“Mohelet” (like “toilet”) Dr. Dorothy F. Greenbaum has been placed on the “Known Genital Mutilators” directory at neonatalcutting.org.
How do I know she’s uncut? Well, as a Jewish female her religion doesn’t target her for circumcision, plus it’s illegal in the U.S. And since most modern religions and governments actually enforce the law against neonatal cutting – for girls anyway – the doctor is most assuredly intact.
Although anyone who genitally mutilates an unconsenting infant is committing an unethical and unlawful act, people who do it to another while they themselves are intact are particularly heinous, especially if they’re the opposite sex. Most doctors in western countries that circumcise are themselves circumcised, so at least the circumciser has had a taste of his own medicine, but women who were protected from mutilation and enjoy intact genitalia because they were female and then have the nerve to promote and perform this amputation exclusively on boys are clearly misandric. Not only is she a genital mutilator, she’s a bigoted genital mutilator. In her mind, her private parts were made perfect, unlike those boys’ parts.
This is important because mothers – who are women – usually have the final say whether her baby gets circumcised. In non-circumcising countries the moms are doing their job, protecting the little ones, in circumcising countries, not so much. In these circumcising countries ignorance about male sexuality and genitalia continue to cause otherwise caring mothers to go along with this surgical “benefit.” Do some women, unfamiliar with a normal penis, think it icky when they see one? Are men insecure about their sexuality? Will some men do whatever some women want? Does that make some men think their son’s (or theirs) normal penis is faulty and needs fixing? In many ways women have the power to stop MGM. Here’s an excellent video of one of many who are making a difference.
From her Dr. Greenbaum’s website brisdoctor.com under “Welcome:”
My Philosophy
Your son’s bris should not be something you are afraid of and it should not be something you and your family do not understand. Everything that I say in Hebrew, I completely translate into English. Everyone present, whether Jewish or of any other background, will understand what is going on. Hopefully everyone will feel moved. The only one I don’t want feeling anything is your son — consequently I make the bris as painfree as possible!
To any sane, ethical person, all genital mutilators of unconsenting children are heinous individuals. But to be one of these monsters who then refuse to undergo the surgery themselves is the height of hypocrisy, bigotry, and discrimination. I’m talking about women who think it fine to mutilate baby boys who then – and rightly so – call it a crime when done to baby girls.
Reading on, we see:
What is a bris?
A bris is a meaningful Jewish religious ceremony, of which the medical procedure of circumcision is an important, but not the only, part. A bris takes your baby boy and and bonds him to thousands of years of tradition in the presence of family and friends. A bris can be a catered affair in a restaurant or hotel room, or a private ceremony with just parents and child. Regardless of its location, it is always a gathering with important loved ones at your side to participate in this commandment.
Berit milah (circumcision) is traditionally done on the baby’s eighth day of life. It can be done after the eighth day, but never before. A bris incorporates your baby boy into the covenant between God and the Jewish people. It is a symbol of God’s covenant with Abraham and with all of us. It is a pledge of faith and continuity.
This is obviously a religious ritual, like a bloody sacrifice – but without the killing – and as such has no medical benefit, cures no disease, and treats no abnormality, making it unnecessary and illegal. All elective surgery for adults require written permission before any work is done, yet we totally allow this assault on baby boys. Why? As I’ve said before, it’s mostly because an infant can’t fight back, block the scalpel, or sue.
Next we read:
Who should perform a bris?
Someone very experienced in performing circumcision, who is certified by a Jewish Berit Milah Board. My personal feeling is it is a tremendous advantage for me to be a pediatrician and a mother, because of the importance of fast and gentle surgery.
As a physician, I have the medical training that facilitates a fast and gentle circumcision. As a mother, I am motivated by my passion for a baby’s comfort and safety.
Is there anything wrong with a female mohel (a mohelet)? No! There is no passage in scripture decreeing that mohelets are illegitimate.
If this mother really was “motivated by my passion for a baby’s comfort and safety,” she wouldn’t allow this harmful and risky surgery for no medical reason.
Why did I become a mohelet?
