Mention circumcision to a group of men, and - even if they think it's a good idea, health wise - most guys will cringe, says Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar, who is planning a Bris, the public, prayerful ritual of Jewish circumcision for her soon-to-be-born son this month, June 2015. That cringing, she says, might even be part of why God commanded Abraham to circumcise his sons and himself as a sign of the sacred covenant between God and Jews and Jews and God.

"Think about it," said Bahar, who has served as rabbi of Temple B'nai Sholom, Huntsville's Reform Jewish synagogue, since 2009. "Maybe doing this helps men to be a little more compassionate - it sensitizes them to the suffering of the baby. And maybe Jewish girls are not required to be circumcised because they can give birth, and maybe that helps sensitize women, who seem to be more naturally compassionate. But that's just one theory - remember, rabbis have been talking and arguing about this ritual supposedly since the time of Abraham - about 3,800 years ago."

The men and women witnessing the ceremony might suffer with empathy, but Bahar does not expect her baby to suffer. The Bris, which is the Yiddish term, or Brit Milah - the Hebrew means "Covenant of the Cutting" - will be performed by a physician who is also a Mohelet, a woman trained in the ritual and prayerful aspects of the ceremony. During the actual procedure, the baby will be held by his godfather and surrounded by a small circle of family.

"We're not trying to make our kid suffer," Bahar said. "She'll use a pain blocker to numb the area and we'll give him some baby Tylenol before the ceremony. Sure, he'll cry - but that will be because he will be exposed to the cold air."

Oddly enough, a person who performs circumcisions for religious reasons is not required to be licensed by the state or the health department, but Bahar said she would have a hard time trusting her son to anyone but a physician also trained as a Mohel. And Bahar is as revolted as any non-Jew by news in 2012 that a Mohel in New York spread herpes to babies by using a non-sterile oral suction technique after performing circumcisions in a deeply Orthodox community. The majority of Jewish Mohels observe scrupulous sterile protocols and do not use that technique, metzitzah b'peh, to suction blood after the procedure.

Regardless, circumcision is a touchy subject for many people in the U.S., and rates of infant circumcision appear to have declined about 10 percent in the last 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Back in 2011, a ballot initiative in San Francisco nearly succeeded in putting a law to ban circumcisions of infants and non-consenting children to a vote until a judge cut the initiative from the ballot.

A group called Jews Against Circumcision proposes a Brit Sholom - a "Covenant of Peace" ceremony similar to a baby girl's naming ceremony, as opposed to the Brit Milah, "Covenant of Cutting." Describing themselves as "educated and enlightened Jews," the group declares that "the barbaric, primitive, torturous, and mutilating practice of circumcision has no place in modern Judaism."

Mohel Trent Rosenbloom, at left, with Rabbi Elizabeth and Uzi Bahar and their daughter Aiden and 8-day-old infant David Joseph, sing a blessing along with Rabbi Bernard Honan, at right, during their January 2012 ceremonial circumcision of their son in front of the tabernacle at Temple B'nai Sholom, a ritual that welcomes the child into the Jewish family and was witnessed by members of the congregation as well as their non-Jewish friends. The Bahars are planning another Bris for their second son, who is expected to be born in June 2015. (Courtesy of Wren Miller)

Sacredness, public and private

Bahar knows that debates over circumcision - debates both religious and medical - continue, and she understands why they might.

"I can see that this seems so abhorrent," Bahar said. "I've had a hard time wrapping my own head around it."

Helping her wrap her head around it are the latest recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics that the "health benefits (of circumcision) outweigh the risks." Bahar is glad to know medical advice backs up religious requirement.

But even if there were not documented scientific evidence siding with infant circumcision, she would be inclined to follow the commandment. The ritual has marked the entrance of a boy into the Jewish community since the Bronze Age.

"Uzi and I take the commandments very seriously," said Bahar, who was recognized recently as one of America's Most Inspiring Rabbis. "We want to embrace them as well as we can. In many ways, this actual act contextualizes everything else - that we don't just discuss our religion or think about our religion, but that we do our religion.

"And - think about it - given the location of this, it reminds us that -- in everything we're doing -- that God should be a part of it. It reminds us that we are not animals, that there is something sacred about everything that we do, even the most private."