On April 30, a Bris and naming ceremony took place at at the Chabad Center for Jewish Life in Champaign, Illinois.
The parents Rabbi Dovid and Goldie Tiechtel, who are the Shluchim of the center invited the Mohel Rabbi Levi Heber from New York.
The boy was named Gavriel Noach after Rabbi Gabi Holtzberg HY”D, the Shliach of Mumbai.
The events was written up in the local newspaper The News Gazette.
But here is what followed that. A reader wrote to the Letters to the Editor on May 12:
“This newspaper ran an article recently in its Religion section regarding the “bris,” a Jewish custom of circumcising male newborns.
“Anyone with any common sense should strongly object to the romanticizing of this brutal ritual. Circumcision is nothing more than genital mutilation, and it is stunning that our sensibilities can be so numbed as to justify such brutality.
“This procedure is frequently touted as having health benefits, but these have been mostly discredited. There is no logical argument for cutting a piece of flesh off a helpless baby.
“Circumcision dates from an age when babies were believed not to feel pain. We now know that this is nonsense; circumcision is significantly more traumatizing to an infant who has not yet developed mechanisms for coping with pain.
“How many young men allowed to postpone this ritual until the age of consent would choose to undergo this painful surgery?
“Misguided religious justification does not diminish the barbarity of this practice. Expectant parents, Jewish and otherwise, should be encouraged to consider this issue carefully on behalf of their babies and make a reasonable decision regarding this unnecessary surgery.”
As a response, Rabbi Heber was invited by the paper to write the “Guest Commentary” answering that “Ritual Circumcision – Sign of covenant with G-d.”
He was presented as “a certified Mohel and author of circumcision.net, he travels the world to perform Brit Mila (Ritual Circumcisions) and can be reached at [email protected].”
Here is his full article:
It is not my custom to respond to postings or letters to the editor. However, I was requested to respond to a letter written in reaction to an article describing the Bris ceremony that I preformed on eight day old Gavriel Noach, the son of Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel, executive director of Chabad center of Jewish Life in Champaign.
I feel that the letter was based on misinformation and prejudiced. Any individual reacting with questions or concerns to the Bris ceremony should have contacted Rabbi Tiechtel – the proud father. This would have been a genuine way to seek answers or insight to this essential commandment of having the Jewish boy circumcised as a covenant with God.
As a Mohel – a Ritual circumciser, I do not promote circumcision for medical benefits. However, medical experts have provided evidence to the benefits of circumcision. They point to a significantly lower risk of penile cancer, urinary tract infections, and now AID’s. In fact as a way to help save lives the African government is trying to convince their male population to get circumcised.
Others will argue that the extreme pain and trauma inflicted on the child by the clamp method of circumcision can cause the child to withdraw into a state of neurological shock and have everlasting consequences. This, they say, may outweigh any medical benefits that circumcision has to offer.
This debate may have merit if the reason for circumcision is purely a medical one, and the circumcision is performed by a surgeon using the medically inclined procedure such as a clamp.
However, Ritual circumcision is performed as a sign attesting to the everlasting covenant that God established with the Jewish people (Genesis 17) . It was then reiterated as a commandment “And on the 8th day he shall have his foreskin circumcised” (Leviticus 12:3).
Jewish law strictly governs the procedural method of ritual circumcision. It unequivocally prohibits the use of a clamp. Ritual circumcision should be performed by a qualified Mohel in the presence of family and friends using a swift and almost painless method. The child’s Jewish name is given while blessings are recited over a cup of wine.
Many urologists and trained surgeons consider the traditional method of circumcision: “A simplified and expeditious method with excellent results and low complications.”
Frequently we experience a benefit, (a medical or other type of benefit) resulting from the performance of a Mitzva – a commandment of God. This phenomenon coincides with a traditional phrase used by our sages that “only good, and no harm can come of doing a Mitzvah”.
A Jew, when performing this commandment, does not consider the medical benefit of circumcision. Rather, circumcision is performed as a commandment; a covenant with God; and a source of blessing to the individual for generations to come.
I am shocked!!! Absalotly discustng. The title of this artice should read: “Idots Criticise Hashem’s holy Mitzva”!!!
It is not the illinois bris that they criticize. It is the Bris that each and every one of us is proud to have had.
that man!!! I’ll have a word with HIM!!!!! Nice defense, Levi.
He’s wearing a white doctor’s coat.
Hatzlocho Levi.
American Academy of Pediatrics now SUPPORTS giving all newborns circumcisions (its position used to be neutral). Not that this is our “incentive” for bris, but clearly even from a medical standpoint, bris is BENEFICIAL (and certainly not, C”V the opposite)
why is he dressed in white is it Lubavitch costum to wear a kittel??
The use of this word is a misnomer. Although a bris does inflict a wound, which can be defined as trauma, the insinuation that there are any lingering physical or psychological dysfunctions as a result of the bris is ludicrous. In fact, I defy anyone to show me data to the contrary. G-d bless the Mohelim who do their holy work!
At the hospital following the birth of one of my sons, a doctor offered to do the circumcision in the hospital- he said it would only take about 15 minutes! When we told him that a mohel takes a few seconds, if that long, the doctor was impressed, intrigued, etc. Just shows the lack of information about a Jewish bris.
The letter writer has an average college student mentality- don’t even ask about other things college student mentality focuses on these days………….