My particular passion for this ritual comes as both a pediatrician and a mother. I am the mother of a girl and a boy, so I have gone through this experience myself some years back and I learned from my own son’s bris how to improve the experience for young families. (I was not a Mohelet yet when my baby boy was born.) It is my goal to make the bris as painfree and gentle for the baby as modern medicine can safely provide and yet maintain the meaning and feeling for all of us adults.
I don’t get how anything like genital mutilation could inspire passion (maybe against it) in an informed, caring, ethical person. At best most parents think it a necessary evil that doctors say is the right thing. Well now the doctors are mostly saying it’s not right.
And I’d like to remind the doctor that the infant with the genitals to be cut most likely would not agree to this at this time or ever, despite all the “meaning and feeling for all of us adults.”
Further on:
What are my qualifications?
I am a Medical Doctor – a Board certified Pediatrician, a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and have been a practicing pediatrician for 18 years. More importantly for you, I am a certified Mohel. I am certified by the UAHC (Union of American Hebrew Congregations) and the Central Conference of American Rabbis. I am also Vice President of NOAM (National Organization of American Mohelim/ot) and have been since 1993.
All of us who are certified by the Reform movement must be doctors or midwives. The Reform movement will not certify anyone unless his or her medical credentials are unquestioned. It is our plan to bring the best of what modern medicine has to offer to our people in the twenty-first century as well as to preserve the meaning of our traditions.
I have been a practicing mohel for five years, and have performed many hundreds of brisses, while still maintaining my pediatric practice in New York.
As a doctor you took an oath to “First, do no harm” and yet you continue to harm unconsenting infants for ritualistic or cosmetic reasons. As most of the world has figured out, infant genital mutilation of infants is wrong and it’s only a matter of time when infant boys get the same protection as baby girls.
We read on:
What are the medical benefits?
Circumcision is medically beneficial. The recent AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) statement reiterates the medical benefits of circumcision, which include: a marked decrease in urinary tract infection in circumcised male babies; a decrease in sexually transmitted diseases in circumcised adult males; and a decrease in penile cancer in men who were circumcised in infancy.
No medical society recommends routine circumcision of infants, and the AAP, to which the doctor belongs, has recently warned the medical community against performing surgery such as circumcision on infants. The medical benefits listed are either so rare (cancer) or easily cured (UTI) that routine surgery of all newborns is wildly unfounded and unethical. And to mutilate a baby boy to supposedly prevent some future imaginary STD is just ridiculous.
More from the doctor’s website:
What makes my bris special?
When my son had his bris many years ago, I was excluded from the ceremony because I was a woman. I was also not fluent in Hebrew, nor were many of the guests. I was an outsider at this important occasion and had no idea what was going on!
Now that I am a mohelet, I provide my families with a very different experience.
I make sure that my ceremony is inclusive of all family members and friends present. I take particular care to explain and translate all of the prayers, and I explain all of my actions. I take steps to include family members of different religions and cultures when the bris is performed for an interfaith family. This should be a bonding experience.
I’m glad the doctor understands that many traditional beliefs and practices were wrong and should not continue. Like not allowing women to observe with the men. Like ritual sacrifice of an infant’s foreskin.
And finally we see:
What else do I do?
When your bris is completed, I will present you with a handsome bris certificate for you to keep.
Sometimes, families would like me to perform a traditional naming ceremony for their daughters after their son’s bris. I am fully qualified by the UAHC to do this, and it is my pleasure to do so. I will give you a lovely naming certificate for your daughter at the close of the ceremony.
Is that certificate made of the baby’s foreskin? Gruesome, yes. Exactly my point.
More importantly, the Brit Shalom naming ceremony for boys – minus the genital mutilation – is an ethical alternative. Read about a mom who did the research and left her son intact.
Since Dr. Greenbaum has incomplete information about the risks of circumcision, you can read that here at neonatalcutting.org.
The doctor has a Facebook page, and in a post there read about another uncut woman from the AAP promoting MGM. See me and members of Intaction protest at this doctor’s home.
The doctor’s practice information follows:
Pager: (800) 600-3022
email: mohelet@brisdoctor.com.
Uncut Woman Who Cuts Baby Boys: Dr. Dorothy F. Greenbaum of NY, “Known Genital Mutilator” https://t.co/FJiJPKGzNR pic.twitter.com/c5JaLYejcp
— gary costanza (@jerrytheother) July 8, 2016
