January 11, 2015

Circumcision in boys leads to higher chance of developing attention spectrum disorder (ASD) and autism by age 10, according to a new controversial study in  Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 

The Statens Serum Institut study observed that in a cohort of all children born in Denmark between 1994 and 2003, the risk of ASD doubled when a boy was circumcised before the age of five. The link, they postulate, is in the stress caused by the pain of being snipped.  This means that the child's perception of pain may become skewed for life, a significant characteristic found among children with autism.

The researchers found that regardless of cultural background circumcised boys run a higher risk of developing ASD. Also noted was an increased risk of hyperactivity disorder among circumcised boys in non-Muslim families. 

Lead author professor Morten Frisch of the Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, said, “Our investigation was prompted by the combination of recent animal findings linking a single painful injury to lifelong deficits in stress response and a study showing a strong, positive correlation between a country's neonatal male circumcision rate and its prevalence of ASD in boys…Given the widespread practice of non-therapeutic circumcision in infancy and childhood around the world, our findings should prompt other researchers to examine the possibility that circumcision trauma in infancy or early childhood might carry an increased risk of serious neurodevelopmental and psychological consequences.”

There is a long list of highly contested studies attempting to link autism to various unrelated practices such as vaccination, all of which have proved to be fraudulent.

As expected, Frisch’s findings have caused much debate.  

Professor David Katz of University College London, chairman of Milah UK, an organization dedicated to the discussion of circumcision issues on behalf of the Jewish community, said “the report is far from convincing: correlation does not equal causation.”

Professor Jeremy Turk, Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist at Southwark Child & Adolescent Mental Health Neurodevelopmental Service, believes these findings “need to be considered carefully – one cannot draw very strong conclusions from the data.” The weakness of the study is on correlations between data sets. “For example, many cases of autism are missed until children are older and as there are relatively few cases of autism this could easily skew the data.”  Turk also says the science of childhood physical trauma approach is “highly speculative.”

In December, the Centers for Disease Control spoke in favor of circumcision, stating the benefits outweigh the risks. “These recommendations are based on an evaluation of available information on the health risks and benefits associated with high-quality, medically performed male circumcision and were developed to pertain to men and male newborns in the United States,” the CDC report reads in part. “In these recommendations, the preventive benefits of male circumcision are generally expressed as relative-risk reductions (e.g., a 50% reduction from a 2% risk of an STI to a 1% risk), whereas any associated harm is expressed as an absolute risk (e.g., a 2-4% risk of adverse events).”

As the circumcision debate rages, Israel has called the EU racist for attacking the practice medically.  Meanwhile, Norway may ban non-medical circumcision altogether.

For most Jews, physicians included, the topic of circumcision is not medically relevant.   Both potential medical risks and potential medical benefits are small and irrelevant to the practice of medicine.  

Circumcision is a predominantly religious issue.

Today, the world is remarkably chaotic and ever evolving as the daily feed delivers news that often shocks and terrifies. In a prophet-less age, we rarely know where to turn for models of salvation.

In the biblical figure of Daniel, we are shown that we need not be prophets or sages to have a major impact on the world. We don’t need to have grand, leading visions or answers nor do we need to be the most learned in our Jewish texts. Being passionate, focused, honest, and dedicated to learning and a path of spiritual growth engenders us to be builders of our communities.

We know the story of Daniel, but do we know the inner workings of his story? How could Daniel not be a prophet? He survived the lion’s den; he saw a vision while the other three prophets with him did not. Why is this? Well, one suggestion from the sages states that Daniel may have been a prophet even if it not explicitly mentioned (Halachot Gedolot 76). This would make sense since Daniel has visions where other prophets around him do not (Daniel 10:7). There is weightier Talmudic argument, however, that firmly contends that he is not a prophet (Megillah 3a). Contextually, Daniel was not included in the list of forty-eight male prophets and 7 female prophetesses (Megillah 14a). Additionally, his story is not placed in the Tanach section of Neviim (Prophets) where Isaiah and Jeremiah inhabit, but in the didactic, mystical Ketuvim (writings).

