Rabbi Brit Niddah: Anne Frank, Islam, and a Defense Against “the Dangers of the Internet.”
Elements of California Jewry, like California itself, are often unfairly maligned as prone to half-baked New Age initiatives and sometimes even downright silliness. But if anyone had any doubts as to the national relevance of the theological minds emerging from the Reform Jewish clergy of Los Angeles, this week’s Torah portion commentary from Rabbi Zoe Klein of Temple Isaiah in the Jewish Journal will put them to rest once and for all.
It is noteworthy that while the liberal Jewish world is continually looking to popularize appropriate “inclusive” parallels to male circumcision for its girls, there is no such pervasive soul searching in the Islamic world. While some might believe that’s because Jews are more egalitarian than Muslims, it is more likely because Islam already has a parallel ritual – female circumcision. Of course, anti-FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) activists who never the less support male circumcision (like say, many of the numerous Zionist Jewish anti-FGM activists) frequently pretend that infibulation is the procedure in question, not female circumcision. But the most common female circumcision is not the more severe forms of FGM, but rather, the removal of the hood (sound familiar?) of the clitoris, not excision of the clitoris itself. And the reason for the lack of outcry for a parallel ritual by Islamic feminists is because they are, by and large, surprisingly not interested in this less pervasive egalitarian ritual, not because they can’t have one.
So it is most intriguing that Rabbi Zoe Klein, who is apparently not satisfied with the simchat bat ceremony she already offers at her Temple, looks to Islam for guidance:

“In many cultures, circumcision is performed on boys as a rite of puberty, at the age of Ishmael, 13. Circumcision in many cultures, it has been argued, is the male inorganic counterpart to menstruation, to the natural blood-covenant girls achieve. In Judaism, of course, circumcision is performed at Isaac’s tender age of one week and a day. Instead, bar mitzvah is the male puberty rite. There is little ritual or liturgy on menstruation. Just as boys undergo brit milah (covenant of circumcision), let us consider the girl beginning menarche as entering brit niddah (covenant of menstruation).”

Rabbi Klein asked, “What ritual can surround entering brit niddah?” But just as I thought she was going to offer a Sunni style ritual for the sake of egalitarianism in our time, Rabbi Klein merely sought to bundle it with New Moon festivities.
“As menstruation ties naturally with the cycling of the moon, it would be appropriate to consider brit niddah as a part of a Rosh Chodesh ceremony.”
Rabbi Klein had the obvious solution right in front of her, and then she wussied out, declining to think out of the box!
It is painfully clear that even in the most liberated, gender-sensitive sectors of the Jewish world, Jewish clergy refuse to endorse the only true parallel to male circumcision. While it is true that advancements have been made for much needed parallel ceremonies, they are invariably lip service only. Just as a simchat bat is unsatisfying to Jewish feminists such as Rabbi Klein, so too this new ritual of brit niddah will prove unsatisfying. True egalitarianism requires a similar excision. A new blessing or modified Moon Dance won’t cut it. It is just pretense, creative but specious, and ultimately unsatisfying. It is a way to sound like a visionary without changing the reality of the disparity in covenant between males and females. Rather, the remaining and crucial difference, the foundation for the male ceremony itself, is only illuminated more specifically.
To their credit, Jewish-Feminists are the only group of women in the world that I know of who witness male circumcision and feel comfortable expressing organizational jealousy. And while insensitive reactionaries might counter that nothing will mollify these women, this can be effectively rebutted, at least theoretically. For if there is an outcry from Jewish-Feminists about the lack of a true parallel ceremony to brit milah, just imagine the protests if there had been one instituted on a limited basis. Imagine if select Chassidic movements had instituted female circumcision in the 18th century as symbolic of their sexual chasity and restraint. Protests would surely greet many Orthodox gatherings in appreciation of this New Ritual, particularly those organizations that declined to endorse or condemn this Chassidic tradition, demanding them to clarify their stand. In support, of course. Because Jewish-Feminism is about egalitarianism, not a gender-restricted outlet for general Jewish victimology seeking to revel in, tinker with, but ultimately neither solve nor accept their perceived “second class citizen” status.
I would therefore suggest that the Jewish community institute Sunni style circumcision for girls, and choose real gender parity. However, in the off chance that women decline to elect taking that step, then they should instead accept that not everything in Judaism need be nor should be reconciled with purist notions of egalitarianism.