Dennis Prager

July 5, 2011

Maybe San Francisco will wake jews up

By Dennis Prager

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If San Francisco succeeds in banning circumcision, some good may come of it.

Let me explain. I am a passionate advocate of Jewish ritual circumcision — the ritual circumcision of 8-day-old Jewish boys. I am even an advocate of circumcision generally. I was recently in Africa — in Zimbabwe and Zambia — where I delivered mosquito nets and seeds to the poorest of Africa’s poor. I saw giant billboards there, as well as in neighboring Botswana, exhorting men to get circumcised. The World Health Organization estimates that male circumcision reduces the rate of heterosexually transmitted AIDS by about 60 percent.

As regards Jewish ritual circumcision, I can only say that I cried like a baby at the brit milah of my two sons. All I could think of was that I had been given the gift of transmitting Jewish identity in an unbroken chain that dates back to Abraham, 3,600 years ago.

I find the arguments of those who campaign against the brit milah either specious or ludicrous. The notion that some terrible, lasting pain is inflicted on the baby is over the top. The average time the baby cries is probably well under the time it cries — and far less frantic than — when tired or desiring milk. I fully understand the conflicted feelings of the mother, and I see no reason for her to be present.

Does the baby experience pain and discomfort afterward? Yes. But it is temporary, and the baby heals quickly.

The advantages wildly outweigh the momentary pain. The brit uniquely strengthens a Jew’s commitment to Judaism and instills in the family and the community a profound identification with the Jewish people and with nearly four millennia of world-changing values.

As for the argument that the foreskin is important, I can only say that in my most self-pitying moments I cannot recall lamenting not having foreskin. As I have told anti-circumcision activists on my radio show, you have to be pretty bored with life to be preoccupied with not having your foreskin.

One might add that the same people who are profoundly upset over the removal of foreskin rarely have a problem with the removal of a living human fetus. San Francisco considers protecting the human fetus religious fanaticism, but is seriously considering protecting a newborn’s foreskin.

So, then, given my profound support for circumcision, what good could possibly come from San Francisco passing a ban on it?

If the most left-wing major city in America starts arresting Jews who have their children circumcised in that city, some American Jews might awaken to the threat to Jews posed by the left. Obviously, San Francisco’s already-existing bans on toys in Happy Meals, on soda in city-owned places and on plastic bags, and the city’s proposed ban on the sale of pets, even goldfish, have not moved many Jews (and non-Jews) to begin wondering whether left-wing governance is dangerous. But perhaps a ban on circumcision will.

Of course, not everyone who is on the left — and certainly not the traditional liberal — is an enemy of the Jews. But, aside from Islamists, virtually all the enemies of the Jews are on the left.

The worldwide campaign to delegitimize Israel, i.e., to pave the way for moral acceptance of Israel’s destruction — is virtually all on the left. Universities in America and elsewhere in the Western world as well as the mainstream news media outlets around the globe are all dominated by the left, and they drum into their students’ and readers’ and listeners’ and viewers’ minds that Israel is one of the worst societies on earth.

Yet, most American Jews still walk around thinking that Christians and the right are their enemies when, in fact, they are the best friends Jews have in the world today. From the present conservative Canadian government, which is probably the most vocal pro-Israel country in the world today, to every major right-wing talk host in America (including the pro-Jewish and pro-Israel Glenn Beck, who has been libeled as an anti-Semite), to the leader of Holland’s right-wing party and member of the Dutch parliament, Geert Wilders (one of the most eloquent pro-Israel voices in Europe today), to conservative writer Kevin Myers, the most pro-Israel columnist in Ireland, to the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page — the right is where our friends are.

For all these reasons, there is this still, small voice inside me that hopes that if San Francisco bans circumcision, a few more Jews will put two and two together and begin to realize that this is merely one more expression of the threat the left in America and elsewhere poses to the Jewish people.

What will it take for this generation of Jewish leftists to realize what Arthur Koestler, perhaps the most prominent Jewish leftist of a previous generation, came to realize — that leftism is “the god that failed”? A San Francisco ban on the oldest practice of the Jewish people? The City of Berkeley declaring Marines “unwelcome intruders”? PETA arguing that there is no moral difference between barbecuing chickens and cremating Jews? The ostracizing of the Jewish state from the world community by institutions dominated by the left?

Whatever it takes, the sooner the better.

A version of this article appeared in print.

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Good thing Abraham wasn’t into footbinding I guess. Here is a little truth to the matter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSM-SkwGEf0 BTW not all Jews are pro genital mutilation, or full of hate toward people of different faiths.

