CHICAGO — When Leo Grossinger was 8 days old, his parents invited their relatives and friends to a ceremony welcoming him into their midst, as Jewish families have done for thousands of years.
They recited Hebrew blessings, lit candles, shared wine and challah, a braided bread. A rabbi conferred Leo's Hebrew name, Asiel, which means "created by God." When the ceremony was over, the guests ate bagels and lox.
All in all, the event looked a lot like any other bris, or ritual circumcision. The only difference was that Leo never had to shed his diaper.
"I wanted to feel that connection with tradition," said Leo's mother, Erica Wandner. And it was important to her that the baby be given a Hebrew name in memory of Wandner's mother. But neither Wandner nor her husband, Robin Grossinger, wanted to inflict pain and trauma on their new baby for a surgical procedure doctors say is not medically necessary.
The couple, of Berkeley, Calif., are among a small but growing number of American Jews who are questioning what is arguably the most sacred rite in Judaism. Despite an often strong affiliation with the Jewish community, they believe circumcision is inconsistent with the Jewish ethical imperative not to harm another human being.
Once performed routinely on nearly all newborn males in this country, circumcision has become less common in recent decades. The rate of U.S. babies being circumcised before leaving the hospital has gone from an estimated 85 percent in 1965 to 57 percent in 2004.
But it would be difficult to overstate the significance of the practice in Jewish life, even for the nonobservant. There are 613 commandments in Judaism, said Rabbi Moshe Kushner, director of the Chicago Rabbinical Council, but "that single commandment (to circumcise) is equal to the other 612 combined."
The book of Genesis mandates that every male descendant of Abraham be circumcised on the eighth day after birth. God tells the patriarch: "This is my covenant, which you shall keep. ... Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
Many Jewish parents hold a bris in the home, where the cutting is done by a trained person called a mohel. Others have their sons circumcised in the hospital and may hold a naming ceremony later.
A Jewish boy who is not circumcised, said Kushner, "is not totally Jewish," and some rabbis would refuse to officiate at his bar mitzvah or wedding.
And yet, breaking with what some parents have begun to view as a barbaric rite is no longer unheard of.
Brielle Epstein, whose 1-year-old son, Arie, is "intact," said she knows "at least a couple of dozen practicing Jewish families" who don't circumcise.
"They're a little in hiding," she said. "But when people find out we didn't, they come out and say, 'Oh, we didn't either.' People are starting to realize it's not really that important. There are lots of biblical traditions we no longer follow, such as animal sacrifice and polygamy. Circumcision may be another one we don't all follow."
It's hard to know how many Jews are giving up the practice, as statistics are not broken down by religion. But an unscientific survey conducted recent-
ly by MAMY, an Israeli parenting Web site, found that 3.2 percent of Israeli Jews no longer circumcise. Ronald Goldman, who runs the Circumcision Resource Center in Boston, said his group is contacted by hundreds of Jewish families every year, even though many prefer to remain anonymous.
The decision may be more common in areas where routine circumcision is less common. (Nearly 80 percent of newborn boys are circumcised in the Midwest, compared with 59 percent in the South and 32 percent in the West.)
Rabbi Jay Heyman, who officiated at Leo Grossinger's alternative bris, said he does about five a year in the San Francisco Bay area.
"After officiating at (traditional bris) ceremonies for over three decades, I've concluded that it's just too painful and traumatic for me to inflict on a neonate," said Heyman. "If I doubt it's something I'd subject myself to as an adult, I'm certainly not keen on inflicting it on a baby."
Many rabbis defend the practice of circumcision by citing its medical benefits. There is some evidence it can prevent urinary-tract infections in infancy, reduce the already-small risk of penile cancer later in life and provide some protection against sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. But the American Academy of Pediatrics says the "potential benefits" don't clearly outweigh the risks, which include pain, bleeding, infection, permanent injury and reduced sensation.