not. If you read Ezekiel chapter 37, you will find that Israel is not the promise of God to His people of a nation comprising the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants. The dry bones will come back to life from the graves of God's people and they will live again in the Promised Land that will be attacked by Magog (Russia-China), and many other nations after the resurrection of the dead and the ingathering of the elect from around the world. Jews who are not Jews in their hearts, who despise the commandments of God to His people will not be a part of the Promises of God. The Bible says religious UNbelievers are children of the devil. Pretending to be religious when the heart is far from God and the person honors God only with his/her lips brings a greater damnation eternally (hotter place in hell) than being non-religious. So if people do not wish to honor the written customs of God, let them depart from the ways of God so their eternal fate will be a little less worse. Hopefully, the child will choose the right ways which the Prophet Jeremiah called the old paths, later in life.

Why this modern horror of the removal of a tiny piece of skin from a baby who will forget all about a temporary discomfort? Every day consenting adults or nearly adults are getting painful and often ugly tattoos, and having all the most inconvenient parts of their bodies "pierced" to hold odd shaped bits of metal, and attracting accompanying infections and scarring. The anti- brit trend is all about dumping religious identification by Jews who are no longer taught the basics of our history and culture.

American studies have concluded that removal of the foreskin protects the woman's cervix by helping to keep the penis "clean". A ceremony isn't needed: the boy can be circumcised in the hospital... so why have a Bar-Mitzvah ceremony? after all, the boy-man will turn 13 anyway, won't he?

what has become of jews in the country of israel. you are all shaemful. when i lived there years ago, this "fashion trend", no one would even think of not having a circumcision. what is wrong with you all? what are you trying to prove? why have you becomec embarrassed with your customs and religious duties. i don't understand the path you have all taken. i just can't comprehend it. you will have no future because you refuse to hold on to your past. you want to be fashinable? go ahead. burry your heads in the sand, refuse to participate in the jewish religious rituals, etc... the arabs will win because you jews have lost your way.

The Jewish people are so lost, only national Proud Jewish Leadership can save israel. Like Manhigut Yehudit.

With ALL recent medical studies on the topic of circumcision showing that (in the Western world, unlike in Africa) the only thing the child gets out of circumcision is excruciating pain, a lifelong physical scar (along with a mental scar from the trauma), and greatly reduced sexual sensitivity in adulthood... it's about time Israelis question this barbaric practice!!

I have yet to meet ONE person who has a psycological scar from having a brit at eight days. Also with all the sex organ sensitivity issues, the religious are the ones having the kids!

THE BRIT PREVENTS : 1 ) PHIMOSIS ( TIGHTENING OF THE FORESKIN WHICH CANNOT BE DRAWN BACK ) 2 ) BALANITIS ( INFLAMMATION ) 3 ) CANCER ( NO CASES REPORTED WHEREAS AS SIGNIFICANT OCCURRENCE EXISTS FOR THE UNCIRCUMCISED ) 4 ) MAKING A LOW INCIDENCE OF CERVICAL CANCER IN JEWISH WOMEN ACCORDING TO " THE JEWISH CONNECTION " BY M. HIRSH GOLDBERG ( A BANTAM BOOK, STEIN & DAY PUBLISHERS, DECEMBER 1977, PAGE 185 ) MOSHE

The medical claims are (to cut a long story short) bogus. Three quarters of the world's men are not circumcised and they (and their wives) have few or no problems (compared to the problems circumcision brings). Circumcision (whether medical, religious or cultural) is perpetuated by a cycle of pressure to conform. Bravo to all parents who conscientiously decide to break the cycle and leave it to the person most concerned how much of his own body he may keep. I sympathise with Tali's lament for traditional values, but should she not at the same time extol those who thoughtfully place compassion and human rights ahead of ritual pain and loss? And there is another path, "Brit Shalom", no "jamboree" and no cutting but a reverent celebration of the newborn. Contact details for celebrants are at shalom.notlong.com .

