A Resource Guide To The “Intactivist” (No Circumcision) Movement

I have received so many e-mails in response to my recent post about circumcision.  This is obviously a big issue for many people.  One of the greatest barriers to changing the mindset about it is that rabbis (and others) make people feel quite guilty and isolated as a result of their desire to avoid harming their newborn child.

Well, there’s not much we can do about guilt except to point out that there’s absolutely no reason for otherwise modern, liberal Jews to observe this dubious “mitzvah.”  Most of us have no problem dropping superstitious Jewish rituals that have no meaning in our time.  Avoiding this one should give them no cause for additional concern.

As for the isolation, here’s a helping hand.  It’s a complete resource, sent to me for publication on this blog.  I am pleased to oblige:

“It’s not a parental choice. There’s an ethical problem with making this a parental choice, namely that you’re not taking into account the wishes upon whom the surgery is being performed.”

-Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon, Jewish Intactivist, Georgetown University, September 22, 2011, Q&A with Ryan McAllister & Rabbi Binyamin Biber Podcast

The Ethical and Moral Problems of Circumcision: Jewish Arguments for Intactivism:

• Circumcision Questions (letter from uncircumcised Jew) . Published in the Northern California Jewish Bulletin.
• Moshe Rothenberg: Being Rational About Circumcision and Jewish Observance
• Lisa Braver Moss: The Jewish Roots of Anti-Circumcision Arguments
• Eli Ungar-Sargon Outlawing Circumcision Good for the Jews?  Published in the Jewish Daily Forward.
• Defying Convention: An Interview With Miriam Pollack Published on Beyond the Bris.
• Judaism, the Foreskin, and Human Rights Part 1.
• Judaism, the Foreskin, and Human Rights Part 2.
• Judaism, the Foreskin, and Human Rights Part 3.
• Jenny Goodman, MD: An Alternative Perspective A Jewish doctor in the UK chooses intact.
• The Measure of His Grief by Lisa Braver Moss A novel exploring Jewish intactivism.
• Hebrew Scholar Vadim Cherny: How Judaic is circumcision?  It’s not at all, he finds.
• Profile of Orthodox Intactivist Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon
• Brit Milah: Inconsistent with Jewish Ethics? Written by a Jewish parent.
• A Progressive Case for Bris without Milah.
• Rabbi Nathan Segal Calls for an End to Circumcision A Progressive Rabbi urges us to move to peaceful covenants.
• Lisa Braver Moss: Evolving Jewish Practices Published on Beyond the Bris.
• Eli Ungar-Sargon & Rabbi Shmuley Boteach on the Ethical Problems of Circumcision At the Manhattan Jewish Experience.
• Miriam Pollack: Circumcision : A Jewish Feminist Perspective Published in Jewish Women Speak Out.

Quicktime Audio: Q&A with Jewish Intactivist Leaders:

• Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon with Ryan McAllister & Rabbi Binyamin Biber
• Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon with Rabbi Steven Blane & Laurie Evans
• The Psychological Consequences of Circumcision with Ronald Goldman Ph.D.

This History of Circumcision: Voices of Progressive  Jews who Oppose Circumcision:

• Howard Stern: Jewish Intactivist Published on Beyond the Bris.
• The History of Circumcision: Leonard Glick , MD, PhD. explains how he came to write Marked In Your Flesh.
• Progressive, Moral Jews speak out in Favor of Banning Circumcision on Minors. Intactivism and Human Rights.
• Women’s Perspectives Published on Dr. Ron Goldman’s site.
• Jewish mom: Circumcision spiritually wounds, breaks bonds and trust Published in the East Valley Tribune.
• Jonathan Friedman: On Circumcision Authority, and the Perpetuation of Abuse Published on Beyond the Bris.
• Jewish Scholar and Intactivist, Leonard Glick, MD, PhD. A Jewish history of circumcision.
• Lisa Braver Moss: The Measure of his Grief A novel on the subject of Jewish Intactivism.
• Shea Levy: To the Mohel Who Cut Me Published on Beyond the Bris.

Examples of Young Jewish Parents who Choose Peaceful Covenant Ceremonies:

• Dear Elijah: A Conservative Jewish Father’s Letter to His Intact Son Published on Peaceful Parenting.
• Diane Targovnik: How “Cut” Saved My Son’s Foreskin : A Movie Review Published on Beyond the Bris.
• Jewish Mamma: Today’s Jews Reject Circumcision and Choose Peaceful Welcoming Covenants An Intactivist Midwife.
• The Naming Published on Very, Very Fine.
• Sarah Rockwell: Lucking Into Bris Shalom Published on Beyond the Bris.
• Laura Shanley: A Jewish Woman Denounces Circumcision A Childbirth educator chooses intact.
• Michael S. Kimmel: The Kindest Un-Cut: Feminism, Judaism, and My Son’s Foreskin Published in Tikkun.
• Stacey Greenberg: My Son: The Little Jew with a Foreskin Published in Mothering Magazine.
• Intact and Jewish Published on the Natural Parents Network.
• Moshe Rothenberg: Ending Circumcision in the Jewish Community? Envisioning an Intactivist Judaism.