Yesterday I received an interesting email from "Ron":
You must know that about 3% of Jews in Israel and Western democracies don't circumcise. And that especially in the US, The Philippines, and South Korea, circumcision status is a poor proxy for Judaic heritage, as many males are cut for non-religious reasons.
Compared to Jews, globally 50 times as many Muslims are cut for religous reasons (even though the Qur'an does not mention genital cutting for either gender).
You've certainly made me curious what your book has to say.
I did not mean to suggest that whether one is circumcised determines whether one is Jewish-- quite the contrary!!
It's simply that the "are you circumcised?" question pretty clearly gets a yes/no answer-- as far as I know, there is not a large population of people who do not know whether they were circumcised... and if they don't know.... well, that's very interesting, too!!
The question of "Who's a Jew" is far more complicated... HOW are you Jewish? By birth? By choice? By mother or father or grandmother or grandfather or grandchild? Rabbis and judges and everyday-individuals have a pretty wide range of criteria that they use to answer the question of "who's a Jew."
Also, the "Are you Jewish?" question is ubiquitous, whereas "are you circumcised?" is not a common conversation-starter... at least that's what I"ve gathered after including this question in many of my conversations...
The link to Ron's website* shows that he is quite involved in the crusade against circumcision: he sells accessories for men without foreskins. So, of course, a good marketer knows that you have to show people that they lack something so that they will feel like they need whatever it is you're offering. I'm not saying that Ron is an active member of the anti-circumcision movement so that he can sell more accessories--I'm quite sure the opposite is true--but his business certainly makes the fight against circumcision a bit more profitable.
*I'm not posting a link to the website because that would be free advertising, and anyhow, I'd worry that linking to his website would result in my website showing up in searches for porn and penises and my name becoming one more target for anti-circumcision activists... not that they/you need another one...
Posts
