisive measures to put down this effort in San Francisco but I’m afraid these people are not going away so fast. As I see it, Today’s op-ed was written in defense of the religious freedoms we as Americans are guaranteed by the constitution.”
See below the op-ed:
The recent California bill signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown making it illegal for local municipalities across the state to pass laws banning circumcision was a sorely needed breath of political fresh air. By signing this important bill, Brown stood up for both democracy and religious rights.
When anti-circumcision advocates (“intactivists,” as they are now called) make their case for banning this routine surgical procedure, as they recently tried to do in San Francisco with the Male Genital Mutilation Bill, they invariably point to the (atypical) occurrences of child mortality while excluding the hard evidence that overwhelmingly confirms its safety. More specifically, they tend to ignore the reality that millions of people, Jews and non-Jews alike, through the millennia have had male circumcision with few, if any, of the adverse issues they so vividly describe.
I suggest the reason they deliberately discount this fact is because statistics from the millions of procedures soundly confirm, absent a few rare cases, an almost nonexistent injury or mortality rate.
Therefore, there is simply no basis for a call to ban circumcision on medical grounds. Indeed, when making their groundless case, intactivists have taken to casting aside the large body of medical evidence, cited in the new California law, that circumcision is an important life-saving shield against the transmittal of certain diseases. Many respected experts believe that circumcision may help protect against penile cancer, the human papilloma virus and HIV, among other afflictions.
By deliberately minimizing or ignoring studies that tout the benefits of circumcision, intactivists reveal a potentially deeper and more troubling bias than their stubborn suspicion of science.
The Jewish people are no strangers to attacks on their religious practices, which often come in the form of enlightenment – in this case, under the guise of “childrens’ rights.” From ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome to Nazi Germany and communist Russia, male circumcision has always been in the crosshairs of our adversaries. They all understood that Brit Milah – part of Abraham’s covenant – is at the very heart and origin of authentic Judaism.
Tellingly, anti-circumcision advocates seem not at all concerned with ear piercing, which is forcibly thrust upon millions of helpless American children. It is circumcision that mysteriously riles them up.
When one views the deeply offensive images of the satanic Jewish “Monster Mohel” in the “Foreskin Man” comic published by intactivists who led the effort to ban circumcision in San Francisco, the mystery is resolved.
Brit Milah is not simply an “ancient, outmoded practice” akin to “slavery” as some intactivists ignorantly describe it, but a fundamental component of the Jewish faith. It is the height of hubris for any activist to label circumcision, a sacred covenant, passed from generation to generation, as “primitive.” Primitive is an adjective better applied to the dastardly custom of ridiculing biblical law and the faithful who hold such tenets to be divine.
Some have argued that a newly contrived naming ceremony called “Brit Shalom” would satisfy the religious obligation of those looking for an alternative to the real thing. But in truth, “Brit Shalom,” a bloodless counterfeit of Brit Milah, is as authentic as the $10 knockoff sold to unsuspecting tourists as a Rolex.
Our government has provided Americans of all faiths with more religious freedoms than can be found anywhere else in the world. It is this fidelity to our variety of beliefs that sets this country apart. An attack on circumcision today should be viewed as an attack on personal liberties everywhere. Gov. Brown correctly recognized that circumcision is a health benefit – and crucial to those of us who answer to a higher power.
Chaskel Bennett is a member of the board of trustees of Agudath Israel of America, a national organization representing Orthodox Jews.
For over 4000 years all Jews kept this holy Mitzvah with mesiros nefesh. It’s a shame that in the Democratic country of United States can be such a person or group to fight it. He belongs to the time of Antiyuchos or other anti semithetic groups like Stalin or czar Nikolai.
Impressive, as always, Chaskel keep it up.. your a good Askun for our community.
Well written.
God bless you.
no need to ban it it could, it be performed paineleesly with some medication the only reason they want to ban it it becuase of the extreeme pain to the child that is what they say why not make it painles.
This is just another reminder that America is changing for the worse. Hitler did not come into power over night and Germany started with all the little things and then it was an all out war on the jews.
Thank g-d for people like Chaskel Bennett who is not not ignoring the issue like many others and taking some action.
The American public ahs also ignored the Occupy Wall Street protestors with many saying they are no threat to public safety. Anti Semites went after Rubashkin and would love for all jews to stop the minhag of kapores and do away with shechita, bris milah etc. What’s next?
All the anti semites hide in the cloak of “protecting children”, “rights”……….
If this does not remind any of us of what Germany was like in the late 1920’s then we better wake up now.
Maybe we should all move to Israel now because America as we know it is doomed.
Very well written response. Thank you Agudah!
Bubbi at 4, they want to ban it because they are anti semites. Don’t be naive.
Even if there was a death penalty G-d forbid, for making bris mila, we would still circumcise our sons on the eigth day! Nothing can stop us from keeping the mitzvah, certainly not a toieva group bent on blood libel and defamation from San Fransisco.
Why don’t they care when you pierce the ears of 2 day old babies for earings ?
The leaders of this movement are clearly anti-Semitic. Remember the comic book showing the mohel as an evil caricature of a Jew? And the hero who saves the kid as blonde and blue-eyed? Further, the intactivists are curiously uninvolved in any other child-protection movements, save those which “protect” children from religion.
to #5 – move to Israel? Um… where it can be hard for a shomer shabbos to get a job? Where frumme yidden are discriminated against and spat upon?