Prick and Choose Part I with Max Buckler

This episode begins our series on hatafat dam brit, a Jewish ritual performed in place of brit milah that involves pricking the circumcision scar to draw a small amount of blood. Eli and Max are joined by Max Buckler, who has recently published the first bioethics paper on hatafat dam brit and its relationship to debates about circumcision. We discuss Max’s argument that hatafat dam brit is the least extreme form of genital cutting; therefore, if hatafat dam brit is wrong, then so are other forms of genital cutting, which introduce further ethical concerns. Along the way, we touch on a variety of ethical topics: the difference between a ritual act and the state it produces; why some Jewish parents find hatafat dam brit more disturbing than circumcision even though circumcision is more physically consequential; whether the concept of medical necessity is helpful; and the bioethical concepts of autonomy, care, and consent.

Max Buckler, “The Smallest Cut: The Ethics and (Surprising) Implications of Hatafat Dam Brit for the Ongoing Genital Cutting Debate”

Max Buckler, “The Ethics of Child Genital Cutting. When Does a Violation Occur? Comments on ‘Defending an Inclusive Right to Genital and Bodily Integrity for Children’ by Dr. Kate Goldie Townsend” 

Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon and Max DuBoff, Circumcision Texts in the Jewish Tradition