maybe you heard of it before once or twice, a little story called Hannukkah!!!.....This is exactly what was happening in those days, we were asimilating in great numbers, and then it was just a matter of time before the greeks made a prohibition against the Brit altogether, considering it barbaric. And then again today we are not too far away from this, Denmark is considering the same prohibition as we speak. As they did before they do now. The story of Hannukah was -and is-an internal struggle within our nation, within our walls, within our bodies. But then again this can only mean one thing, just as we are living a re-run of those days, we experience that same darkness today only to prepare the set to re-live the light that came right after, eight days of lights, like the measure of days before the circumsition, one light per day, until the whole menorah is lit, and we see the time for Channukat HaBait, the Rededication of the Temple, the Rededication of our Bodies, and the Restoration of our People. So, as sad as this is, don´t be surprised at those who turn against the Brit, for we are all far away in one way or the next, on the contrary, lets kindle the lights with special intensity, lets decide to add one more Mitzvah to or daily lives, lets make so much light and so much noise from now on that it would be imposible for other jews to see what we see today within the light of the Menora, the full light of our comming Redemption. Chag Hannukah Sameach!

I dont intend to circumcise my kids as i feel it is barbaric and also to show just how little link I want or have with Judaism. Circumcision should be illegal until the child has reached an age where they can decide.

We could just disappear. After thousands of years of existence, why not finally throw in the towel & give up? 'Look at all the people we'd make happy to see us finally disappear. Why wait for anti-Semites to kill us when we can just commit suicide?

Show me a shred of evidence linking Magog with Russia or China. Certain people concoct theories about how the end is near based upon fanciful interpretations of obscure Biblical passages. Then their predictions fail to come true, and they looks like fools for a little while until people forget that they were wrong. At this point a new cycle begins, and a new set of fanciful predictions are pulled out of their hats. Remember the book "88 Reasons Why the Rapture is in 1988"? In the end, nonsenses like these only serve as an embarassment to religious people and to religion in general. And by the way, if I remember correctly, it is YOU, in your belief in a threefold god and in his corporeality who set yourself outside of what is considered Judaism. So, as pot, you are far blacker than the kettle you label as fake Jews. I politely request that you refrain from calling my brethren in Israel "children of the devil". In addition, as a Christian, it is by no means your place to decide what a "real Jew" is. Except maybe to acknowledge that you are not one.

The reason is because my first circumcision, in the hospital as a gentile baby, was not a b'rit milah. Neither is the circumcision of any ethnic "Jew" who rejects Torah. Tali is be-diyuq on the mark! Circumcising a person who rejects Torah is useless and does NOT enter a person into the Jewish peoplehood of Israel DEFINED by the b'rit, NOT defined by race or ethnics. When I lived in Orlando, one of my Jewish friends served as cleaning the bodies of Jewish dead in preparation for burial. He confided in me that there were many in the Jewish community who had not been circumcised. (At that time, years ago, there were only Reformed and Conservatives in Orlando.) I read just recently that increasingly many of the Reformed in the U.S. no longer require circumcision; neither of converts nor of their children. There was a time when an authentic Jew would say Qadish for such meshumadim. Authentic Jews still do and will always do so. Paqid Yirmeyahu Paqid 16, The Netzarim, Ra'anana, Israel Israeli Orthodox Jew (Teimani Baladi Dardai) Advancing Logic as Halakhic Authority Welcoming Jews & non-Jews

You place NOT having a circumcision akin to suicide. You are truly NUTS without question

I did not want my sons to have a brit with a God that allowed two thousand years of pogroms against our people. God that promised so many things that never and will nevercome true. God that promised to give us the land of Israel and in the end it was a bunch of secular and not religious Jews like Ben Gurion and Hertzel and friend that managed to do it. God that promised to give us this land and still 22 thousand of our young man had to die to defend it. God that let 1.5 million circumcised Jewish kids die in the Holocaust. The list goes on and on We want nothing to do with this kind of "God" or his bearded and unwashed "reps". Terry from Eilat, I thought you are more inteligent then that.

