Q&A: Anesthesia During Circumcision
Anesthesia During Circumcision
Question
Hello Rabbi,
A question that bothers me and may become relevant for me soon…
I once corresponded with you, and from your words it came out (and I agree with you) that in order to give up my life for something, I need to be convinced of it at a much higher level than the level of conviction needed for reciting the blessing “by whose word all came to be” before drinking water.
And now to the question: circumcision (the act itself) seems to me to be a very hard and cruel act, and perhaps even not moral. And even if we assume that I am convinced enough to do it, why do it without anesthesia? Is it moral to cause a child pain for no reason? I do not know of any religious/halakhic argument that forbids it. I assume you circumcised your sons without anesthesia… what do you think?
Answer
Hello Dor.
First, if anesthesia during circumcision is possible, then you don’t need any doubts in order to do it. And if it isn’t, then what help are doubts? Only if there are considerations in both directions is the question of doubt perhaps relevant.
It seems to me that according to the basic law there should be no problem anesthetizing the baby. The problems people raise are secondary and not persuasive (mainly conservatism). See a comprehensive review by Avraham Steinberg in Techumin 22 (it also appears online on the Daat website, but for some reason I can’t get it to load).
The act is not all that painful for the baby, since it is done in one second. It seems to me that this is not essentially different from the injection of the anesthetic itself