This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. — Genesis 17:10-11
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel
CHULA VISTA, California — In this week’s Torah portion, we shall briefly compare the thoughts of Maimonides, Philo, and Spinoza on the subject of circumcision. We shall first mention some interesting citations from Philo, who spent considerable time explaining the rationale of Jewish precepts to the non-Jewish world.
People often ridicule the law of circumcision even though many peoples of antiquity have practiced circumcision, most notably by the Egyptians—a physically prolific people abounding in wisdom.[1] Rather than childishly dismissing the ordinance’s purpose, it is most fitting for one to investigate its primary purpose in a spirit of prudence and respect. It is logical to presume that peoples of antiquity did not mindlessly carry out circumcision in every generation out of a desire to mutilate themselves and their offspring. Nor would people intentionally inflict such unnecessary pain upon themselves unless they had a specific reason to do so. In actuality, there are many reasons for men to continue a practice that originated by their ancestors, which we will now consider:
- First, circumcision helps prevent the disease of carbuncle, which I believe derives from a chronic inflammation that occurs more often in uncircumcised patients.
- Second, bodily cleanliness in the genital area is most apropos for a people that is consecrated unto God. The Egyptian priests acted even more extravagantly by shaving their entire bodies to remove any areas of possible disease that might collect and lodge under the hair and the prepuce.
- It seems that the Egyptians also practiced circumcision in the fourteenth year because it is at the age of puberty when the pleasurable desire for procreation begins. Nevertheless, it is very much better and more far-sighted of us to prescribe circumcision for infants, for perhaps one who is full-grown would hesitate through fear to carry out this ordinance of his own free will.[2]
- Lastly, circumcision is most appropriate for consecrated people who belong to God.[3] Sexual desire in particular, is the greatest desire because it serves a biological purpose: the formation of progeny. Moreover, the rite of circumcision teaches us about the need to limit other desires as well. Lastly, removing the foreskin symbolizes the elimination of arrogance, as personified by the foreskin.[4]
These brief selections invite a comparison to Maimonides’ thoughts on this matter. It is striking that Maimonides, who was a physician, did not mention anything about the health benefits associated with circumcision.
Concerning circumcision, there is another vital objective underlying this precept. It gives all members of the same faith, i.e., to all believers in the Unity of God, a common bodily sign, so that it is impossible for anyone who is a stranger to say that he belongs to them. Some people might assert that he became Jewish to obtain an advantage or plan some attack upon the Jews. However, no one should circumcise himself or his son for any other reason but for displaying one’s pure faith; Circumcision is not like an incision in the leg or burning on the arm, but involves a painful and challenging operation.[5]
It is also a fact that there is much mutual love and assistance among people united by the same sign when they consider it as the symbol of a covenant. Circumcision is likewise the symbol of the covenant that Abraham made with the belief in God’s Unity. So also everyone that is circumcised enters the covenant of Abraham to believe in the unity of God. This is in keeping with the verse, לִהְיוֹת לְךָ לֵאלֹהִים וּלְזַרְעֲךָ אַחֲרֶיךָ “To be a God unto You, and to Your progeny after You” (Gen. 17:7). This particular purpose of circumcision is as essential as the first, and perhaps even more so. This law can only be kept and perpetuated in its perfection when circumcision is performed while the child is very young, and this for three good reasons.
- First, if the operation became postponed until the boy had grown up, he would perhaps not submit to it.
- Second, the young child has not much pain because the membrane is tender and the imagination weak; grown-up persons experience a feeling of dread and fear things they imagine before they occur.
