Reader Questions

From Marisa - I do! I do! At the risk of setting off a firestorm... we've been discussing the circumcision question for months. There's (obviously) strong religions tradition at play (which my partner and I share with you), and there there are also the people who say it's an unnecessary risk, done for cosmetic reasons and tradition. We're feeling really torn about it. Julie, do you mind sharing what was behind your decision to do it? Religious tradition? Health reasons? Something else altogether? Our decision wasn't that difficult. All of the men in both of our families have been circumcised. We spoke with my sister-in-law who is a pediatrician about the medical risks, we discussed the issues he may have psychologically (most children are still circumcised - do we want him to stand out in that respect?). We decided that for both religious and psychological reasons - we wanted to have this done. From Amy - Ha ha Chrissi is cracking me up! And I can kind of relate to that, being married to a man from England, where they also don't typically circ (and who is also adamantly against it - but I personally believe that whatever anyone wants to do is just fine and most certainly not up to me). Although in this forum I didn't mean to set off a circ debate. I assumed that you two would circ for religious reasons and wanted to know what you two were planning on doing. I think it's very interesting. Can you explain to us what a Mikvah is? Thanks! Don't worry about Amy - I had a feeling this may touch off a bit of a discussion. A Mikvah is a ritual bath. It is used at various times in a Jewish person's life. In Dylan's case, we will use the Mikvah as part of the conversion process. As more questions are asked, I will either post them here or start a new one :)