Jews for the Rights of the Child: Jewish Intactivists Support Outlawing Circumcision

“The human right to body integrity would, in this instance, override their religious right.…non-fundamentalist Jews, who constitute a very large number of Reform, Conservative, and even some Orthodox Jews, believe that human ethics are an essential element in the Jewish tradition. … This should give pause to any non-fundamentalist religious Jew, and it is a black eye for the liberal movements that they have not taken this issue more seriously. Perhaps a law prohibiting circumcision is just what these Jews need to start a serious discussion about the problem of brit milah.” 
- Eli Ungar-Sargon, Outlawing Circumcision: Good for the Jews?, The Forward, the Jewish Daily, May 20, 2011.

“I happen to agree with you that foreskin removal should be illegal. It is a mutilation… I agree with you that men should not be circumcised... I don’t know where this circumcision came from… There’s been all kinds of myths. I think it’s nonsense. That if you’re born that way, it seems to me it’s a mutilation to cut it off. The same way in Africa they sometimes cut off a woman’s clitoris and they think that’s justified. I think our foreskins were cut off in order to desensitize us, and I think it was a bunch of religious nudnicks who decided they didn’t want us going around fornicating so they cut off some of our penis skin.” 
- Howard Stern, Talk Radio Host 
Howard Stern, Jewish Intactivist by Rebecca Wald, J.D., BeyondTheBris , March 31, 2011.

"Laurie Evans, the Jewish director of New York's National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource CentersNOCIRC), told the Committee that under Jewish law, the son of a Jewish mother is Jewish, whether circumcised or not, and that despite great pressure she had kept her son intact. She said that many Jewish mothers confide to having been horrified by their boy's circumcision ceremony. She said that initially the ceremony involved removing only a small amount of foreskin, not all of it, and that several Jewish organizations recommend a peaceful birth ceremony instead. She urged the panel to watch a circumcision and raised the issue of botched circumcisions. The second Jewish mother to speak,Kathryn Mora, testified she had been devastated that her son was taken from her in the hospital and circumcised without her consent." 
- Peter W. Adler, A Bird's Eye View of the Hearing On the Massachusetts Bill to Outlaw Genital Mutilation 
Attorneys for the Rights of the Child Newsletter, Summer 2010.

“Jewish baby boys are human and have rights too, and those rights are violently trampled by his (and my) religion, in the case of brit milah. We must all learn to take the blinders off and somehow stop this heinous practice -- yes, by a law, if necessary. 
- Tina Kimmel, PhD, MSW, MPH, co-founder of Jews for the Rights of the Child. 
Letter to the Bay Citizen.

“In Massachusetts, two Jewish mothers testified in favor of a law making circumcision illegal. Moreover, several Jews and Jewish organizations throughout the country are backing a proposed national law against circumcision. Jewish groups such as Jews Against Circumcision and the Israeli Association Against Genital Mutilation have endorsed the proposed American MGM bill, which would rewrite the U.S. Female Genital Mutilation Act of 1996 so that boys are also protected from genital mutilation.”
- Questioning circumcision, by Shani McManus and Sergio Carmona, Florida Jewish Journal, June 06, 2011. 
 
“I’d heard how my uncle had fainted during my bris and what a horrible event it was. This was the thing everyone would talk about at the Passover seder… The ban on circumcision that’s on the ballot in San Francisco is a triumph for intactivists… I'm totally for it. San Francisco has often lead the country in elevating our consciousness. It has already helped spread awareness of this human rights crime to other states and hopefully will lead people everywhere to be more compassionate, thoughtful and rational not only towards their own fragile newborn children but to other fellow men and women as well.” 
- Jason Paige, Jewish Singer 
Blood, Sweat & Tears Lead Singer Protests Infant Circumcision, by Rebecca Wald, J.D., BeyondTheBris, July 1, 2011.

Intactivist Jewish Voices - Many Jews Question Circumcision 

• Jewish Voices: The Current Judaic Movement to End Circumcision: Part 1 

• Jewish Voices: The Current Judaic Movement to End Circumcision: Part 2

• Jewish Voices: The Current Judaic Movement to End Circumcision: Part 3

Some International Jews Also Favor Outlawing Child Circumcision

“What about religious freedom? Certainly, the ability to freely practise one's religion remains a vital component of any liberal democracy. But should this trump an individual's right to their bodily integrity? And shouldn't such a principle be extended to all those who, by virtue of their age, are too young to decide on which body parts they would or would not like to keep?... 
"Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights outlaws the kind of "harm" that circumcision can cause; article 14 forbids the discrimination that prevents baby boys from enjoying the same protection of their genitalia as baby girls. In the 21st century, it is time to remember that men, too, can be victims of unjust hegemonic systems tolerated in the name of tradition, culture or religion. If we oppose female genital mutilation, has the time not come for us also to oppose male genital mutiliation?" 
- Neil Howard and Rebecca Steinfeld, Time to ban male circumcision?, Guardian (UK), June 14, 2011.

Rebecca Steinfeld, is a PhD. candidate at Oxford University. She served as an under-35 director and as an associate of the Board of Deputies for New West End Synagogue.