Letters to the Editor: Jewish credo, day schools, circumcision
Letters to the editor
Letters to the editor
On Tuesday, Congressman Brad Sherman announced he is preparing to introduce a bill in congress to prevent municipalities nationwide from enacting laws banning male circumcision. Today, The Journal has learned, California State Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D – Burbank/Glendale/Silver Lake) will begin the process of introducing similar legislation in Sacramento.
Reacting to recent efforts to advance ballot measures banning circumcision of underage males in California cities, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) is set to introduce a bill that would prevent municipalities nationwide from prohibiting the procedure.
There is nothing esthetically appealing about a Brit Milah, the circumcision procedure performed on an 8 day old Jewish baby boy. To witness a barely one week old child strapped down with Velcro to a “Circ Board” in sight of everyone gathered is visually unappealing, if not spiritually uninspiring. If that were not enough, some officiants still engage in Metzitzah—the oral suction of blood from the circumcision. If not done by mouth directly, a pipette is used.
In November, San Franciscans will vote on a ballot measure that would outlaw circumcision on boys under the age of 18. Although experts say it is highly unlikely the measure will pass, the mere fact that it reached the ballot, and in such a major city, has caused much concern for Jews and their allies.\n
San Francisco’s Catholic archbishop expressed his opposition to a city ballot initiative that would ban circumcision for minors. Archbishop George Niederauer condemned the initiative in a May 23 letter sent to the San Francisco Chronicle, his archdiocese’s newspaper reported.
The attempt to make circumcision illegal, including those performed for religious reasons, is spreading beyond San Francisco, which aimed last week to become the first American municipality to ban the practice. Now, residents of Santa Monica have filed a petition indicating that they, too, intend to get a similar measure on the November ballot for their city. While these are the two most aggressive attempts to curtail the practice of circumcision, they represent an increasing trend away from the practice, or at least away from the presumption of its necessity.
An anti-circumcision group will circulate a petition in Santa Monica, Calif., to place a measure seeking to ban male circumcision on an upcoming ballot. A Notice of Intent to Circulate a Petition, proposing a ballot initiative prohibiting “Genital Cutting of Male Minors” for the November ballot in Santa Monica, was filed with the city, the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles reported. The filing comes on the heels of an anti-circumcision measure approved for the November ballot by San Francisco city officials last week.
A measure seeking to ban male circumcision will appear on the November ballot in San Francisco. More than 7,700 signatures from city residents on a petition in support of the measure were approved as valid by city officials on Wednesday. At least 7,168 signatures were required, and more than 12,000 were submitted.