It can be inferred that a conservative Jewish family would participate in such a ritual. Is this child abuse?
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First I’ve heard of this (disgusting) custom.
If that’s what it is - a custom - and if it is ancient, then the answer to your title question must be yes.
But I doubt that it is - or ever was - a custom.
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How zealous of the Huffpost to find it and make it widely known.
No slouchers, those Huffpost anti-Semites!
It’s a fascinating fact that billions of people worship a Jew called Jesus and hate Jews.
And more billions follow a Jew called Karl Marx and hate Jews.
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Interesting, also, that they focus on this, but not on female genital mutilation, which Muslims practice.
Or trans mutilation and pedophilia, for that matter!
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All religious rituals are either ridiculous or disgusting - or both - but some more ridiculous or disgusting than others.
Cruel practices are of course much worse. Such as burning people to death - customary at some time with all the big religions (perhaps with all religions). We all know it was a favorite with the Christian churches in the centuries of their power.
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Very important points! Thank you, Liz.
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I have heard rumours of this unpardonable ritual. It is cannibalism with pedophilic overtones. Anyone who practices it or allows his child to undergo this unspeakably vile rite should be imprisoned. What punishment would Dante impose I wonder?
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Yes, and we thought all the pedophiles were in the Catholic church!.. Who knew?
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Ancient, primitive, religious ritual for infant circumcision held over from gawd-knows when and practiced by a Jewish sect and that possibly brings with it disease…yes. Child abuse…no.
Should it be banned? I think so. Is it child abuse? I don’t think so.
Are there child abusers that may be in this religious line of business? Probably, but is the practice itself child abuse? No, I do not consider it to be child abuse.
I sighed a bunch thinking about this.
So, here is my thinking. I do not consider circumcision to be child abuse or sexual mutilation. I think it is a sound medical practice.
If I could know the mind of the religious ritual practitioner and I knew the practice to be sexually titillating to him, then I could say he was committing child sexual abuse.
I would assume it is no more sexually titillating than performing a pelvic exam or a prostate exam, despite the sex of those involved. I would assume it is no more sexually titillating than the ritual kiss on the lips given and received by many families and by many nations in greeting, whether the kiss is between mixed sexes or same sexes.
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Yes, circumcision probably is a sound medical practice. I doubt anyone here disagrees with that. Circumcision is not the issue.
Judaism forbids the imbibing of blood. It forbids cannibalism. This “metzitzah” act - involving human blood drinking - is obviously perverse in itself and against the religious law.
To present an obscure perversion and illegal act as a feature of the Jewish religion in order to smear the people whose religion it is, is calumny.
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I agree:
The medical soundness of circumcision and its moral justification are subjects for another day.
This vile act does not in itself condemn the religion of Judaism, but I am curious to know what religious authority these cretins have for their depravity.
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The act itself is possibly not conducive to the health of the infant, but it is the hearts and minds of the practitioner that make the act depraved and vile. I don’t know their hearts and minds to determine that, and while it may appear to us that it is a terrible practice, it may not be to those who accept it.
I submit that sexual titillation is what would make it a vile fetish of a pedophile. If that is not there, then it is just a unhealthy, and to us, disgusting practice.
There are women that will not go to a female gynecologist because they will never allow a lesbian to touch them. They see the pelvic exam as a sexual thing, but have no problem with a man touching them during a pelvic exam.
Is a pelvic exam a sexual practice that is sexually titillating to the practitioner? Are women being sexually abused by doctors of both sexes?
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You’re right - there’s always the possibility, and who can know what’s in a person’s mind?
But at least the possibilty could be eliminated in the case of circumcision, by eliminating the practice of it entirely. I think circumcision, being an ancient, primitive ritual, is not sound medical practice to begin with. It’s purported efficacy as a preventative of infection could be entirely -and more safely -replaced with simple hygiene.
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As always, it must depend on the individual.
It amazes me that a gynecologist-and-obstetrician, of either sex, can continue long to have any sexual urges whatsoever.
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I suppose if the sexual organs are the only titillating force for having sex, then that would be true. But if the genitalia of others is part of the job, then there is a different mindset, don’t you think?
Am I a prude, or don’t most people have sexual urges for their chosen other because they love them and don’t think of them as a thing with genitalia, with which they can perform a sexual act?
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So, we disagree on the circumcision debate, but that’s the way it is anymore. That topic could take a whole thread itself…or maybe not? It is just one of those things that individuals tend to come down strongly on either side, and never change.
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I don’t know what most people feel or think, but I feel and think that your way is a good way.
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So…we ARE prudes! 
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We don’t interfere with what other people choose to do privately. We don’t preach to them.
We’re civilized rather than prudish.
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Actually, I don’t approve of what other people do privately, but no, I don’t interfere. I might speak out against the behavior of others if I am employing a learning moment with one of my grandchildren or “adopted” grandchildren, but not publicly.
What was the topic, again? 
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