Comment by Robert on 7/06/11 at 7:48 am

Liberalism, as it is known in America today, bears no resemblance to the values and creeds handed down to us from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Compassion for the poor, yes.  Moral life, YES.  Liberalism rots with “if it feels good, then do it.”

Comment by Greg Parker on 7/06/11 at 8:10 am

If there is an eternal truth, it is that Jews have been victims of both the right and the left. I agree with Prager that today the Jews enemies are on the left. They disgust me. But, I am not ready to accept that the right has had a change of heart, either. Both Hitler and Stalin killed their share of Jews. I trust no one.

Comment by Abarafi on 7/06/11 at 9:51 am

Even the slightest ceremonial pinprick of a baby girl’s genitals is illegal.  Why it is ok to remove an infant boy’s healthy sexual organ that has over 20,000 erogenous nerve endings and is the most sensitive part of an infant boy’s penis?  www.livescience.com/health/070615_penis_sensitivity.html

Comment by Marc A on 7/06/11 at 9:55 am

What a perceptive article.  The left needs to look down on people before they’ll help them.  They feel that the oil rich Arabs are their little brown brothers, but Jews, who are also mostly Semitic, they view as rich, white and unworthy of support.
Most rich people are right wing.  But rich Jews remain on the left and provide much of its financial support.  If Jews turned rightward, the left would be in serious trouble.
Jews are so traditional that they convince themselves that the left still supports them and do nothing to change the left’s attitude toward Israel.  60% still support Obama.  Among the general population, support is 46%, which in itself is astonishing.

Comment by Beatrix on 7/06/11 at 11:19 am

‘But, aside from Islamists, virtually all the enemies of the Jews are on the left.’

that’s abut as stupid as you can get.

carl bloice

Comment by Carl Bloice on 7/06/11 at 12:47 pm

“The advantages wildly outweigh the momentary pain”

The foreskin is richly innervated erogenous tissue and should not be amputated without medical urgency or unless the benefit SIGNIFICANTLY outweighs the potential for harm. Virtually all medical associations in the world agree there is no benefit to non-therapeutic circumcision. Bronze age religious blood rituals should never trump rational scientific judgment and contemporary medical ethics. Physicians need to put down the scalpels and respect the autonomy of the child. His body, his choice.

Comment by Christopher Guest MD, FRCPC on 7/06/11 at 4:02 pm

Circumcision is violent disfiguring child rape. It’s sexual assault, and is therefore indefensible.

The only difference between male and female genital cutting, is cultural bias.

Male circumcision removes most of the most sensitive parts of the male genitalia. It takes sexually without asking, therefore it is rape.

Abandon your barbaric blood ritual and join the rest of us in the 21st century.

Comment by Brad on 7/06/11 at 6:30 pm

If Jewish males are losing their sexuality through circumcision, then why are so many prominent Jewish men having trouble because they’re apparently oversexed?

And if Jewish men who have been circumcised and are fully aware of the consequences want to circumcise their sons, what the hell business is it of yours?

Comment by Beatrix on 7/06/11 at 7:34 pm

Beatrix,

Circumcision violates the human rights of the child. You could ask the same question of a person cutting their daughter? What the hell business is it of yours? If you disagree, in that case simply because the child is a girl, you’re a hypocrite, blinded by cultural bias.

The reason Jewish men are oversexed as you say, is because they lack the natural stimulation provided by intact sex. They can’t get the satisfaction they need because their sexual organ has been damaged, and most of the most sensitive parts destroyed. So they seek quantity, in lieu of quality, yet are still never satisfied.

Comment by Brad on 7/06/11 at 7:41 pm

It is no coincidence that this happened in San Francisco. The people on the left that support this are are a fringe group that includes anti-vaccination activists and back to nature enthusiasts.  What pushed it out of the fringe in San Francisco is that intact foreskins are a preference among homosexuals.  Other then that community it is still a fringe opinion.  The latest from San Francisco is a legal opinion from the City/County Attorney that the proposed iniative illegally targets Jewish Religious practices.  The City’s opinion uses the publication ” Foreskin Man” as supporting proof that ethnic hatred of Jewish folks is a prime motivation of the iniative.

