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*Warning -- the post below may be considered offensive to some people. I apologize in advance if I say something that might offend someone. That's not my intention.*

Yesterday, I convinced my cousin to join me for a for a screening of this film. It explores the issue of male infant circumcision, and particularly the Jewish mitzvah of brit milah.

Those of you who know me well know that although I identify very strongly with my Israeli roots, I consider myself a de facto jew. It's something I was born to, and although I have respect for the history and cultural value of that title, I have serious issues with the religious aspects of Judaism, and for that matter, other organized religions (although to a much lesser extent. After all, through 12th grade I studied in Jewish schools, and so the depth of my knowledge of Judaism is far greater than that of other religions.

Given all that, and because after Thing 1 turned out to be the wonderfully unique child, I realized that I needed to parent deliberately -- that is, make choices about sleep, feeding, birthing, etc., that were decided not because they were the norm, but because they were what was best for the child that it was my responsibility to bring to adulthood.

So when I was pregnant with Thing 2, and didn't know whether the child would be a boy or a girl, the issue of circumcision came up. It was a given to my entire family and to Thing 2's dad that we would be circumcising, should the child be a boy. I had researched the issue quite thoroughly, and was not comfortable with that choice.

Fortunately, I did not have to make the decision, it would probably have been impossible to stand up to my family, Thing 2's dad and his family on this issue.

But what if Thing 2 had been a boy? What does one do when one's ethical beliefs are in conflict with the religious beliefs and traditions of one's family?

Well, back to the film.
The producer/director/cinematographer/ writer/editor researched this issue for himself, and made it into a film. Overall, I would say that it is extremely well done. The film deals with circumcision in general and the brit milah in particular. The documentarian treats the subject with the sensitivity and respect that it deserves, and brings in the view points of a wide array of individuals, including scientists, doctors, rabbies, sociologists, and philosophers.

Although I might have made some different choices in presentation, discussion, editting and the people interviewed (specifically, the film was made primarily in Chicago. I would have liked to see some discussion with people who had made this journey before that were farther afield, but I certainly understand financing and time constraints that may have prevented it, as well as the slant of the film as a personal journey for the documentarian.), the film covered each point that I had researched myself 6 years ago, as well as the religious aspects that were not as pertinent to me.

Since I was familiar with most of the information, what I most enjoyed about the film was the issue of ethics vs. religion, which wasn't thrown into one's face, but certainly filled the room like a white elephant. That, too, was a journey that I made, although several years earlier...

The other aspect that I enjoyed was that the documentarian interviewed his own father about the choices that the father had made for his son(s) many years before. That dynamic was quite interesting.

Anyway, the film is not really out for distribution. Since it is such a controversial topic, it's hard for him to get it screened, unfortunately, although I do wish that people would not have such a knee-jerk reaction to being asked to revisit this issue with delibiration (but hey, I don't have a penis, now do I?) I do, however, wish Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon luck in his attempts to have this film shown. It has a lot of value, makes one think, and is entertaining to boot. If anyone who reads this can help him with getting the film shown/distributed, contact him here. I would, however, request that any comments sent to him be respectful.