Q&A: Circumcision
Circumcision
Question
What is your position regarding the arguments against circumcision? That the child is an individual who should have the choice whether or not to undergo irreversible actions done to his body, that circumcision endangers the child, and that in general it is like cutting off girls' nipples (with regard to the health argument).
Answer
Arguments like these could also be raised against eating habits, education, and the like. There is no escaping parents' influence on a child's life. So even if the claim is theoretically correct, it is not practical. Parents have to do the best they can for him according to their beliefs. Especially since when he grows up, the decision to be circumcised will hurt more and be harder for him.
Discussion on Answer
Not true. Everything is irreversible. For example, education takes him in a direction that also affects the decision whether to change course.
About education, you can indeed say that it's reversible, but nutrition definitely is not reversible.
Not circumcising at 8 days old is also an irreversible decision. No one will be able to give that child back the days of childhood in which he was outside the covenant.
Why is this the only topic where there seems to be some evasion by the Rabbi on the substance of the issue? The answers are weak and not serious. It somewhat reminds me of contemporary Haredi apologetics.
A, indeed. But notice that he wrote "even if it is theoretically correct," and only then said that there is no other option and everything is irreversible, etc. But the real answer is that the commandment of circumcision overrides the value of the autonomy of an infant who lacks understanding.
In my opinion, the answer is דווקא strong and correct, not evasive.
Following up on this topic, I thought to add that there is a dilemma here between the value of a person's autonomy over his children and the extent of the harm done to the child. If it were a case of very great harm (like amputating a leg or an arm), there would be room to use coercion to prevent this practice by someone who does not believe in it (just as a person is forced not to commit suicide even though he has autonomy over his own body). But in the case of circumcision, the harm is relatively small, and it seems that the value of the parents' autonomy outweighs it (just as a person is not forced to refrain from smoking even though he harms himself). So even someone who does not believe in the importance of circumcision should not prevent it from someone who does believe in it. At most, one may educate people peacefully against supposedly "barbaric" customs.
But this is an irreversible procedure, unlike eating habits and education.