Comment by ROY F QUE-HEATH on 7/06/11 at 8:28 pm

My wife is from the Philippines.  Over there circumcision (Pagtutuli) is rite of manhood passage taken at puberty.  Nowadays some urban parents will have it done medically soon after birth but regardless there are strong cultural imperetives involved.  A Sucut (uncircumcised male) is generally regarded as dirty by Philippine women.  Sucut is also synonimous with coward and untrustworthy, IE; afraid to endure the pain associated with the ritual. 
The advantages of circumcision include lower incidence of cervical cancer for the spouses of ciscumcised men.

Comment by ROY F. QUE-HEATH on 7/06/11 at 8:31 pm

There are plenty of fools here. A foreskin is not a birth defect. It’s a birthright.

No, it’s not gays that like foreskins. I’m a straight male, pissed that part of my genitalia was amputated without my consent.

The intact male genitalia is no more dirty than the female genitalia.

I wonder if there were benefits for the male from female genital cutting if those who say female benefits for male genital cutting are justify male cutting that male benefits justify female cutting.

Or is there something fundamentally wrong with ANY cutting of the genitals of females?

Comment by Brad on 7/06/11 at 8:41 pm

Brad, I wasn’t really talking to you, just posters in general.  You happened to appear before my post and I hadn’t really noticed.

Female circumcision is barbaric.  I’m not male, and so I don’t really know.  Do all circumcised men feel unfulfilled and have to be unfaithful yearning to find relief?  Is Weiner mourning his lost foreskin?  Did Sheen’s Jewish mother have him circumcised?  Is that at the root of all his problems?

My objection is actually having other people trying to impose their ideas on me.  I don’t live in San Francisco, but this campaign is obnoxious beyond belief.  I think these busy body left wing, intrusive pissants should mind their own damned business.

Comment by Beatrix on 7/06/11 at 9:21 pm

Beatrix,

You’re missing the point. Male circumcision is just as barbaric as female circumcision.

The ONLY difference between male and female circumcision is cultural bias. That is all.

Children who are circumcised have the beliefs of others imposed on them. If you’re for individual liberty, you MUST be for a ban on unnecessary genital cutting of either gender. Circumcision of males or females violates THEIR rights. Their parent’s religious rights do not trump their right to genital integrity. It’s past due time we recognize this for males as we do for females.

Comment by Brad on 7/06/11 at 9:25 pm

Beatrix,

There’s no way circumcision, which is a violent, disfiguring sexual assault, has no affect on the impressionable infant.

We recognize the harm child molestation has, and that victims have lifelong negative effects. Yet we pretend as if the painful sexual assault of circumcision has no lasting psychological effects, when it takes place at the time in a person’s life when they are weakest and most impressionable. That’s foolish, and hypocritical.

Comment by Brad on 7/06/11 at 9:29 pm

From outside the USA, there is only one thing stranger than its passion for cutting male babies’ genitals, and that is its passion for dividing everything into left and right, liberal and conservative.

The campaign to end genital cutting has nothing to do with left and right, and (despite one comic book, the second in a series, so far, of three) nothing about animus against the Jews.

It is about the human right to undisturbed possession of an individual’s own body. It is therefore right at the heart of the values of the US Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Comment by Hugh7 on 7/07/11 at 12:07 am

Far from government interfering in a family matter, this proposed age-restriction (not a ban) on circumcision is about using the government for its intended purpose, to protect the weak from the strong, and to safeguard his Constitutional rights - rights like equality (ALL female genital cutting, no matter how minor, is already outlawed), security of his person and freedom from unreasonable seizures, and the right to practise the religion of his own choice when he is old enough to choose one without having had the mark of another, not of his choice, cut into his body before he could resist.

Comment by Hugh7 on 7/07/11 at 12:09 am

Male circumcision is in the same conceptual universe as incidental appendectomy, extracting third molars and tonsils. Female genital mutilation is somthing else more like cutting off earlobes or noses.  As for clean or dirty, men don’t get STDs or Paploma Viruses from women with intact clitorises, but women are in greater danger of cervical cancer from uncircumcised partners.  One other thing, I was a medic in the US Army in the 70’s.  One thing I noticed in medical records were adult circumcisions because of cleanliness problems in field conditions.

Comment by ROY F. QUE-HEATH on 7/07/11 at 12:26 am

Hugh states that animus towards Jewish folks is not involved but the issue of “Foreskin Man” in question puts just about every jewish stereotype into play versus a couple of blond “Aryans”.  He could have been cribbing Goebbels.  My understanding is that this will NOT be on the San Francisco ballot.

