Circumcision-hatred: It was only a matter of time

Reductio ad Hitlerum fully justified.

You have to wonder very seriously if these people are insane.

The San Diego-based group that is laboring to get circumcision banned in San Francisco has perpetrated a comic book.  In it, a superhero named Foreskin Man saves a baby boy from being circumcised by the evil Monster Mohel, a vicious-looking Orthodox Jewish rabbi who could have been drawn by an acolyte of Joseph Goebbels.

Indeed, Foreskin Man has a distinctly Hitlerian “Aryan” look to him.

It’s crystal clear from the dialogue that the perpetrator of this literary opus intends to depict the Judaic religious view of circumcision as evil and repulsive.  The “comic” hauls out every theme of Jew hatred in the arsenal.

Note that these circumcision-haters could have addressed the issue as one of science, medicine, personal autonomy, or even just a social issue on which reasonable people can disagree.

But they didn’t.  The case they’re making is that circumcision is evil because Jews do it as a religious observance.

The Anti-Defamation League is right.  The attempt to ban circumcision in San Francisco is driven by anti-Semitism.  The case could have been made without depicting a scary rabbi named Monster Mohel slavering over a naked infant – but it wasn’t.

Actually, this group is not insane.  It’s evil.

Elder of Ziyon has additional images.

*UPDATE* Some readers have pointed out that Muslims also perform ritual circumcision.  The practice is widespread and has religious significance as evidence of following the practices of Abraham.  I suspect we’ll be waiting for a while to see a comic depicting an evil imam attacking a baby boy.

J.E. Dyer’s articles have appeared at Hot Air’s Green Room, Commentary’s “contentions,” Patheos, and The Weekly Standard online.

32 thoughts on “Circumcision-hatred: It was only a matter of time”

  1. Do they ever mention the fact that Muslims also do ritual circumcision?

    I guess we know the answer to that question.

    1. They do… indeed. It derives from the time of Abraham. It is cultural and the practice predates Islam by more than a thousand years.

      Like I said… very ancient wisdom.

  2. Not that it would detract from my respect for you, but i urge you to avoid being circumcised, opticon.

  3. You got it. I noticed it back in the pulse of this nonsense back in each of the last 3 decades… (there seems to be a push for it every half generation or so). The common thread is always anti-Semitic… eventually the ugly truth … well I won’t use the pun…

    The point is that there is some ancient wisdom in Hebrew/Jewish sanitary and dietary custom. Circumcision looks to drastically reduces the spread of HPV, chlamydia, and other venereal infections/diseases.

    It also helps prevent several nasty sanitary issues in men that I shall not describe… (family site).

    But the choice should be a familial personal one, and not a social imposition by people with an agenda…. especially one of hatred and intolerance.

    r/TMF

    1. avoiding the consumption of shellfish and pork etc was a fine idea for people living in a desert climate and lacking refrigeration.

      things aren’t the same these days.

      1. And maybe Jews (and Muslims) should be forced to consume shellfish and pork at least once a week so that they can realize that times have changed.

        1. I don’t see how you might find that compulsory consumption might follow from noting that the reasons for the “laws” are no longer generally extant.

  4. If circumcision as a religious/cultural event took place after puberty rather than in infancy, it wouldn’t exist. Huge numbers of Christian boys were circumcised by the same warped medical system that routinely removed tonsils at the first sign of a sore throat. This barbaric practice makes about as much sense as tattooing a child. Part of personal freedom should be the right to determine the configuration of your own body. The evil, anti-Semitic stance of the “Foreskin Man” people shouldn’t invalidate the idea that circumcision is a morally indefensible negation of the rights of a child.

    1. If you ever decided to convert to Judaism, you would thank your parents for doing the circumcision when you were an infant.

  5. Many of the most outspoken critics of circumcision have come from within the Jewish community. It is wrong to generalize and say that all people who want to see children protected from circumcision today are anti-Semitic. The discussion about this comic book could just be a red herring, an attempt to divert attention away from the original issue.

