studies. The first approach, the psychoanalytic one, has attempted to integrate
Freudian theory and interpret circumcision as an expression of the fear of cas-
tration. A second approach analyzes circumcision as a male rite de passage
from childhood to sexual maturity and adulthood.^5 A third approach, adopted
by both Hoffman and Rubin, explains circumcision as the Jewish rite of child
initiation, the initial male experience the newborn undergoes. This approach,
like the other approaches, does not analyze circumcision as a birth ritual, but
as a male ritual. Although these two categories are not mutually exclusive, the
emphasis on the male aspects of the ritual often comes at the expense of analy-
sis of its life-cycle context.
Rubin collected the sources on circumcision from the Mishna and the Tal-
mud and discussed the rite’s historical development during that time period.
He followed Eilberg-Schwartz, who suggested interpreting the circumcision
ceremony as one through which boys are initiated into the “Jewish male cos-
mic order.”^6 Hoffman treats two central aspects of the circumcision ceremony.
He discusses the symbolic significance of circumcision, especially of the blood
of circumcision, comparing circumcision to early Christian understandings of
baptism, as well as the understandings of men and women in rabbinical
thought, especially those of the Gaonic Period (eighth to ninth century), when
the canon of the ceremony was fixed. Hoffman’s study outlines the develop-
ment of the liturgy and the interpretations of circumcision, but ignores the his-
torical context of those rituals.^7 He extends his study to the medieval period
and discusses the participation of women in the ceremony, a topic that will be
central in this chapter as well.
Hoffman’s and Rubin’s studies will serve mainly as background for develop-
ments that preceded the Middle Ages. The medieval Ashkenazic circumcision
rite will be our focus here, and, in contrast to previous research, I will not focus
on the religious significance of the ceremony, but rather examine how we may
gain insight into the values and social practices of medieval society through ex-
amining this rite.
Over the past decades, the study of ritual has given rise to a number of dif-
ferent approaches. While some have seen rituals as an expressive discourse on
society, others have argued that rituals expose power structures within a given
society, by affirming its hierarchy or, alternatively, by undermining the ac-
cepted social order.^8 As the circumcision ritual is the performance of an oblig-
atory act and a Jewish institutional rite, it cannot be read as an attempt to un-
dermine hierarchy or authority as a whole. The ritual does allow us, however,
to examine the way this hierarchy is expressed, while also exposing tensions
within medieval Jewish society.
The first parts of this chapter will discuss the circumcision ceremony as it
took place in Ashkenaz in the High Middle Ages and will emphasize the
changes in the performance of the ritual and in the identities of the partici-
pants. A comparison with Christian baptism will accompany this discussion.
rick simeone
(Rick Simeone)
#1