The Medicalization of Circumcision with Elizabeth Reis

Many Jewish males are circumcised in the hospital without any Jewish ritual, but how did this become the case? Eli and Max are joined by the historian Prof. Elizabeth Reis (CUNY), who has studied the medicalization of circumcision in mid-century New York. While rabbis were glad to see mainstream support for circumcision, they worried about a shift away from the religious component of circumcision, which is exactly what happened. We explore this tension, and we discuss a fascinating historical moment in which a mohel could perform a brit milah in the hospital, and how shorter hospital stays for women giving birth changed the practice of Jewish circumcision and provided opportunities for rabbis to criticize mothers. Plus, we discuss how circumcision might relate to medical and Jewish responses to intersex conditions.

Elizabeth Reis, “Medicalization and the Mainstreaming of Circumcision in Mid-twentieth-century America”

Elizabeth Reis, Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex