{"id":1569,"date":"2013-06-07T12:50:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T12:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondthebris.com\/my-jewish-heritage-was-key-to-unlocking-the-american-secret\/"},"modified":"2013-06-07T12:50:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-07T12:50:00","slug":"my-jewish-heritage-was-key-to-unlocking-the-american-secret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beyondthebris.com\/my-jewish-heritage-was-key-to-unlocking-the-american-secret\/","title":{"rendered":"My Jewish Heritage was Key to Unlocking the American Secret"},"content":{"rendered":"

By FRANCELLE WAX<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
<\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Photo\/James Loewen<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

I was born and raised a Reconstructionist Jew in Scarsdale, NY. I wish I could say that growing up, with every cousin\u2019s bris, I struggled mightily to comprehend such brutality. The truth is that, like virtually all children, I trusted the adults who told me that foreskin removal was in a baby\u2019s best interest.<\/p>\n

As I grew older, it was my Jewish education and upbringing that prompted me to be more considered about rules and authority, and ultimately to be reflective about circumcision.<\/span>

When you grow up with the reality that your ancestors were persecuted in just about every place in which they tried to settle, and found to be on the the wrong side of the law just a tad too often, you come to appreciate that cultural embrace and legal status are weak litmus tests for determining whether someone or something is good or ethical. In referencing my ancestors, I\u2019m not just talking about abrahamic tent dwellers or European Jewry in the 1930s, but also Russian Jews in the late 1980s. I realized I could not blindly trust the so-called \u201cauthorities\u201d–even the Jewish ones–when it came to determining right from wrong. Once you grasp that, you resign yourself to a life of figuring stuff out for yourself.<\/span>
<\/a>In spite of initial doubts about how worthwhile the cause, over the past few years my sister has been incredibly supportive, lending her expertise in grant management by helping to edit funding applications. She is also a top contributor to the “American Secret” Kickstarter campaign. <\/p>\n

My parents have let me shoot reenactments in their house, they\u2019ve gone and picked up lunch for the cast and crew. For anyone who\u2019s watched the pitch reel, that scene with the coupon clipping? That’s my mom! Didn’t she do a great job?<\/p>\n

One of my first memories of contemplating morality and trying to reconcile an ethical imperative that stood in conflict with a law, occurred at Sunday school. I was about eleven. Our principal was addressing us about Operation Solomon, a fundraising effort to bring persecuted Ethiopian Jews to Israel. He listed the items and services for which we would be raising money: flights, food, clothing–and bribes. I startled at hearing him mention bribes. Until then, I\u2019d only associated this word with duplicitous people. Then he explained: \u201cWe have to bribe the guards to get them to allow the Jews to leave.\u201d That sentence was all I needed to understand that bribery could not be automatically written off as an inherent wrong. Some rules and laws should be broken.<\/p>\n

Today, I am working to complete my first documentary, \u201cAmerican Secret: The Circumcision Agenda.\u201d The film explores why circumcision became so popular in the U.S., as well as the cultural and economic incentives that perpetuate its practice. Please check it out and support my current Kickstarter campaign to raise much needed funds!<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course, I am hoping the film will encourage people of all faiths and backgrounds to question circumcision, and also to think more critically about what inspires us to draw the conclusions we do about what\u2019s ethical. Among family and friends, my work on the film has already had this effect. Just opening up a dialogue, and sharing facts and information, can change people\u2019s minds on this issue.<\/p>\n

At first my mom was nervous about the prospect of any Jewish ritual becoming criminalized. My sister was kind of eye-rolly, and had a “circumcised men enjoy sex\u201d and \u201cthis is not a pressing issue” attitude. To his credit, my dad pretty much agreed that circumcision is an antiquated blood ritual.<\/p>\n

Today my family is now fully on board with my work. My mom\u2019s argument of choice, at least among Jewish friends, is: \u201cThink of how many Jewish men and their families could have concealed their Jewish identities during the Holocaust–and escaped the Nazi death camps–if Jewish males did not look unalterably different.\u201d My mom is working on a musical about a family that hid Jews during the Holocaust, so given the amount of research she does around that, it\u2019s unsurprising to me that this is where her thoughts go first. Her point about the Holocaust is valid, but there are excellent present day reasons for keeping boys intact. <\/p>\n

Francelle Wax, 32, has overseen production coordination on political media campaigns and for historical documentaries. She has traveled four continents and lived in London, Washington, DC, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, and Berkeley, California. “American Secret: The Circumcision Agenda<\/a>” is her first film.<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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