A Feminist Mohel Speaks Out
The Sisterhood blog of The Jewish Forward spoke to Emily in response to a San Francisco initiative to ban circumcision in an August 15, 2011 post titled, “A Feminist Mohel Speaks Out“. Here’s an excerpt:
As a woman, do you ever feel conflicted about the fact that this fundamental element of Judaism is limited to men?
As a woman and as a feminist I have often felt conflicted that this important rite is centered on boys, but ultimately I have come to see it from a truly Jewish perspective. Judaism is an interesting religion. The name Israel, given to Jacob, means to struggle and we are truly the people who struggle. We are the people who challenge, who question, who reinterpret.
I have come to see brit milah as another example of this Jewish struggle, this irony. Judaism is a matrilineal religion, so without daughters we have no religion, we have no more Jews. To me this clearly demonstrates the importance of women in Judaism. Yet, our “most important ritual” centers on boys only. I no longer have a knee-jerk reaction that this implies we value boys more the girls within Judaism, instead I see the way the importance of this ritual reflects the conflicts and questions within Judaism. We value our daughters who provide us with future Jews, and we value our sons and invented an important ritual of welcome.
