I’ve been reading a lot lately about the question slated for San Francisco’s November ballot, that would make circumcision of boys under age eighteen illegal within the city limits.  As it’s formulated, the only exception would be medical emergency.  MGMbill.org, the organization proposing the bill not only in San Francisco, but nationwide, refers to circumcision as “mutilation”, and to circumcised boys as victims of abuse.  
     This particular chapter of the ongoing circumcision debate in the United States is getting a lot of media attention, particularly in the Jewish community, maybe because the San Francisco ballot initiative is gaining enough popularity to make it plausible that it could actually pass.  Or maybe it’s because supporters of the bill are emphasizing the lack of religious exemption and publishing comic books with caricatures of religious Jews tearing a baby out of his mother’s arms and circumcising him as she struggles to free herself and her child from their grip.  The comic, Foreskin Man, and the supporters of the bill, have been accused of anti-Semitism, and the cries of human rights abuses have been countered with concerns over government incursion into religious freedom.  
     But the debate over circumcision is not a new one- not to Jews and not to Americans.  In rabbinic texts, the mitzvah of brit milah, the commandment of ritual circumcision (a.k.a. bris), is tied to maintaining Jewish identity.  Under ancient Greek rule, when circumcision was prohibited, brit milah was still widely performed and aggressively defended within the Jewish community.  In secular American culture, circumcision has come in and out of fashion over the years, with a trend recently towards leaving babies intact.  The reasons for circumcising “routinely” have fluctuated, including hygiene, sexual well-being, health benefits, and parent preference.  
     Trends in the American Jewish community fluctuate as well.  Though brit milah, ritual circumcision, remains a highly valued and practiced tradition, one that even many secular Jews see as imperative, there have, at times, been trends among some Jews to choose routine in-hospital circumcision, because of insurance coverage, a sense of discomfort with public ritual, or greater trust of the medical community than a mohel, a specialist in ritual circumcision.  On the other hand, there are families who prefer a mohel, even if they feel more culturally than religiously connected to the ritual, because they trust his or her procedure and experience more than that of a hospital resident.  There are also families choosing to have private brit milah ceremonies with a select few guests, saving the larger celebration for a less intimate moment.  And, yes, there are Jewish families who choose not to circumcise their boys, persuaded by the American cultural trend and the arguments against it.  
     What’s different about the debate for our generation, is that the public discourse has moved from disagreement - Circumcision is medically beneficial vs. No, not really.  Why cut off a piece of the body when you don’t need to? - to polarization - Circumcision is an excruciatingly painful abusive form of mutilation that needs to be banned to protect innocent children from irreparable physical and psychological trauma!  vs. Circumcision is is one hundred percent safe, nearly painless, prevents cancer and STDs, enhances sexual pleasure for men and women, and besides, foreskins are gross!  God was right!  With accessible forums for disseminating and finding information, anyone can put their opinions out there.  So, there’s highly charged information available on both sides of the circumcision divide, and sadly, not a lot to be found in the gray area in between, where the truth probably lies.  
     I’m all for easy access to information, and appreciate the ways it enhances my life as a parent, but the volume of highly emotional, high-stakes discourse on this issue makes a parent’s job more complex.  When one source says absolutely yes, and the other says absolutely not, how do you know who to trust?  When each side questions the other’s grasp on reality while making their own outlandish claims, who can you believe?  And where are the sources that break it down without bias, that acknowledge the concerns of both sides and help intelligent adults make their own decisions based on the best available information and their own assessments, values and priorities?  
     I’ve been wishing for a while that there was a guide for Jewish parents struggling with the issue of circumcision, a resource for parents who consider themselves obligated by the mitzvah, but feel conflicted, knowing they would otherwise choose not to circumcise, and those who don’t make Jewish choices based on a sense of obligation, who are struggling with the weight of an age-old Jewish tradition to circumcise in an American cultural context that increasingly favors leaving baby boys intact.  Since I haven’t found that kind of guide yet, I’ve decided to try to write it myself.  
     Here’s a first attempt at articulating my approach to living in the gray area.  As with all polarized issues, I recommend reading anything on circumcision with a grain of salt.  In searching for the grey area, I’ve tried to present this analysis pre-salted, but of course, add to taste.