Rabbi Hayim Leiter schrieb:

Haaretz recently published an article titled, “We Gave a Brit Milah To Our First Born, Is It OK Not To Do It For Our Second?” The piece interviews two different anti-Brit Milah activists, Ronit Tamir and Rani Kasher, who attempt to make the case that even if one has performed the rite for a first child, it doesn’t mean you have to do it for subsequent children. I couldn’t disagree more...

Kasher claims that the United States began routine circumcision in order to stop children from masturbating by removing the most sensitive part of the organ. Both of these claims are false. According to the book, “Your Baby’s Secret World: Four Phases of Effective Parenting” page 31, the truth is that during World War I, many American soldiers spent weeks in the trenches, unable to shower for long periods of time. Many contracted infections that required circumcisions as the remedy.

There is no doubt that an eight-day-old baby experiences pain. It’s an uncomfortable reality of Brit Milah. But the question is, how much pain is experienced? The claim in the Haartez article that one of the steps in the procedure is like having one’s nails ripped out is a gross exaggeration. When separating the foreskin from the glans, the probe used is not separating attached skin. In fact, the process the child undergoes would happen naturally with his first erection