Jewish circumcision and Christian polemics. A canonical history of Jewish circumcision -- Were Jewish women ever circumcised? -- Christian questions, Christian responses -- From reticence to polemic -- Why aren't Jewish women circumcised? four responses. The celebration of manhood -- The reduction of lust and the unmanning of men -- True faith and the exemption of women -- The celebration of womanhood.
Why aren't Jewish women circumcised? This improbable question, first advanced by anti-Jewish Christian polemicists, is the point of departure for this wide-ranging exploration of gender and Jewishness in Jewish thought. With a lively command of a wide range of Jewish sources--from the Bible and the Talmud to the legal and philosophical writings of the Middle Ages to Enlightenment thinkers and modern scholars--Shaye J.