een Jews and (a symbolically male) God.37 The anti-circumcision movement and brit shalom Main articles: Circumcision controversies and Brit shalom (naming ceremony)
Many founding leaders of the Reform movement took a very rejectionist view of Jewish practice and discarded traditions and rituals including circumcision which was decried as barbaric.30 Some contemporary Jews choose not to circumcise their sons.38 They are assisted by a small number of Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis and have developed a welcoming ceremony that they call the brit shalom ("Covenant of Peace") for such children also accepted by Humanistic Judaism.3940
This ceremony of brit shalom is not officially approved of by the Reform or Reconstructionist rabbinical organizations who make the recommendation that male infants should be circumcised as well as all men who convert into Judaism4142 though circumcision of converts is not mandatory in either movement.43
However the connection of the Reform movement to an anti-circumcision pro-symbolic stance is a historical one. From the early days of the movement in Germany some classical Reformers hoped to replace ritual circumcision "with a symbolic act as has been done for other bloody practices such as the sacrifices."44 As a result many European Jewish fathers during the nineteenth century chose not to circumcise their sons including Theodore Herzl.45 In the US an official Reform resolution in 1893 abolished circumcision for converts46 and this ambivalence towards the practice has carried over to classical-minded Reform Jews today. In Rabbi Elyse Wechterman's essay A Plea for Inclusion she argues that even in the absence of circumcision committed Jews should never be turned away especially by a movement "where no other ritual observance is mandated". She goes on to advocate for an alternate covenant ceremony brit atifah for both boys and girls as a welcoming ritual into Judaism.47 With a continuing negativity towards circumcision still present within a minority of modern-day Reform Judaic scholar Jon Levenson has warned that if they "continue to judge brit milah to be not only medically unnecessary but also brutalizing and mutilating...the abhorrence of it expressed by some early Reform leaders will return with a vengeance" proclaiming that circumcision will be "the latest front in the battle over the Jewish future in America."48 Nevertheless it has "remained a central rite" in Reform Judaism30 and the Union for Reform Judaism has since 1984 trained and certified over 300 practicing mohels under its "Berit Mila Program".49
In Israel while still a minority a rapidly growing number of Jewish families are choosing not to have their sons circumcised arguing that circumcision is not necessary amongst Jews.50 For example Ya'acov Malkin the academic director of the College of Judaism as Culture in Israel says of circumcision: "I don't regard it as a religious act at all... if it's medically not necessary it's not necessary." While the Humanistic Judaism movement argues that "circumcision is not required for Jewish identity." 50 References Tractate Nedarim 32a http://www.chabad.org/library/articlecdo/aid/144464/jewish/The-Proper-Time-and-Place.htm http://beritmila.org/Glossary.html Nussbaum Cohen Debra (October 14 2005). "City Risking Babies' Lives With Brit Policy: Health Experts". The Jewish Week. http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3artid11539. Retrieved 2007-04-19.  Nussbaum Cohen Debra; Larry Cohler-Esses (December 23 2005). "City Challenged On Ritual Practice". The Jewish Week. http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3artid11833&printyes. Retrieved 2007-