Why Are Jews Circumcised?

Abraham was the first Jew, living about 3700 years ago. The Bible tells us that when Abraham was 99 years old, God instructed him to circumcise himself, his 13-year-old son Ishmael and all of the men of his household. God told Abraham that all Jewish baby boys would from now on be circumcised at the age of eight days old, as Abraham would later do for his son Isaac. The circumcision was a sign of the covenant, the brit, between the Jewish people and God, which is why we call the ceremony a brit, or bris.

The covenant with God requires Jews to be loyal to God and to follow the commandments of Judaism. In return God will make the Jewish people into a great nation, give us the land of Israel and be with us, protecting us throughout history. Today, a mohel, or moyel, a Jew with special training, performs the ritual of circumcision when the baby boy is eight days old. During the ceremony, the baby is circumcised, receives his Hebrew name and is welcomed into the covenant of the Jewish people.

Over the millennia, most Jewish communities remained committed to circumcision. However, there are time periods when it fell out of favor. Jews living in Ancient Greece, over 2000 years ago, were one community that struggled with the ritual of circumcision.

Jews at the time were Hellenized, trying to assimilate into the larger Greek culture while remaining committed to their religion. At that time, Greek men participated in wrestling matches in the nude. As the Greeks did not practice circumcision, the matches made it all too plain who was Jewish and who was not. There are accounts of Jews having painful surgeries to reverse a circumcision in order to participate in these games.

In modern-day American society as a whole, circumcision has come in and out of favor. Currently, some 79% of all American men are circumcised, but newborn circumcision rates have dropped in recent decades to about 65%. Doctors continue to debate the health benefits or lack thereof from circumcision.

As reported recently in the New York Times, The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta is considering promoting routine circumcision for all baby boys born in the United States. The purpose is to reduce the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Studies in Africa have shown that circumcised men are half as likely to get HIV from an infected woman than uncircumcised men.

There is a non-governmental organization, Operation Abraham, whose mission is to encourage circumcision in Africa. Based in Jerusalem, Operation Abraham is a collaboration between the Jerusalem AIDS project and the Haddash Medical Organization. I found this to be amazing and inspiring; Israeli Jews promoting circumcision to help save Africans from AIDS.

As a rabbi, I officiate at a bris or a baby naming for a boy or a girl. The service for a newborn girl has all of the same rituals including the giving of the name and entering the covenant, without the actual circumcision. Just a few weeks ago, I officiated at a baby naming service for a boy, who was circumcised in the hospital. The parents, an interfaith couple, felt more comfortable having a medical doctor perform the circumcision, which is done on day 2. At the parent’s home, I blessed the baby boy and gave him his Hebrew name, welcoming him into the Covenant of the Jewish people.

From a Jewish perspective, circumcision is a vital and necessary part of our tradition. The ritual of circumcision makes the baby into a Jew. The baby boy receives his Hebrew name and now is a part of the people Israel. We have adapted certain parts of the ritual to meet the needs of our times. Yet the bris will remain a central and meaningful ritual in Judaism for every generation to come.

To read the article from the New York Times on circumcision: CLICK HERE

Large Trout and Big Problems

I am very fortunate to be able to go fly fishing for rainbow and brown trout near my home. I fish the Farmington River in Connectict and the Croton Watershed in New York. Sometimes, I hook a few fish, which I release back into the water. When I do have a trout resting briefly in the net, I make a mental note of its size: small, medium or large. That way, when I tell the story, I can be sure to lengthen the fish by a few inches.

It occurred to me that reeling in a beautiful rainbow trout can be a metaphor for dealing with problems in our lives. We face all sorts of issues each day, from work, from home and even inside of ourselves. Some are more easily overcome than others, just as the bigger trout are harder to bring to the net than small ones. Perhaps the experiences of bringing a trout to the net could offer a bit of guidance in dealing with the difficulties of life.

The smallest size trout found in a stream are fingerlings, fish that are theoretically the size of one’s finger, although usually between six and nine inches. It takes about a year for a trout to grow to this size after hatching from an egg. It is no problem to reel in and overpower such a small fish. I quickly bring the fish to the net, remove the hook from its mouth and gently return it to the stream.

Small Brown Trout caught on a beetle imitation

Many issues that we all face in life are equally simple to handle. We make a mistake a work, but find a way to fix it. We do something wrong at home like coming home too late or raising our voices when we should have asked a question or been more patient. These are the “I’m sorry” type of problems, where a genuine apology can lead to forgiveness.

The most common trout that I catch and release is a medium sized adult fish, usually about 10 or 12 inches, and weighing a pound or two. You can definitely feel the weight of the trout on the line. You have to be a little patient as you reel a medium sized fish in, not to create too much tension on the line or it will snap. Once hooked, the fish will run. Then he tires, and you can bring him into the net. Reeling in a medium size trout becomes relatively easy with practice, but you always have to be careful not to pull to hard and snap the line.

Medium sized brown trout caught and released

Reeling in a medium size trout is like dealing with a decent sized problem. We are pretty sure we can overcome it, but which if we handle it in the wrong way, it could worsen. The Pharaoh in Egypt thought that the Hebrews were a problem that he could handle. Pharaoh was concerned that the Jews could join his enemies and fight against him in a war. Rather than talk to the Israelites or try to ally with them, Pharaoh chose to enslave our people.

Pharaoh kept pulling and pulling on the metaphoric fishing line, trying to keep us enslaved, even though God brought plague after plague on Egypt, decimating the country. Finally after the tenth plague, the death of the firstborn, the line had been broken, along with Pharaoh’s will, and the king knew he had to let the people go. We benefit from learning from the experience of Pharaoh and not trying to overpower large problems in our lives. Sometimes we have to be patient, we have to negotiate, compromise and admit our mistakes.

Only a few times have I caught a truly large trout. This is a fish over 18 or so inches and weighing a few pounds. When you hook a fish this size on a fly fishing rod, you cannot possibly reel it in directly. If you pull too hard on a large trout, you will break the five-pound fly fishing line in five seconds. The only technique for bringing in large trout is to endure.

The largest trout I ever brought to the net. I released this rainbow back to its river home.

You reel in a little bit, then the fish starts swimming and you let it run. You try to keep the fish away from submerged trees and other hazards that can break the line. Then you just wait. Hopefully you can wear out the fish and bring it to the net over time. Or just as likely, the fish will find a way to break the line and escape. I have hooked three or four large trout over the years, and have only managed to bring one or two into the net.

Reeling in a large trout is like dealing with problems over which we have very little control. Some problems are so difficult that we have to simply find a way to endure and be patient, even as we continue to work to try to solve them. In Egpyt, the Israelites had to endure 400 years of slavery. During this terrible time, they found a way to maintain Judaism and pass it down from generation to generation.

In dealing with the difficulties of life, we too can take the same approach as the Israelite slaves. We can turn to our faith. We can continue each day to work to solve our problems. And sometimes we must simply endure. The Israelites were freed after 400 years of slavery. We benefit from living with this same hope. For you never know when the solution to a very large problem may appear, like a very a large trout rising to the surface and biting your caddis dry fly.