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Male Circumcision and Anti-Semitism
FrontPageMagazine.com March 14, 2002 By: Jamie Glazov SEVERAL MONTHS AGO, IN EARLY NOVEMBER 2001, I published two columns, Male Circumcision – The Mutilation of Male Sexual Pleasure and Male Circumcision (Part 2) – Much More than Mutilation of Sexual Pleasure. My condemnation of male circumcision stimulated quite an interesting dialogue in the Go Postal Forum of FrontPage. Some of my critics accused me of anti-Semitism because of my stance against
male circumcision.
I was somewhat perplexed and saddened by this accusation and decided not to
answer by just saying the first thing that came to my head.
Having thought this question over for a few months, I am now ready to
return to this minefield.
The question of anti-Semitism in the context of circumcision is a very
intriguing issue. It prompts the vital question: is anti-Semitism, or even
Jewishness itself, defined by the issue of circumcision?
I am Jew.
There have been many of my Jewish brothers and sisters who have, throughout
the years, informed me that I am not.
My father is a Jew – in the ethnic sense. All of his life he fought
on behalf of his people, especially those Jews who were persecuted behind the
Iron Curtain.
My mother is a half Jew, with a Jewish father and a Slavic mother.
In the eyes of many Jews, therefore, who believe that Jewishness descends
through the maternal line, my mom is seen as a Slav.
For this reason, therefore, many Jews have denied me the right to my
Jewishness.
Fair enough.
But I can’t help from wondering: how are Jews to account for the millions
of their brothers and sisters who were persecuted in the Soviet Union for their
ethnicity and not for their religion? Many of these persecuted individuals
had non-Jewish mothers. Many of them were not circumcised. Yet they
were the victims of the Soviet regime’s anti-Semitism.
Unlike many of my critics, I was born and raised under the Soviet regime,
and my family’s Jewish blood brought real persecution. The KGB persecuted
my family because, aside from other reasons, it could smell our Jewishness a
mile away.
My family is Christian. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah
and that He has fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament. My father
always openly stated that he was a Jewish-Christian. He was sharply
criticized by other Jews for doing so. But he steadfastly refused to deny
his Jewishness in light of his Christianity.
And so do I.
Let us now blend with this reality the fact that my Jewish family did not
engage in the practice of male circumcision.
I am not circumcised.
Do these phenomena put my Jewishness into question? Is there any
legitimacy to the charge of anti-Semitism against me for these reasons alone?
Am I an anti-Semitic Jew because I believe that a human being should be
consulted for his consent before his penis is mutilated? The evidence that
substantiates that male circumcision does vital damage to the sexual pleasure of
both males and females is irrefutable. I recommend Kristen and Jeffrey
O’Hara’s book Sex As Nature Intended It for all of those who question this
established fact.
And as I discussed in my second column on circumcision, the mutilation of
the foreskin also damages a male’s emotional and mental health -- no matter when
the violence was inflicted.
We know that Jesus Christ was a Jew. He brought us the message of the
law no longer being engraved on tables of stone but upon the hearts of men. (2
Corinthians 3: 2-3) This was the New Testament message about the
circumcision of the heart. (Acts 15:1-21)
There is also the profound and sacred reality of the Covenant of Abraham in
Genesis 17, where God instructs the circumcision of eight-day-old baby boys.
But a vital question remains: was not the New Testament message of the
circumcision of the heart also rooted in the Old Testament? And does it
not deserve attention and respect?
This is not to suggest that religious Jews must become Christians. It
is only to raise the point that certain ideas and practices in Christianity have
a foundation in the Old Testament.
Is it possible, then, that circumcision has always been meant to be an
outward representation of the human being’s inner disposition toward, and
covenant with, God – as Christian sources suggest? If so, then what if a
person’s inner spiritual disposition is wholesome? Does the fact that he
might not be physically marked negate his inner covenant with God?
For Jews, is there an inner covenant without physical circumcision?
We know that in other parts of the Old Testament, circumcision is indeed a
symbolic act. It represents something internal. For instance, in
Leviticus 26:41, God understands idolatry and disobedience to be the product of
an uncircumcised heart. In Deuteronomy 10:16; 30:6, God describes his
covenant as a circumcision of the heart.
Do we as Jews ignore the significance of these verses? Is not St.
Paul’s inclusive vision legitimized by these holy words?
Did not Jewish Christians such as St. Paul and disciple Peter waive the
physical importance of circumcision precisely because they had found the grounds
to do so not only in the new message, but also in the old?
Romans 2:29 tell us that, "He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real
circumcision is circumcision of the heart, spiritual and not literal.”
Yes, Jews do not acknowledge St. Paul or the New Testament as their spiritual
guide. But St. Paul was referring to two traditions: what it means to be a
Jew, and what it means to be a Christian.
In the context of these realities, the question must be asked: is my own
Jewish identity characterized only by my views about physical circumcision, let
alone by my own status in connection with the practice itself?
Whether or not we seek to discount the Christian tradition, can we deny
that its seeds are present in Judaism?
And if we cannot deny it, is not God’s covenant, then, to be found in the
hearts of men?
Jamie Glazov holds a Ph.D. in History with a specialty in Soviet Studies.
He is the author of 15 Tips on How to be a Good Leftist and of Canadian Policy
Toward Khruschev’s Soviet Union ( McGill-Queens University Press, 2002). Born in
the U.S.S.R., Jamie is the son of prominent Soviet dissidents, and now resides
in Vancouver, Canada. He writes the Dr. Progressive advice column for
angst-ridden leftists at EnterStageRight.com. Email him at [EMAIL PROTECTED].
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