    Jesus, whom Christians recognize and worship as their Saviour, was Jewish. St. Peter, the first Pope, was also Jewish and spoke out against circumcision in Acts 15. St. Paul, who was Jewish, spoke out forcefully against circumcision in Galatians 5: 2-6 and Philippians 3: 2-3. The original Apostles were all Jewish, including Judas. It would be wrong to paint all the other apostles in a negative light because of the actions of one- Judas, just as it is wrong to claim that all people opposed to circumcision are anti-Semitic. One can be opposed to the practice of circumcision and NOT be anti-Semitic.

    There are Jewish people opposed to circumcision, just as there are people who aren’t Jewish who are opposed to circumcision. See

    http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org/

    http://www.circumcision.org/

    Dean Edell, M.D., a Jewish doctor and host of a radio show, narrates a video on circumcision at
    http://www.nocirc.org/

    Most of the recent books on infant circumcision are critical of the practice and have been written by Jewish authors. As a Catholic, I was appalled by the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy, but that doesn’t make me anti-Catholic!

    Here is a list of books on circumcision by Jewish authors, including one whose husband is Jewish:

    1. “Circumcision- An American Health Fallacy” by the late Edward Wallerstein (Springer Publishing Company, 1980).

    2. “Circumcision- The Painful Dilemma” by Rosemary Romberg (Bergin & Garvey Publishers, 1985). Romberg’s husband is Jewish.

    3. “Prisoners of Ritual- An Odyssey into Female Genital Circumcision in Africa” by Hanny Lightfoot-Klein (Harrington Park Press, 1989). Chapter 7 discusses the similarities between male and female circumcision. See also
    http://www.fgmnetwork.org/intro/mgmfgm.html

    4. “Circumcision- The Hidden Trauma” by Ronald Goldman, Ph.D. (Vanguard Publications, 1997).

    5. “Questioning Circumcision- A Jewish Perspective” by Ronald Goldman, Ph.D. (Vanguard Publications, 1998).

    6. “What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Circumcision- Untold Facts on America’s Most Widely Performed- and Most Unnecessary- Surgery” by Paul M. Fleiss, M.D. and Frederick M. Hodges, D.Phil (Warner Books, 2002). Dr. Fleiss is Jewish, and a pediatrician.

    7. “Marked in Your Flesh- Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America” by Leonard B. Glick (Oxford University Press, 2005).

    1. So? There are lots of Secular Jews who have abandoned Judaism for pop culture… so what? George Soros and others were slimy Kapos who preyed on their own people. That makes the Shoah all hunky dunky then?

      Female genital mutilation (removal of actual functional body parts, not useless germ trap flaps of skin) is not even remotely equal to the hygienic practice of male circumcision.

      Being Catholic, I run into a fair number of “anti-circumcisionists”, guess what? Almost to a person… when you really get down to their reasoning, they are anti-Semitic…

      ALSO…. your Biblical context is missing. Paul was speaking of GENTILES as adults not having to be observant Jews, first, before being accepted into Christianity. Peter also waived the rigors of kosher dietary laws. Gee wow, Christ came and gave the mission to SPREAD the faith not limit it.

      Again… so what gives the state the power to ban non-destructive (and don’t feed me the nonsense that the foreskin is remotely functional… it isn’t) familial hygienic practice?

