thanks.


the guy who says he isn't "crusty or smelly" is a fool. and I have no intention of getitng close enough to find out. the folks wo mentioned that everyone can wash got it about right...

and as a Jewish woman who is 100% opposed to modifying the bodies of children who can't give their consent...I'm really tired of dumb stereotypes being presented as if they were, indeed, etched in stonbe.

if you read the Bible carefully, BTW., assuming it's any kind of historical document, which is a bit "iffy" in and of itself...Moses was never circumcised! (and Jesus pre was...)

as for plant food...first morning urine diluted 10 to one with water works fine and we yield it painlessly.

I;ve heard of friends who turned used condoms inside out and used the semen on their flowering plants with great success, but never tried it myself. I( assume most of thoselubricating additives would complicate matters a bit...

the book: Questioning CIrcumcision: A Jewish perspective (I recommended it in another thread on this site) is really useful at speaking clearly to traditional bris, and to the medical rationaalizing that's come up much later than any Biblical injunctions, and showing a better and more compassionate way for all.

I gotta remind everyone though, that most of the boys circumcised in the US are NOT Jewish and many, possibly most, jewish babies are circumcised at the hospital without even the dubious "benefits" of a spiritual approach. (also, when they are even younger and even more vulnerable medically, not that a week or so really makes it any "better.")

the title was making fun of an old Yoddish joke-saying, BTW.


I;ve met spiritual jews, some born and raised in Israel, who haev recently spoken out against circumcision for the exact reasons most of us here oppose it. someone I know like that (a Polish-born jewish man wit three children and one stepchild, raised in israel and a resident fo the US for about 25 years) spoe up at the "open Torah" truth-telling time that the Aquarian Minyan, a Jewish Renewal community, has every year at the High Holy Days, about how and why he has changed his perspective. it was GREAT hearing him say, "so I'm telling you, don;t hurt that little penis!" at the end.

I really believe, and thnk this is part of the very best of Jewish intellectual and humanitarian tradition, that hearts as well as minds can grow and change and if we honor that, more people will come around.

I must confess, I really get uncomfortable when anti-circumcision organizing turns into name-calling and Jew-hating. like I said, I'm quite proudly Jewish, and you'd have to tie ME to a board before I;d let anyone circumcise a child in my presence.

the more we let go of stereotypes and workon changing people's specific ideas and behavior, the sooner victory.