- Third, when a child is very young, the parents’ feelings of attachment are not as strong as it is after they have seen their child grow and develop. These feelings of affection only intensify as their child’s love has taken a firm root in their minds. That image becomes stronger by the continual sight; it grows with the child’s development, and later on, that imaginative image of the child begins again to decrease and vanish [as the parents feel more secure about the vitality and viability of their child.] On the other hand, this imaginative form is very weak at the time of its birth, especially as far as concerns the father upon whom this commandment is imposed.[6]
Spinoza’s view of Circumcision
Spinoza is not at all interested in the theological or philosophical significance of circumcision. His approach is remarkably more anthropological in comparison. Spinoza has often been quoted, “The mark of circumcision, too, I consider being such an important factor in this matter that I am convinced that this by itself will preserve their nation forever.” However, there is more subtlety to this citation than what meets the eye. Here is the full statement of Spinoza regarding his view on circumcision:
“The mark of circumcision, too, I consider being such an important factor in this matter that I am convinced that this by itself will preserve their nation forever. Indeed, were it not that the fundamental principles of their religion discourage manliness, I would not hesitate to believe that they will one day, given the opportunity. Such is the mutability of human affairs establishing their independent state and that God will again choose them.[7]
A modern reader might wonder: Did Spinoza imply that circumcision “discourage manliness,” a view that Maimonides might also have implied when he said that circumcision “weakens the male sexual drive”? Shaye J. D. Cohen points out that Spinoza concedes the power of circumcision. Still, Spinoza himself felt that its power derives not from divine favor or, nor did it derive the belief that circumcision exerted a mystical effect upon either the body or soul of Israel. In purely anthropological terms, circumcision facilitated the social separation of the Jew, which in some ways was analogous to the Chinese pigtail.[8]
Unlike Philo of Alexandria and Maimonides, circumcision had no inherent spiritual significance to Spinoza.
Modern medicine takes a different approach and argues that on the eighth day, the infant’s immune system is functioning optimally that would ensure the infant’s ability to withstand the procedure. Important clotting agents, Vitamin K, and prothrombin, are at their highest levels in infants precisely on the eighth day of life, thus making the eighth day the safest to circumcise the infant. The rite of circumcision has also helped prevent the spread of AIDS in Africa—and this obviously no small achievement! One study conducted in Africa and published more than a year ago, reveals that circumcised men have a 70% less chance of carrying the virus than men who were uncircumcised.
Although this new-story hardly gets the attention it deserves, the world owes Israel a debt of gratitude. In the hills of Swaziland’s capital, you will find Israeli physicians teaching African doctors how to perform adult circumcision. Israel is doing amazing work in combating AIDS. The United Nations announced last year in 2010 that the procedure could reduce the rate of HIV transmission by up to 60 percent. In Israel, with its experience performing adult male circumcision on a wide scale, the international medical community found an unlikely partner in the global fight against AIDS. Israelis have started similar training program in Uganda, Lesotho, Namibia, Kenya and South Africa. Their work is sponsored by the Jerusalem AIDS project and the Hadassah Medical Center, and they hope to recruit surgeons from abroad.[9]
[1] Philo’s reference to the Egyptian priestly practice of circumcision proved to be a clever retort, especially since the Romans had great respect for Egyptian society and its customs. Other historians of Late Antiquity also practiced circumcision—not just the Jews. With one deft stroke, Philo silenced the criticism some people felt toward this honored ritual.
[2] Philo, Questions on Genesis 3:48.
[3] Special Laws 1:5. Philo did not elaborate further on this important point. Israel’s manner of observing circumcision differed in one important respect from the other surrounding cultures of the ancient world. Israel practiced infant circumcision as an initiation into the Abrahamic covenant, whereas the other cultures considered circumcision as a rite of passage that transpired either at puberty or as a part of a prenuptial ritual.
[4] Philo, Questions on Genesis 3:48.
[5] Guide 3:49. 7
[6] Guide 3:49.
[7] Baruch Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise 3:53-54, 55-56.
[8] Cohen differs from my interpretation of Maimonides and thinks that it is not circumcision that effeminates Jewish men, but it is their belief in a messianic redeemer and deference toward authority that has effeminate Jewish thinking over the centuries, which effectively came to an end once Jews established their own state. Interestingly, Spinoza emerges as one of the great proto-Zionists of his time. See Shaye J. D. Cohen, “Why Aren’t Jewish Women Circumcised? Gender and Covenant in Judaism (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005), pp. 171-172.
[9] http://nocamels.com/2011/02/israeli-doctors-teach-african-doctors-adult-circumcision-to-reduce-hiv/ See also, http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/circumcision.htm#ref8., Ed Schoen, Ed Schoen, MD on Circumcision (Berkeley, CA: Starbooks Distribution; 2002), 66.
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Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel is spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Chula Vista and the author of numerous books, including on Philo’s and Maimonides’ Torah commentaries.
Thanks for the wealth of information and the many opinions.
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