Interview: Jewish Activist Rebecca Wald is Working to End Circumcision

“I think it’s awful. It’s shocking what people are willing to accept just because everyone else in their community goes along.”

On April 25th, activist Rebecca Wald joined Merion West’s Erich Prince to discuss her efforts to end the practice of circumcision in the Jewish community, citing the risk of complications and the lack of medical necessity, her book proposing alternative ceremonies for Jewish families who forgo the practice, and to address arguments that circumcision is essential to maintaining the traditions of the Jewish community.

Ms. Wald, good afternoon, and thank you for being with us today. To start off, can you describe how you became involved in this area of advocacy?

My entire family is Jewish. This will probably come as a surprise, but many of my family members are against circumcision. I’m not the only one, or even the first. My father is a physician and witnessed a circumcision during his internship. He saw the brutality of what was being done and the coldness of the doctor and staff. He identified with the suffering child. My father had to then do a circumcision. This was a requirement of his medical training. The saying was: “See one. Do one. Teach one.”

He did it, and he said that the baby suffered tremendously. That was the last circumcision he did—or wanted anything to do with. Had I been a boy, my parents tell me I would not have been circumcised.

My husband is also a physician. From our first conversation about the subject, we were in full agreement that any boys we had would be spared. He didn’t have to be convinced as he, too, had witnessed circumcisions during his medical training. I have many other Jewish relatives and friends who feel circumcision is harmful. Not all Jewish people circumcise. Not all of us support this.