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Following Our Hearts: A Father's Brit Shalom Journey
Article here. Excerpt:
'My wife, Amari, was seven months pregnant and we were at our midwife appointment. At this point we knew we would be having a boy. Near the end of our visit, the midwife asked us what we were planning to do about circumcision.
Amari and I are both Jewish and we had discussed it a couple of times before. My take was: “We're Jewish. My grandparents are Holocaust survivors. Our boy is getting circumcised." However, Amari was against the procedure, although she was willing to do it if it meant that much to me.
I had never attended a bris. The thought of cutting off a baby's foreskin made me queasy. That’s when it hit me: How in the world was I going to witness my own son going through it? I put that thought aside, figuring I'd deal with it when it happened.
That brings us back to our midwife appointment. My answer to the midwife was, “We're Jewish so we need to have a bris. I have no idea how I'll be in the same room, the thought disgusts me however….” That’s when the midwife said something that changed everything. She said, "You know, there are alternatives. There are ways to honor your religion without cutting off your son's foreskin." REALLY!?'
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