To Betsy and all

I’m an orthodox Jewish mother of three (circumcised and happy) little boys, including a six month old baby with SWCAH.

I went over that site that you posted for Kelly and read some of the links to it as well.  I was deeply angered when I read what some "so called Jewish associates" have to say about circumcision.  If these people are against circumcision, even though our religion strictly demands it, that’s bad enough, but who gave them the permission to represent the entire Jewish community and ’decide’  if circumcision is really important or not?!  How do they dear to speak in the name of us all that circumcision isn’t what identifies us and the main thing is only that a person should be a Jew in his heart (What does being a Jew in the heart mean anyway?  Is the definition really only "Love for our people and culture" as these people claim?! Whoever heard of a culture being based only on love for others with the same culture, especially if it’s a culture that has nothing more to offer besides for ’love’...?!)   If a Jew doesn’t lead a religious life how is that supposed to exempt him from performing a circumcision on his son which is the symbol of being Jewish?  What does one have with the other? 

Being against surgery on girls with ambiguous genitals is one thing but apposing circumcision on Jewish boys is something else completely.  God demanded from us to circumcise our boys when they are eight days old.  He loves and has pity on our children more than we do.  If he thought that we should circumcise our children even though we do it in such a (supposedly) mean ’manner’ as the photo on that board depicts and even though it’s also very ’painful’ to the infant (which from experience I can tell that our baby’s cope very well with all of it),  than no human being has the right to interfere.  None of us is smarter than God.

I wish there would be a way that I can express my feelings and the feelings of many others with a warm Jewish heart like me on that board.  Those people are smart.  They know that their theory as no backing and not wanting to deal with all of the criticism that they so honestly deserve they just left us with no place where we can respond.

 Good night to all and Happy Shevuos to those of you who are Jewish

E.W.