On a dreary January morning in 1986, I sat in my hospital bed weeping, trying to pretend to my husband, Mark, that it was the hormones. It should have been a joyous day. The night before last, I’d given birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy. This morning was the circumcision. Mark and I are…
On Sunday, May 1st, I gave a presentation on Celebrating Brit Shalom, the first comprehensive resource for Jewish families questioning, and opting out of, circumcision. The event took place at Temple Sinai in Oakland, and the video is now available (attached below; scroll down). I only wish my Floridian co-author, Rebecca Wald, had been able…
“Another essay about that? Aren’t multiple articles and a novel enough, already?” “All the ills in the world, and this is what you focus on?” [Attempt to keep a straight face] “You’re attacking a sacred tradition. And you’re making me feel very uncomfortable.” “But it’s an AIDS cure! Don’t you realize that in Africa, men…
We’ve all chuckled over the “rotten rejections” writers have endured on the way to fame. “I’m sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language.” Well, I seem to rack up “rotten acceptances.” Maybe it’s the price I pay for choosing a controversial religious subject to write about. First I…