Reform Judaism
The leaders of Reform Judaism in early nineteenth century Germany at first rejected circumcision, claiming it to be 'barbaric'. Theodor Herzl, the founder of Zionism and associated with the Reform movement, notably refused to allow his son to be circumcised. By 1871, rabbinic leadership in the German Reform Movement reasserted "the supreme importance of circumcision in Judaism", though those who had not been circumcised would continue to be considered as Jews. Although the issue of circumcision of converts continues to be debated, the necessity of Brit Milah for Jewish infant boys has been stressed in every subsequent Reform rabbis manual or guide. Since 1984 Reform Judaism has trained and certified over 300 of their own practicing mohalim in this ritual.
Read more about this topic: Brit Milah
Famous quotes containing the words reform and/or judaism:
“Short of a wholesale reform of college athletics—a complete breakdown of the whole system that is now focused on money and power—the women’s programs are just as doomed as the men’s are to move further and further away from the academic mission of their colleges.... We have to decide if that’s the kind of success for women’s sports that we want.”
—Christine H. B. Grant, U.S. university athletic director. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. A42 (May 12, 1993)
“Christianity is the religion of melancholy and hypochondria. Islam, on the other hand, promotes apathy, and Judaism instills its adherents with a certain choleric vehemence, the heathen Greeks may well be called happy optimists.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)