“Nothing excites Monster Mohel more than cutting into the infantile penile flesh of an eight day old boy.”

I can’t take credit for having written that. Nor can Julius Streicher, founder and publisher of Nazi propaganda vehicle Der Sturmer. No, it’s from a comic book written in San Francisco by anti-circumcision activist Matthew Hess that not a few people have deemed somewhat anti-Semitic. (He’s at the helm of a movement in San Francisco to ban circumcision.)

The comic book, Foreskin Man (I could make this stuff up, I suppose, but this is all true), sports a cover that shows a dark, bearded rabbi looming menacingly over a naked baby laying on a pool table. Fear not – a muscular blond superhero stands poised to “save” the child.

To those familiar with anti-Semitic iconography, these images are a really short step away from blood libel. I refer you to this frame of the comic, in which the “Monster Mohel” and his machine-gun carrying, payess-sporting thugs break down a door in order to circumcise a baby. Or perhaps this one, where the “Monster” tells one of his “goons” that he will forcibly carry out the circumcision. Or, finally, where the “Monster” holds the scissors menacingly over a screaming baby with sheer blood lust scrawled over his face.

When asked if his comic is anti-Semitic by the San Francisco Chronicle, Hess replied, “A lot of people have said that, but we’re not trying to be anti-Semitic. We’re trying to be pro-human rights.”

Really? Calling a mohel “Monster Mohel,” and literally making a cartoon of something I literally hold sacred, promotes human rights? Interesting – because I think that promotes denigration of those who choose to practice their religion.

As a Jew who believes in the covenant of brit milah – as well as my rights as an American to exercise religious freedom – I’ll go out on a limb and say that my human rights are not being promoted here. In fact, they’re actively being defamed, as the practice of bloodthirsty monsters.

Maybe it’s more frightening, though. Because maybe Hess isn’t trying to be anti-Semitic – maybe the anti-Semitism just comes effortlessly.

Please feel free to contact Hess here. Suggest to him that perhaps you are human too, and perhaps you deserve the benefit of discussion rather than demonization. Our tradition is rich with elements of the former – and, unfortunately, our history is woefully familiar with the latter.

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: circumcision, mohel

All the Jewish parenting news you probably didn’t have time to read this week.

- Zsa Zsa Gabor is 94 years old, and thinking about having a baby. Actually, it was her (ninth) husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt’s idea to use an egg donor, artificial insemination, and a surrogate mother to carry on the legacy. While it looks like it won’t happen, my favorite part of the whole ordeal is Zsa Zsa’s only daughter’s response: “That’s just weird.”

- You know what else is just weird? Gender cake parties. You know, where the expecting parents hand over the obstetrician’s report on the sex of the baby to a baker, without looking at its results. Then, the baker makes a cake which the couple then has to slice into to reveal either a pink or blue inside and voila, it’s a girl or boy! Weird!

- There’s been a lot of hustle and bustle over strollers recently–really expensive strollers, too. Tom Scocca takes an endearingly level-headed approach to figuring out why we even need strollers, and what the alternative would be in a fast-paced city like New York.

- I am nearly positive the circumcision debate will never, ever cease to exist, and here’s another log on the fire: should teenage boys decide? If so, I think we can all say bye-bye to circumcision as we know it.

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: circumcision, featured, roundup, strollers

I recently ditched the kids and headed out for a much-needed ladies’ night out.  An hour later, five of us were gathered around a friend’s table, including three Jews and two pregnant Mamas. Three of the Mamas had sons, and the other two of us have two girls.

We chatted about all the foods our toddlers won’t eat, potty training, our failures as mothers, and a range of other topics that are of interest to no one except new mothers and total weirdos.

And then we started talking about circumcision. (Cue menacing music here.)  And no, it wasn’t Jews vs. Goyim in the battle of the foreskin.  In fact, the non-circumcisers included one non-Jewish Mama and one MOT.

You read right.  There is a little Jewish boy running around out there with a perfectly intact penis. And even though I fully intend to circumcise my son (should I ever have one) I’m totally ok with that.

As I’ve told you all before, I’m not a halachic Jew.  And it’s not because I’m too lazy to walk all the way to services on Saturday morning (although I am), or because our kitchen cabinets are too small to fit another set of plates (even though they are).  It’s because I believe that not only are there are many ways to be Jewish, but that the strength of our community depends on it.

Ultimately, Judaism isn’t about what we believe, or even what we do.  Whether one is born Jewish or converts, being Jewish is about making an active decision to remain engaged with the Jewish community and struggling with the challenges of our history and our future. And that’s exactly what my friends were doing when they decided not to circumcise, or circumcise without a bris.  They were finding ways to reconcile contradictory values—a challenge every Jew, regardless of level of observance, faces on a regular basis.  Sometimes the decisions we make are traditionally Jewish, and sometimes they aren’t.

I know, and respect, that circumcision doesn’t work for everyone.  And I am so grateful to have friends who can discuss difficult issues in such a thoughtful, respectful way.  What do you think?

For a couple of perspectives, read about one woman who didn’t circumcise and another one who did.

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: circumcision

As seen below in the weekly roundup, San Francisco likes to be the first at things. They were the first city to take on eliminating toys from Happy Meals, and now they are the first city to take on their next target: mohels.

Sort of. Lloyd Schofield, a resident of San Francisco, is proposing to ban circumcision throughout the city. Though the logic behind the proposal has not been fully explored, if the measure were to pass, it would “make it a misdemeanor to circumcise, excise, cut or mutilate the foreskin, testicle or penis of another person who has not attained the age of 18.” I know that there are a fair number of people who think it wrong to induce unnecessary surgery on a person who does not have the ability to consent to it–and our blogger Sarah Tuttle-Singer has thoroughly explored the issue over at Kveller–but if this were to pass, anyone interested in carrying on the Jewish tradition could face a hefty $1,000 fee or up to a year in prison. Oy!

Chances are the bill won’t pass, as Schofield would need to collect 7,168 signatures by April 26, 2011, but Bay-area mohels might want to start thinking about what kind of front organization they can set up to perform the risky business on the down low.

• Posted in Baby & Toddler
• Tags: circumcision