Kabbalists explain that Daniel was not a prophet but that he had ruach ha’kodesh (special Divine assistance). Reading Talmud, we learn that “a sage is greater than a prophet” since intellectual insight can be greater than prophetic experience. So, If Daniel was not a prophet, and he surely wasn’t a sage in the traditional sense, what does his inclusion in the Jewish canon mean to teach us?

It’s a beautiful lesson. The story of Daniel is a compelling reminder that each of us contains near infinite spiritual potential. We don’t have to be brilliant sages or chosen prophets to gain access to God or to become moral messengers. Daniel takes on the role of challenging the people, even the Babylonian king, to do better. He demonstrates moral leadership and teaches us about tzedakah.

There are two models of tzedakah in Jewish thought. The first is obligatory: tithe on the land and court-enforced rabbinic tax for example). The second is voluntary, support of the poor through money for one’s spiritual growth, let’s say. Gary Anderson, a historian of ancient theology, suggests that Daniel 4:24 is the first source in Tanach for this voluntary model. Daniel boldly advised the king to “redeem his sins with tzedakah.” He speaks truth to power claiming that only radical giving can redeem our world.

Daniel was similar to Joseph in that he was a dream interpreter and similar to Esther as a political insider who saves his people. He was also like Moses challenging the leading political authority openly and being saved by miracles (lion’s pit). What he really seems to want is a life of closeness to God. Daniel is the first source in Tanach for praying three times a day and for praying toward Jerusalem (6:11). In Hebrew, Daniel means “God is my judge,” an appropriate name for Daniel since he seems so deeply committed in following the word of God even if his own life is at stake. Daniel can be considered the first chassid in a sense.

Look to Daniel! He is proud of his tradition and willing to stand up for it. Today, over 90 percent of American Jews are proud to be Jewish. Yet under 25% of American Jews are formally affiliated with Jewish institutions. Some blame the unaffiliated for not getting more involved. But we need to ask: Are our institutions doing a good enough job to make Jewish life attractive and engaging? It is time to reimagine Jewish life around core values that will allow a Jewish renaissance to flourish. Part of the responsibility is upon our institutions to make Jewish life relevant and transformative. And part of the responsibility is on each of us to proactively open our minds, hearts, and souls to another level and to exercise inspired leadership for our communities.

Daniel teaches us that each of us is capable of greatness when we commit ourselves to a life of meaning and service. He was the first to bring advanced models of prayer and justice into the world without any formal mantle of authority. In a messy world (where we may at times feel collectively trapped in a lion’s den), we need not (nor can we) turn toward prophets and gurus. Rather each of us must take on increased responsibility to exercise moral leadership. Only together can we heal our world.

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is the Executive Director of the Valley Beit Midrash, the Founder & President of Uri L’Tzedek, the Founder and CEO of The Shamayim V’Aretz Institute and the author of seven books on Jewish ethics.  Newsweek named Rav Shmuly one of the top 50 rabbis in America.”

Even though humans share 99.9 percent of our DNA with one another, we find the smallest differences to divide us. When we hide away in cocoons of our own making, we risk becoming afraid of others, distanced from the realities that others live with every day. In this more complex interconnected era of humanity, we have to transcend some of the personal and parochial boundaries we may still hold, connecting the whole world in increasingly intentional and thoughtful ways. When we volunteer for strangers, for example, we have the best opportunity to gain even more than we give.

Typically, we understand giving in a strictly financial sense, but Rabbi Moshe Feinstein taught that in addition to giving a tenth of one’s income to charity, so too one should give one tenth of one’s time with volunteering. The Torah describes volunteers as those who are kol nediv libo, someone whose heart is generous; we don’t merely give our time and money, but also from our hearts. When we are present with others, we don’t merely check the box that we showed up. Instead, we show up with our full selves. We seek to listen empathically, walk humbly, and act compassionately.

