Marked in Your Flesh : Circumcision From Ancient Judea to Modern America

the Book Of Genesis Tells Us That God Made A Covenant With Abraham, Promising Him A Glorious Posterity On The Condition That He And All His Male Descendents Must Be Circumcised. For Thousands Of Years Thereafter, The Distinctive Practice Of Circumcision Served To Set The Jews Apart From Their Neighbors. The Apostle Paul Rejected It As A Worthless Practice, Emblematic Of Judaism's Fixation On Physical Matters. Christian Theologians Followed His Lead, Arguing That Whereas Christians Sought Spiritual Fulfillment, Jews Remained Mired In Such Pointless Concerns As Diet And Circumcision. As Time Went On, Europeans Developed Folklore About Malicious Jews Who Performed Sacrificial Murders Of Christian Children And Delighted In Genital Mutilation. But Jews Held Unwaveringly To The Belief That Being A Jewish Male Meant Being Physically Circumcised And To This Day Even Most Non-observant Jews Continue To Follow This Practice. In This Book, Leonard B. Glick Offers A History Of Jewish And Christian Beliefs About Circumcision From Its Ancient Origins To The Current Controversy. By The Turn Of The Century, More And More Physicians In America And England—but Not, Interestingly, In Continental Europe—were Performing The Procedure Routinely. Glick Shows That Jewish American Physicians Were And Continue To Be Especially Vocal And Influential Champions Of The Practice Which, He Notes, Serves To Erase The Visible Difference Between Jewish And Gentile Males. Informed Medical Opinion Is Now Unanimous That Circumcision Confers No Benefit And The Practice Has Declined. In Jewish Circles It Is Virtually Taboo To Question Circumcision, But Glick Does Not Flinch From Asking Whether This Procedure Should Continue To Be The Defining Feature Of Modern Jewish Identity. "Leonard B. Glick traces the history of infant circumcision from its origins in ancient Judea, through centuries of Christian condemnation and Jewish defense, to its current role in American culture and medical practice. A chapter of the book of Genesis, composed by priests around 500 B.C.E., says that God made a covenant with Abraham, promising him a glorious posterity on condition that he and all his male descendants be circumcised. Eventually the practice of infant male circumcision would become a key element in the separation between Judaism and Christianity. While Christians rejected circumcision as spiritually irrelevant, Jews held unwaveringly to the belief that being a Jewish male meant being physically circumcised." "Informed medical opinion is still divided, but most physicians now agree that circumcision confers no significant medical benefits; yet the practice is still routine in most American hospitals. At the same time, determined opposition has grown among those who recognize its significant adverse effects and the ethical and legal implications of imposing reductive surgery on the genitals of nonconsenting persons. Moreover, Jewish opponents maintain that this disfiguring practice makes no positive contribution to modern Jewish American life."--Jacket. Contents......Page 14 Prologue: Questioning Circumcision......Page 18 1. "This is My Covenant": Circumcision in the World of Temple Judaism......Page 28 2. "Great is Circumcision": Christian Condemnation, Jewish Veneration......Page 50 3. "Offering Incense to Heaven": Jewish Circumcision in Medieval and Early Modern Europe......Page 70 4. "The Height of Foulness": Circumcision in European Religious and Popular Culture......Page 100 5. "Trembling of the Hands": Radical Challenges in a Pivotal Century......Page 130 6. Good Sanitarians: Circumcision Medicalized......Page 164 7. "This Little Operation": Jewish American Physicians and Twentieth-Century Circumcision Advocacy......Page 194 8. Unanswerable Questions, Questionable Answers: Justifying Ritual Circumcision......Page 230 9. "Deep Feelings of Nervousness": Circumnavigating the Taboo Topic......Page 256 Epilogue......Page 288 Notes......Page 298 Bibliography......Page 350 B......Page 376 C......Page 377 F......Page 378 H......Page 379 J......Page 380 M......Page 381 P......Page 382 S......Page 383 V......Page 384 Z......Page 385 Oxford University Press, USA Contents 14 Prologue: Questioning Circumcision 18 1. "This is My Covenant": Circumcision in the World of Temple Judaism 28 2. "Great is Circumcision": Christian Condemnation, Jewish Veneration 50 3. "Offering Incense to Heaven": Jewish Circumcision in Medieval and Early Modern Europe 70 4. "The Height of Foulness": Circumcision in European Religious and Popular Culture 100 5. "Trembling of the Hands": Radical Challenges in a Pivotal Century 130 6. Good Sanitarians: Circumcision Medicalized 164 7. "This Little Operation": Jewish American Physicians and Twentieth-Century Circumcision Advocacy 194 8. Unanswerable Questions, Questionable Answers: Justifying Ritual Circumcision 230 9. "Deep Feelings of Nervousness": Circumnavigating the Taboo Topic 256 Epilogue 288 Notes 298 Bibliography 350 Index 376 A 376 B 376 C 377 D 378 E 378 F 378 G 379 H 379 I 380 J 380 K 381 L 381 M 381 N 382 O 382 P 382 R 383 S 383 T 384 U 384 V 384 W 385 Y 385 Z 385 ISBN-13:,9780195315943 ISBN-13: 9780195315943 This book offers a history of Jewish and Christian beliefs about circumcision from its ancient origins to the controversy about the ethics of performing such surgery on helpless infants We begin with the biblical text on which everything depends: chapter 17 of Genesis.