Comment by ROY F QUE-HEATH on 7/07/11 at 12:48 am

Roy,
The incidence of a medically necessary circumcision is 1 in 17,000; as compiled from Finnish data where the neonatal circumcision rate is essentially zero. By the way, there is now a vaccine for HPV (human papilloma virus). Please tell me more about all the spurious health claims of circumcision; you forgot vision problems, spinal scoliosis, bladder cancer, epilepsy and the list goes on and on. There is NO benefit to being circumcised.

Comment by Christopher Guest MD, FRCPC on 7/07/11 at 3:57 am

When labia excisions were found to cause more cesarians along with less sexual enjoyment,the proFGM tryed to change the custom to a pin prick to the Gspot, not showing that the pin was subversively dipped into carbolic acid 1st to kill off the pleasure nerves in the prepuce. I think the procircs will adjust the amount of visible damage so they can still use infant prepuce excisions as a form of eugenics. My Gee string nerves were snipped off after I came home from the infant prepuce excision surgery, forming a different type of scar in its place, like the kind from a homemade butterfly bandaid. I remember the woman’s voice and words of her curse as she did it to me, but not her face.

Comment by Frederick Rhodes on 7/07/11 at 4:25 am

Well, in a circumcised penis you have left only the foundation of the penis. Startlingly, the vast sexual tissue system has been taken away. The full effects of what this does to the boy and then man are impossible to fathom. What we do know is that powerful people like Mr. Gates are intent on perpetuating this highway robbery.

Comment by Dimitri on 7/07/11 at 6:45 am

You convinced me.  There is no reason for circumcision.  But why not present arguments instead of making laws against the practices of one group of people.  They didn’t do this because of the Muslims.  They wouldn’t dare.  And only lefties try to intrude into your lives in this way.  Only lefties find so much fault with Jews that they want to make laws against us.
 
Sorry, but the way they went about this reminds me of the Nazis.

Comment by Beatrix on 7/07/11 at 8:20 am

What most commentators are missing, is Prager’s relentless, unending, obession- bordering- on- the delusional, preoccuaption with the Left and liberals.

The topic involved, is the ruse and charade for spreading his venom, as if you follow any( and all) of the articles or books that he has infused with his pablum, they only exist to denounce the Left/ liberals and praise to the firmament, the Right/ conservatives.

You have to give him credit in one area, however: he possesses a preternatural gift to twist every human, animal and resource into a diatribe on the Left.

Comment by marc rogers on 7/07/11 at 5:05 pm

You’d have to be preternaturally stupid to not see that these actions originated with the left.  While you’re busy looking to the past, the left has turned very antisemitic.  Thank goodness Mr. Prager, who has a forum, realizes it.

Jews tend to stick with tradition and aren’t always quick on the uptake.  Millions to Obama.  And when he destroys the country, guess who they’re going to blame?

Comment by Beatrix on 7/07/11 at 5:14 pm

Beatrix, you miss the point, just like your demagogic mentor_ The right/conservative/ Orthodox troika has been the forerunner of every recession and depression that this country has experienced.

When do you and your conservative acolytes and courtiers and King Dennis’s court take responsibility for the actions that are bringing the dual demise of Israel and the U.S.?

King Dennis, like all kings before him, hates the truth and fears the light. Your abhorrence of facts, like his animus toward conciliation, are making the countries you supposedly love the world’s pariah’s.

Comment by marc rogers on 7/07/11 at 10:46 pm

Circumcision is just another hanger for Dennis to hang his obsession with the Left/liberals with the dual hammers of Right/conservatives and “inerrant” Orthodoxy.

Your right wing myopia, conservative dogmatism and religious insularity has boxed the U.S. and Israel in a corner that will be hard to escape from.

Conservatives and Orthodoxy are excel, however, at causing the problems and get angry when the liberals refuse to clean up their unapologetic mess.

When will a conservative/ Orthodox believer admit to error, fallibilty and responsibility?

Comment by marc rogers on 7/07/11 at 11:07 pm

Another possitive POV from making religious, ritual and routine infant and childhood prepuce excisions illegal is that the coven-ant craft will still be allowed to be forced onto infants in the middle east, causing a huge flux in surgical tourism and pro circumcision immigration to these countries. That’s where it belongs, anyways, in the promissed land for the chozen race. Then the rest of the world can see how it affects their society more clearly.

Comment by Frederick Rhodes on 7/08/11 at 5:16 am

I’m not a Conservative at all.  I’m an Independent.  And I’ve never read this paper before.  I don’t live in California.  JTA, which I do read, had a link to this article.  Dennis is not my mentor, I’ve never heard of him before.  But I agree that the left is the most antisemitic today.