Our theologies and worldviews must evolve as humanity becomes more technologically sophisticated. Joseph Campbell taught that in ancient times we all lived in tribes and the broadest perspective we could imagine was from a mountain top. Enlightenment and spiritual achievement would be found at that pinnacle. Today, however we can see further, a view from outer space where we can see the entire earth. We cannot go back and attempt to merely see the world from the mountaintop. Our moral and spiritual imagination has expanded drastically. We can’t merely stay on our isolated mountain tops anymore once we realized the galaxy is much more complex, beautiful, and interconnected. Indeed, we can’t hide in Plato’s cave, staring at shadows when we can walk into the light and see actual images. This is the goal of religion when practiced correctly: to shake us up and force us to go deeper than we ever have. It is too scary for most, so they stay in the cave. But the spiritual journey is about going deeper within us.

Judaism, in ancient form like other religions at that time, prioritized sacrifices. But after the destruction of the temple, acts of kindness became the locus of interpersonal action.

Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakai was walking with his disciple Rabbi Yehoshua past where the Holy Temple had stood. It had just been destroyed by the Romans and they had witnessed the destruction. Rabbi Yehoshua started crying. Rabbi Yochanan said to him, “Yehoshua, my son, why are you crying?” “Because the House that gave us atonement for our sins no longer exists.” “You don’t have to cry. It says in the prophet [Hoshea 6:6] that G-d says, ‘I want kindness, not sacrifices.’ That tells us that every time that someone does a chesed (act of kindness), G-d furnishes as much atonement as the sacrifices of the Holy Temple. Chesed is just as effective as the sacrifices to achieve atonement (Avot D’Rebbi Natan).”

For many, religion has prioritized ritual and dogma, in this case, the sacrificial practices so vital to traditional identity. A closer reading of the passage above, though teaches that we have to transcend certain practices of the past to focus on the more present realm of kindness and service to others. Some mourn the past when the world seemed so much less complex, much simpler. We should comfort these people; help them wipe their tears. But Rabbi Yochanan’s example shows us that we must keep our eyes on the present, cognizant of the future, and keep building: if we are committed to giving to others, there is a bright future.

Recently, I was reading an interview that featured Vivek J. Tiwary, an award-winning Broadway producer and author of The Fifth Beatle graphic novel. Even though I don’t attend many Broadway shows or read comics, I was very much taken with Tiwary’s volunteer work. Using the same skills he’s applied in his professional life, Tiwary started an organization called Musicians on Call, which brings the aforementioned musicians to hospitals across America to play at patients’ bedsides. This program has affected thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people in a positive, uplifting way; it was inspiring to read about his work. His summation of his volunteering philosophy was simple, but powerful: “Find something that speaks to you, that you are passionate about, and start there.” Each of us has a passion and a talent that we can share in our own unique way.

We are gifted a mere 86,400 seconds each day. And in that time, think about how many of those seconds are about our own needs and wants versus how many of those seconds can be geared toward others just by offering a friendly, outstretched hand. Regardless of our religious affiliations or worldviews, we can all agree that a commitment to volunteering and to giving ourselves to others in need unites us as human beings.

Primo Levi, the prominent author and Holocaust survivor, told the story about his final days in Auschwitz in If This is a Man, in which he wrote that the worst days were those after the Nazis left and before the Soviets arrived, when there was no food to be found. Then a man found potatoes and rather than merely feed his starving belly, he shared them with the other survivors. From this first opportunity in the concentration camp to share food an insight about the human condition became clear: It is through giving from the little bits we have in life that we find our individual and collective liberation. It is through sharing that one is transformed from slave to human.

Each morning we wake up, and God has chosen us! We have been reborn with a new beginning and charged with a mission. Our gratitude is expressed (and our existence warranted) by demonstrating in action that God made a smart investment!

In 2015, indeed, into the future we can’t even see yet, we need to live in the world as it is. But we also need to start living in the world as it should be: If we continue to strengthen society, through our words, deeds, and action, focusing on the virtues of volunteering and giving to individuals and organizations without expecting anything in return, we will give a remarkable gift to our posterity. A world built on selfishness where self-interest is the top priority cannot be morally sustainable. Instead, may we all, together, instigate positivity, charity, and justice so the world of our dreams becomes the world in which we live.

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz is the Executive Director of the Valley Beit Midrash, the Founder & President of Uri L’Tzedek, the Founder and CEO of The Shamayim V’Aretz Institute and the author of seven books on Jewish ethics.  Newsweek named Rav Shmuly one of the top 50 rabbis in America.”