Torah For Today: Keeping your sons’ foreskins
Rabbi Zvi Solomons looks at a topical issue and delves into Jewish texts for a response
Last week, presenter Stacey Solomon shocked fans by revealing she had kept her sons’ foreskins after their circumcison, although Jewish custom is to have them buried. So, what does the Torah say about burying the foreskin after a brit milah?
The burying of a foreskin is connected to halacha on burial more generally. Jews and Muslims have the custom of hurrying our dead to the grave; for us it is highly disrespectful to unnecessarily postpone burial.
The origin of this may well have to do with the heat of our homeland, Israel. However, in Deuteronomy 21:23 we are told that a criminal must be taken down from a pole on which he was hung within a day of execution: “His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt surely bury him the same day; for he that is hanged is a reproach unto God; that thou defile not thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”
The rabbis argue that since this is deemed a basic sign of respect for a criminal, all the more should we show this respect to the innocent who die.
The body, being the clothing of the soul, is not to be destroyed or disfigured. This is why we try to avoid autopsies and why we bury limbs and other human remains after surgery or removal.
When Stacey Solomon (pictured) kept her sons’ foreskins after circumcision, one has to ask, why? She surely had no fear that if she buried them they would grow into a juniper tree, like the folk tale from Brothers Grimm. Most mohelim carry around a small phial containing earth to fulfil the burial requirement. Could the mohel have given her an inappropriate tip? I think not.
Fashionable fads such as eating placenta fricassée may have more to do with this, although I doubt Ms Solomon was motivated by any nutritional medical or taxidermal notions.
All these would be unacceptable in halacha, save in the rare instance of their proving a cure to a life-threatening disease.
While the ‘Auto-Icon’ of Jeremy Bentham, whose dressed skeleton resides on the ground floor of UCL’s Student Centre, may be designed to stir thoughts and question religion, perhaps a better explanation of Stacey’s retention of her sons’ foreskins is she has done so for her own reasons.
- This paper requested Rabbi Zvi Solomons of the Jewish Community of Berkshire to write about halacha connected to Stacey Solomon’s revelation
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