Yes, I favor circumcision for Jewish reasons, aesthetic reasons (uncircumcised members are ugly to me) and for communal reasons. But an argument for circumcision that is also very valid is that many men end up in nursing homes in diapers. This is terrible to talk about, but if you choose not to circumcise your son, you possibly could be asking a nursing aid to be responsible for pulling back the foreskin and cleaning it every day, should your son end up in long-term care. This happened to my dad, and I was so thankful he had been cirsumcised!

This article is supercilious, presumptuous and intolerant on your part! Truth be told it is the responsibility of Jews like you that secular Jews have lost all connection to religious sociological aspects of Judaism! Really, if you and your ilk had tried showing a bit of love and understanding instead of fixing hard into the letter of the law most secular Jews would still be finding ways to enjoy our rich tradition!

all the self-hating jews who endlessly criticize male circumcision never have a word to say about the widespread female circumcision engaged in by our dear neighbors. i wonder why removal of a piece of useless skin is more traumatic to them thhan the removal of a clitoris or labia??? shame shame shame

practice circumcision. Other races do too, but at an age when the boy will really suffer trauma,including our Arab neighbours, but an 8 day old baby does not have this suffering. I am told that in Turkey the poor boy is at least 8 years old, think about that all you yefeh nefesh worrying about new-borns.

It is a bit overbearing to say to people, not only do this and that, but think the same way I do about it too. While I would be pleased if Jewish rituals were always done with a commitment to do more, and done so with meaning and intention, I'd be content if it was done with joy.

Is it really becoming a trend? Where are the statistics on this? I suspect that it's a very small minority of people. There isn't even a single quote from a person who has decided to forgo this. Just another one of the "trends" that aren't really happening.

Both are trying to give us lessons . But we know it , she a "blessed" with a CRIPPLED brain and other such "bessings" , he a self proclaimed authority on Halachah , but more a deceiving non Jew who want us to believe he converted . A "great" couple of church goers .

I know of a granddaughter who so loves her grandfather that despite the fact that she lives on a very secular Kibbutz, her son (his greatgrandson) had a lovely brit at which the only people present were the male child, the parents, the grandparents the great-grandfather and the Mohel. Qudos to the greatgrandfather who so loves his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren that he found a Mohel who with great loving kindness agreed to perform this quiet Brit! Imagine if you will the different meanings that Brit had for each of the participants. Hearty Mazal Tov to that family and to all families who are able to follow this example of lovingkindness and understanding!

Why live in and live for a Jewish State if you don't want to be Jewish? There are hundreds of nicer places for secular Israelis to live if being Jewish is such a regrettable way of life for them. This rejection of tradition is arrogant and disgusting. 6,000,000 Jews, half of them circumcised perished in the Holocaust in a sacrifice that resulted in the establishment of the JEWISH state. Leave it to the secular Israelis to spit on the graves of their ancestors. If I lived in Israel I wouldn't want any of these people wearing uniforms and defending my nation. No wonder we took such a beating in Lebanon.

Every time I read a Tali Farkash article, I get mad. Because she makes sweeping generalizations about secular Jews, what they think of religious Jews and what they do. I want to know what evidence she has of increasing trends of not circumcizing or circumcizing "for the wrong reasons". I wonder if Tali even knows any secular Jews. We are secular Israelis and ALL of our friends (except 1) with boys have had a brit mila by the book. Tali - stop these foolish articles. The world isn't black and white - and certainly not religious or secular. Lots of us observe mitzvot too - just 'cause you don't wear the uniform, doesn't mean you aren't a Jew, so stop judging people.

And this article applies to all secular families, does it? Talk about generalising. I get yelled at when I do that! What a waste of space. She'd just LOVE to become the face and spokeswoman for the dossim, but she can't get her picture published in the haredi newspaper. Bummer! lol!