In her usual subtle style <grin>, Sarah Tuttle-Singer illustrates this point in her article... Did I Ruin My Son's Penis? , which was published in The Times of Israel this week.
I found one of her observations particularly interesting. While arguing with her husband about whether or not circumcision is really necessary, her husband had an unexpectedly strong opinion on the subject. After a long discussion involving Hitler, the Holocaust, and dearly departed Grandma (may her memory be a blessing)... the argument ends like this...
But still, I persisted: Why couldn’t we wait until our son was old enough to make the decision himself?
“Look, parents make choices for their children all the time,” my then-husband said. “We’re Jewish, and to deny the brit is to deny our people. So he’s getting circumcised.” Period.
WTF? The dude who never goes to synagogue, who eats pepperoni pizza on Passover, who can barely name the Five Books of Moses, had transformed into Tevye from "Fiddler on the Roof."And so it continues... irrational, inexplicable... but with deep spiritual meaning we continue a covenant that has been a part of our people for thousands of years.
I also made certain that my son was circumcised, even though at the time I was doing very little in the way of Jewish observance. There is something deep and spiritual about the practice, I can't explain it, but I feel that to end it would be to sever us from history and purpose as a people.
So, Mazel Tov to Sarah and her family!