I would agree that when we have recessions and depressions it’s because of problems with business.  What else would cause them?  But this is no more a blight on the entire right than overspending is a blight on the entire left. 

I’m as likely to vote Democratic and Republican, but I read a lot of online journals, and among liberals, anti-Israelism is fast becoming antisemitism.

Comment by Beatrix on 7/08/11 at 5:40 am

Good article!  I was cut as an adult because I got tired
of the smell under the foreskin.  And no, soap and water
won’t stop the process that goes on continuously.

Sex is much better without that nasty foreskin.

The documented health benefits of circumcision are overwhelming.  It’s time for the CDC and AAP to update
their stance and recommend infant circumcision.

Comment by Cut&Happy; on 7/08/11 at 8:21 am

Beatrix, you need to read Prager’s works to understand his pathological hatred of everything and everyone that might or does have left/liberal predilections or convictions.

Christian Zionists support Israel because they are waiting for the second coming of Jesus, and when he comes, then every Jew who does not accept him is destined for the burning fires of hell.

The Right’s support of Israel has made it into a pariah nation, compared to South Africa and handcuffed what is a Jew to the messianic Orthodoxy that has plagued Jews and Israel since the First Temple.

So is that how a friedship and support system from the Right works?

Comment by marc rogers on 7/08/11 at 9:46 am

My father, a gentile, HAD to be circumcised at age 86,because his foreskin was causing him so many health problems.  Would you rather have the procedure at 8 days or 86?  It was not pleasant for my father.  I am just amazed at how truly nasty and vile the comments from the Left are.  Have any of you even listened to Dennis Prager?  He is one of the most open minded people I have ever heard.  He regularly has guests with opposing views on his show and is NEVER rude, nor degrading to them - unlike his distractors.

Comment by Starshine on 7/08/11 at 10:08 am

Dennis’s show handpicks those he chooses to talk to and you must state what your topic is before you can talk on-air. So, as one of his station managers told me in confidence, his show runs"smoothly.”

Two, have you ever read Dennis’s copious body of printed works? If you have, or do, then you would know what real nasty and vile comments are from the Right.

Dennis’s style, is hectoring par excellence, and his unbending conservatism and Orthodox ‘‘worship my way or you are doomed to skewer in the fires of Hades( instead of bathing in the waters of Heaven like Dennis).

As Thomas Paine said: ‘‘Moderation in temper is a virtue, but moderation in principle is a vice.”

Comment by marc rogers on 7/08/11 at 10:25 am

Marc:

The religious rights says they’re not interested in consigning Jews to hell.  It doesn’t matter, because it won’t be their choice.

Israel’s problems stem, not from the right, which is a relatively new phenomena (Israel’s support used to be from the left until she started winning her wars) but because Israel consists of 5 million Jews, surrounded by 300 million Arabs, 74 million Persians, 8 million Palestinians, and currently 75 million Turks, most of whom definitely would like to consign Jews to hell.

Until recently, Arab leaders focused the Arab masses on hatred of Israel to prevent them from noticing what lousy leaders they have.  Now we’ll see.

Comment by Beatrix on 7/08/11 at 10:37 am

I was a private elder care giver, and when my friend’s mother and my circumcised boss reached their late 80’s, they began to loose control of their bladders and bowls leading to prepuce infections and urinary track infections, and treated without excisions, only antibiotics and proper care. I was able to teach their attending caregivers at their convalescent hospitals that their elder patients need better care to avoid problems with their prepuces and urinary track, it’s not their faults that they get problems with their prepuces and UT, and not confined to intact men like some of these pro infant circumcisionists are trying to mislead us to believe.

Comment by Frederick Rhodes on 7/09/11 at 5:48 am

Unbelievable how fanatical the left is against circumcision but have no problem chopping out an unborn human-being from the womb….Did you ask the fetus??

Comment by Straight Shooter on 7/14/11 at 7:33 pm

SS,

You assume that those who are pro-genital rights are pro-choice with regards to abortion. I’m a former Christian and hold conservative positions on most things. I’m not committed to one side of the abortion debate but if I had to chose either to make all abortions illegal, or make them available without any restrictions, I’d say make them all illegal. A woman’s choice does not apply neatly neatly to abortion, because there is ANOTHER body within her.

Regardless, it’s wrong to cut a person’s genitals without consent, regardless of their gender.

Much of the left probably doesn’t have an issue with circumcision, mostly because our culture is so ignorant about male anatomy.

Comment by brad on 7/14/11 at 8:06 pm

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