      -TMF

      1. Some Jews feel the time has come for a symbolic bris without surgery.

        Jewish Groups for Genital Integrity
        * Jews Against Circumcision http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org/
        * Jews for the Rights of the Child http://www.jewsfortherightsofthechild.org/
        * Brit Shalom Celebrants by Mark D. Reiss, M.D. http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html
        * Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective by Ron Goldman, Ph.D. http://www.jewishcircumcision.org/ritual.htm
        * Beyond the Bris: Jewish Parenting Blog http://www.beyondthebris.com/p/about-project.html
        * A Case for Bris without Milah. http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish.html

    2. Sorry, PJ, but your position misses the point completely. The Foreskin Man author is a primary organizer of the anti-circumcision initiative in SF, not some outlier. His motivations have become abundantly clear: anti-Semitism. As such, he has tainted the debate on this issue. His actions have uncovered an inconvenient truth: often when certain Jewish practices are targeted for prohibition by civil law, there is another agenda at play. Sometimes there are Jews who for their own personal religious practice reasons, unwittingly support such initiatives. Matthew Hess revealed his agenda for all the world to see. That is the issue now. I hope those Jews who support this initiative display integrity and remove their support for this initiative.

      1. Santis, the issue isn’t tainted because some schmuck takes a position on it for all the wrong reasons.

        1. In this case, it is. One needs to examine the forces that are driving the proposed law

  6. To ban one of the commandments of God is one more step in total rebellion against God, which is a pre-cursor of the Great Tribulation and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Posted by Rev. Daniel W. Blair, author of Final Warning

    1. I don’t remember circumcision as one of the ten commandments, Blair.
      Has the list been revised?

  7. Mr. Blair didn’t say it was one of the Ten Commandments, fus. God gave many commandments in the Pentateuch. He gave Abraham this one centuries prior to the establishment of the Law (of which the Ten Commandments are the centerpiece).

    The commandment to Abraham is found in Genesis 17:1-14.

    1. thank you for the explanation. apart from the top 10, there are indeed a great many other things in the torah said to be imposed upon mankind by god.

      I tend to doubt that most people are aware of them all, and fewer follow them all.
      thinking that failing to follow them all constitutes rebelling against god is an interesting POV.

  8. Actually, fuster, there are reasons why Christians don’t universally observe all the commandments of the Torah.

    The most important thing in this regard is that Christians believe the sacrifice of Jesus obviated all the sacrifices and punishments required by the Law. So the commandment to stone homosexuals to death — a punishment — does not apply to what Christians call the “Age of Grace.” What was sin under the Law is still sin, but the punishments prescribed under the Law, and the ritual sacrifices (animal and grain) required by it, no longer regulate man’s relationship to God.

    (I’ve laid this out before, BTW.)

    Not all Christians believe that circumcision is a continuing commandment. But it was never revoked by anything later in the Bible, as some other things were (e.g., the prohibitions on foods).

    Mr. Blair’s point is that in seeking to prohibit it, San Francisco would be trying to use human law to strike down a commandment of God. That is a step beyond merely failing to adhere to that commandment. It can certainly be seen as a form of rebellion.

    I realize you don’t believe these things, and the point is not to try to make you do so. These comments are more for everyone else, in fact.

    Trying to depict Christians as inconsistent and foolish, because they don’t observe all the requirements of the Mosaic Law, is a weak argument. Studied-up Christians know what was in the Law, and know equally well why they don’t observe all the Law’s prescriptions. Passages of the epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews lay it out.

    1. I was not trying to ay anything at all about Christians or their differences from the followers of the sons of Moses and Aaron, opticon, but I appreciate your defense.

      I was more interested in pointing out that failure to follow may not of necessity be scribed to rebellion, but might be due to ignorance or even human weakness.

      I meant nothing other than that, but it’s good to know that you’ve done your studying on this subject.

  9. Why anyone would get in a tizzy over circumcision is completely beyond me. If the Moslems and Jews believe that God told them to circumcise their male childrem – let ’em go ahead. Lets face it, compared to some of the things some of them say Got told them to do, circumcision is pretty harmless.

    As for the cartoon. I agree that it is totally obnoxious. The rabbi’s semitic features are exaggerated so as to make him appear alien and threatening. Of course, the semitic Arabs are commonly portrayed in our popular press in exactly the same way and for exactly the same purpose.

