When Rabbis Blunder: - Attacking Bris Milah?

5tjt

This morning upon perusing the Jewish news sites, I actually rubbed my eyes in amazement.  Could it really be that an Orthodox Rabbi had really written these words?  Surely this is some kind of bizarre, cruel, prank – a modern orthodox Rabbi attacking Bris Milah, giving the anti-circumcision movement fodder to attack and gloat –in the pages of the Jewish Week?

The Rabbi writes:  “Circumcision is unsettling. As the actor Russell Crowe wrote on Twitter: “I love my Jewish friends, I love the apples and the honey and the funny little hats but stop cutting yr babies.” Despite the politically incorrect tone, Crowe reminds us why the anti-circumcision movement is here to stay: circumcisions are bloody and make babies cry. Even the committed among us are uncomfortable, and we look down nervously when the mohel begins the ceremony. It’s painful to enter the Covenant of Abraham.”

WHAT?  Circumcision is unsettling?  In a generation of tongue piercings, triple and quadruple earrings, branding, and tattooing, a Rabbi calls circumcision unsettling when its health benefits are undisputed in three recent AIDS transmission studies? [....]