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Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

Rick in Toronto, the true origins of male circumcision are unknown but it is known that it was practiced about 1,500 years before it's supposed inclusion in Genesis as The Covenant between God and Abraham. It was practiced by Egyptian Priests. I say "before it's supposed inclusion in Genesis because in fact, it was not included in the original manuscripts that survive to this day and appears to have been added after The Temple burned about 550 B.C.

The first record we have as an effort to attenuate the sexuality of men was in the 12th century when Moses Maimonides wrote:

"Similarly with regard to circumcision, one of the reasons for it is, in my opinion, the wish to bring about a decrease in sexual intercourse and a weakening of the organ in question, so that this activity be diminished and the organ be in as quiet a state as possible. It has been thought that circumcision perfects what is defective congenitally. This gave the possibility to everyone to raise an objection and to say: How can natural things be defective so that they need to be perfected from outside, all the more because we know how useful the foreskin is for that member? In fact this commandment has not been prescribed with a view to perfecting what is defective congenitally, but to perfecting what is defective morally. The bodily pain caused to that member is the real purpose of circumcision. None of the activities necessary for the preservation of the individual is harmed thereby, nor is procreation rendered impossible, but violent concupiscence and lust that goes beyond what is needed are diminished. The fact that circumcision weakens the faculty of sexual excitement and sometimes perhaps diminishes the pleasure is indubitable. For if at birth this member has been made to bleed and has had its covering taken away from it, it must indubitably be weakened. The Sages, may their memory be blessed, have explicitly stated: It is hard for a woman with whom an uncircumcised man has had sexual intercourse to separate from him. In my opinion this is the strongest of the reasons for circumcision."

March 20, 2010 - 4:20am

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