    1. … Cut: Slicing Through the Myths of Circumcision – A Film by Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon
      http://www.cutthefilm.com
      Jews for the Rights of the Child
      http://www.jewsfortherightsofthechild.org/
      Circumcision and the Brain
      http://circumcision.org/brain.htm
      Alternative Jewish Rituals
      http://www.jewishcircumcision.org/ritual.htm
      Israeli Linguist Vadim Cherny: How Judaic is the Circumcision?
      http://vadimcherny.org/judaism/how_judaic_circumcision.htm ….

  10. To follow up on opticon’s comments about sin and punishment, even during Temple times the punishments stipulated in Torah for various sins were considerably diluted by rules about evidence. AS a practical matter the death sentence was very rare. Moreover the phrase “cut off from among you” was interpreted to mean retribution from God, not punishment inflicted by humans.

    I’m afraid that a lot of hostility to circumcision comes from self-hating Jews. AS for the argument that physical changes in the body must not be inflicted on children since they cannot consent, this would place many many forms of corrective surgery in jeopardy. It is based on a faulty assumption–even a foolish one–that parents don’t shape children’s lives irremedially. For example, teaching a child one language may be said to immediately unfit him to easily learn another, by defining his phonemic awareness and syntactical sense. However, a child who is taught no language in early years is unable to learn any language later.

    Human life is a life shaped by culture, and culture defines and in a sense limits our life choices. Protest against this definition of the self early in life is surprisingly widespread in our society now; note the many couples who plan to let children choose their religion after the grow up, when they will have had no experience of what religion is at all. The anti-circumcision rant takes this revolt to an extreme.

    Judaism, as the source of so many “thou shalt’s” and “thou shalt not’s” in our society, will be a natural target of those who resent the “imposition” of cultural definitions and boundaries.

    1. You guys are amazing, making a pathetic attempt to defend the indefensible. The Flathead Indians of the Pacific Northwest bound a board on an infant’s skull to produce a tapered, flattened forehead. This is no longer done and if it were child welfare agencies would go crazy. For centuries, aristocratic Chinese females had their feet bound from infancy which produced a small, deformed foot that literally crippled them. Nobody seems to regret that the custom is no longer followed. The Padaung women of Burma, wearing coils of brass around their necks from early childhood to push their shoulders down and give the impression that their necks are long, probably couldn’t follow that particular aspect of their culture if they lived in Dade County. When these customs were extant, their proponents could have explained just how important they were and how much sense they made. But they weren’t and didn’t. And that’s the case with circumcision as well.

      1. @nail – yur own words argue against you; infant circumcision is not comparable to any of the horror which you list. There are simply too many adult, circumsized males who *know* first hand that this is so…. which makes it impossible to take your argument seriously.

  11. Ir’s also worth pointing out the absolute fanaticism of at least many of the anti-circumcision crowd (I’m not surprised that a lot of the opposition comes from Jews resentful towards their heritage)–I remember a day time talk show some years back on the issue and one of the anti-circumcision speakers claimed to have “recovered memory” (of the kind that was very popular around the same time for victims of child abuse and various fakers and exploiters of the panic) of his circumcision which, needless to say, caused him excruciating pain and horror constantly. There’s no way you’re going to trump that, 5,000 years of tradition or not!

  12. ######################################################
    There is a movement of Jews who are questioning circumcision, and working to end this abuse of children. The movement ranges from the Orthodox to the secular, and includes mothers, fathers, scholars, historians, medical professionals, activists, and intellectuals.

    🙂 * The Current Judaic Movement to End Circumcision: Part 1
    http://intactnews.org/node/105/1311886372/jewish-voices-current-judaic-movement-end-circumcision-part-1

    🙂 * The Current Judaic Movement to End Circumcision: Part 2
    http://intactnews.org/node/105/1311886372/jewish-voices-current-judaic-movement-end-circumcision-part-2

    🙂 * Jews Speak Out in Favor of Banning Circumcision on Minors
    http://intactnews.org/node/103/1311885181/jews-speak-out-favor-banning-circumcision-minors
    ########################################################

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