I see a lot of people mocking and criticizing the op because he lacks courage. To me, that’s rather unfair and culturally insensitive in itself… not everyone in every culture are fine with just blazing their own individual path even if its against their parents wishes. Jewish culture is family oriented. And that means Jewish men (and women) are more likely to respect their parents wishes, even if those wishes are not rational. If you changed this story so that the author was Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, or Arab, etc… would people still criticize him for folding under parental pressure?

I also see a lot of debate on why circumcision is good or bad here. Jews don’t circumcise because of the practical affects anyway, although through my own research, I’m convinced that circumcision is beneficial. But in any case this line of argument is just dumb. Some are worried about pain caused to babies as if pain should never be inflicted for positive result. Some talk about how it decreases the enjoyment of sex…as if they would know. Some are talking about adults who got circumcised and then reported less enjoyment…as if that can be compared to being circumcised since birth? Comparisons to female circumcision … which, in the history of the human race, can never claim to have had a medically beneficial affect, and which WILL seriously affect the woman’s ability to enjoy sex. Wow…this is a lot of nonsense.

But I expect this sort of nonsense. Especially coming from non-Jews, who don’t have a cultural stake in this issue. Who see it as a “going with the crowd” issue. Who worry about their kids sticking out in the lockeroom because their penises look different. Jews stick-out without anyone looking at our penises. We stick-out in our hearts.

The most disturbing thing I see here though, are the letters from my brother Jews about how the author’s child is not really Jewish. I understand Orthodox Jews feel they have their monopoly on this definition, however, I just have to ask… who died and elected you guys to be the Pope(s) …of the Jews?

Really… its not your “place” to tell the author his son is not Jewish because the mom is not Jewish (it may be your right to tell him that only because Freedom of Speech is protected in democracies). I am a Reform Movement Jew so what I’m saying here may just not mean anything to Orthodox Jews… We mourn the loss of the temple, but really, from the time the Torah was brought to our people - and we taught our children to read that great work- we never needed the temple or the priests. Our laws and communal culture are very important, but we are individually responsible to read the Torah ourselves because the Jewish identity is up to each individual to uncover in him/herself. This is one of the key elements which makes us Jews into a great nation – that, and our cultural strength, our faith, and the emphasis of Judaism to live life the right way for the sake of just living it the right way (and not for some imaginary, unconfirmed afterlife). However, this means that the traditions which we practice are also open to individual interpretation. And that means, to me, that if the author practices Judaism, and passes his faith, his beliefs, his morals, and his traditions to his son, then the son can wholly and without reservation claim to be a Jew.

So to my fellow Jews…please keep this shtick about the baby’s religious status to yourselves. Claiming the baby is not Jewish because of “the law” reflects poorly on you.

So I'm over here in China. I have posted to How the World Works before about my experiences here. As I have two year old, and a 6--month old boys now, I don't keep up on a lot of things around me. I don't think I have heard Avril Lavigne sing in English, let alone Chinese.

About her singing in Chinese...um...so what? She's making money by producing cheesy product (I have not heard it...but I assume it must be pretty cheesy) Nothing new there. Personally, I think if you want to hear cheesy music, China is full of it.

Case-in-point... I just heard a new song by S.H.E - a Taiwanese girl pop band famous for their song "Superstar". They are also famous for the tie-in S.H.E / Pepsi / World of Warcraft commersial in which, after negotiating with a sleazy record-company guy (with Shanghai Pearl Tower outside the window in the background), they all of a sudden change into WoW characters and the music company exec changes into an Orc. Then they fight. Then S.H.E. drinks Pepsi. Anyway, I heard them sing an English version of "Superstar". But the lyrics where nothing like "Superstar"... the song is now called "I am your China girl". So for anyone who has heard "Superstar"... where it goes "Ni shi dian/ wo shi guang/Ni shi wo zhiwei yi xiangfa/Wo zhi ai ni/You are my superstar"...now it goes something like "something something something/ something something something /something / I just love you / I am your China girl". Talk about sickening. I guess you have to hear it though to understand what I'm talking about.

I think what would make a more interesting topic in pop-culture studies is to look at how Japan seems to be an incubator for smaller bands trying to make it big.