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{"id":8509,"date":"2013-04-07T10:03:46","date_gmt":"2013-04-07T15:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?p=8509"},"modified":"2015-03-13T16:44:44","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T21:44:44","slug":"ask-the-rabbi-whats-with-cutting-mens-penises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2013\/04\/07\/ask-the-rabbi-whats-with-cutting-mens-penises\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask the Rabbi: What’s With Cutting Men’s Penises?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Rabbi Joseph Edelheit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

This is part of an occasional series in which I pose a question to my rabbi, Joseph Edelheit<\/a>. I don\u2019t set it up, and I don\u2019t give him a warning. I just turn on the recorder and ask the question.<\/p>\n

I asked him this question last night, as we drove home from co-teaching a class at St. Cloud State University on anti-Judaism in the New Testament, particularly in the book of Hebrews.<\/p>\n

This has been a question that\u2019s been haunting me about Judaism for a while now. We\u2019ve all got wacky practices in our religions \u2014 heck, I drink blood and eat flesh each week. But the severing of the penile foreskin seems to me wackier than most. In fact, I find it shocking that it\u2019s still so prevalent \u2014 almost unanimous \u2014 among Jews.<\/p>\n

Joseph didn\u2019t skirt my question at all. In fact, I found his answer fascinating:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Edelheit Audio<\/a>\u00a0(4 minutes)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"