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Arabs Getting Circumcisions - Yes and No

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edu:
Rambam to Hilchot Melachim 10:8 holds that the sons of Avraham's wife, Ketura, which are the seed of Avraham that came after Yishmael and Yitzchak are obligated in Brit Mila (circumcision) And since in our days the descendants of Yishmael and the sons of Ketura have intermarried (losing their distinct identity) all of this mixed group will be obligated in Brit Mila on day 8 of a baby's life.רמב"ם הלכות מלכים פרק י
הלכה ח
אמרו חכמים שבני קטורה שהם זרעו של אברהם שבא אחר ישמעאל ויצחק חייבין במילה, והואיל ונתערבו היום בני ישמעאל בבני קטורה יתחייבו הכל במילה בשמיני Rashi disagrees. He holds that only the first generation of the sons of Ketura had the Brit Mila obligation. Torah Temima explains that Rashi holds that these people are not considered on a religious level, the seed of Avraham and the first generation from Ketura were only obligated because all that were born to Avraham's household needed a Brit Mila.

Tag-MehirTzedek:
Bigger question is if Hashem wants people besides Jews to have a circumcision or not. For example when people came to Yosef during the famine he had them circumcised if they wanted to receive food. Soo perhaps circumcision is good for all. OR we can explain perhaps that he did it in order to take away some of the Yetzer Hara for sexual relations and at the time their was starvation and it was a bad policy to bring more people into the world.

cjd:

--- Quote from: Tag-MehirTzedek on December 29, 2013, 10:07:42 AM ---Bigger question is if Hashem wants people besides Jews to have a circumcision or not. For example when people came to Yosef during the famine he had them circumcised if they wanted to receive food. Soo perhaps circumcision is good for all. OR we can explain perhaps that he did it in order to take away some of the Yetzer Hara for sexual relations and at the time their was starvation and it was a bad policy to bring more people into the world.

--- End quote ---
Just how much is the moil cutting off in order to do population control? You make it sound like a castration.

Tag-MehirTzedek:

--- Quote from: cjd on December 29, 2013, 10:20:26 AM ---Just how much is the moil cutting off in order to do population control? You make it sound like a castration.

--- End quote ---

 It takes away some of the lust and gives opportunity to have self control. Without the Brit Milah it is a lot harder to control oneself. At the time Yosef could have had people circumcised because it was years of famine and it would have been a lot harder to feed more mouths. Soo he would only sell food to people who were circumcised and people would do circumcision because they were hungry and in need of food.

muman613:
Tag is correct about one of the reasons we are commanded to get a Brit Milah (Circumcision) on the 8th day...

One of the things about the brit is that it reduces the unholy use of the male sexual organ by reminding us of the covenant with Abraham...

http://www.shemayisrael.com/mikvah/britmilah.html

Since then ,for all Jewish baby boys, brit milah (the covenant of circumcision) must be done on the eighth day after birth. It can be done later if medical reasons warrant postponing it, but never earlier. The word "brit" means covenant and "milah" means circumcision. Circumcision establishes a covenant between God and the Jew. (A Jewish female is considered circumcised in a spiritual sense from birth, possessing this holy covenant within herself from the moment she is born). God wanted to permanently affix a symbol on the bodies of the Jewish males since He chose the Jewish nation to be called by His name. Circumcision on the male sexual organ was designated as the symbol of the Covenant because this is the source from which the perpetuation of the species emanates. One might ask why did God not create the human being already circumcised if He desired this Covenant? The reason God did not create the human being complete in the mother’s womb is to indicate that just as the physical aspects of the body can be made better by human deeds, so is it within the human power to perfect the soul by correcting oneself spiritually through the covenant of circumcision. A man must guard the purity of his sexual organ and refine himself constantly in life: this is the biggest test and challenge to the human being. The lifeforce and most positive energy aspect of a human being (the creative power one possesses), must be directed to Godliness at all times and must be used for holiness. No man is immune to the challenges of the sexual urge.

The greatest concentration of impurity comes to rest upon the male sex organ at that time (since it has the potential to produce life and wherever there is an opening for holiness and positive energy to flow, the unholy forces attach themselves to that opening). In this case, they become concentrated in the foreskin. The foreskin becomes the embodiment of negativity and unholiness in the child.

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On a metaphysical level, we cut off the potential of negative energy to become actualized in the life of this person, and we give the person extra strength to overcome problems and impurity in life. Kabbalah explains that in this physical world there are many blocks to seeing and experiencing Godliness. A person must remove these blocks and find God. Circumcision is such an act of separating and removing unholiness. By removing the foreskin, spiritually we remove the potential for undesirable character traits, depressive tendencies and so on. We eliminate from the body of the child forces which may try to cultivate overindulgence in physical pleasures etc. In other words, we give the child a head start in fighting life’s battles, a sort of spiritual immunization . Circumcision implies that the foreskin interposed between man and the world outside man is a spiritual defect which has to be removed. This defect is the heightened sensuality of the foreskin on the one hand together with its innate callousness on the other. The presence of the foreskin makes sexual relations more physically exciting but also insulates the individual from his partner's feelings. It is thus at once the physical manifestation of both selfish, sensual desire and innate egocentricity. If left in place it will become the root of all the evils that may plague a person in life. Circumcision is the act of desensitizing a person to his own lust for pleasure and sensitizing him to others feelings.

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