My Boy Has a Name | Circumcision

Yesterday was my son's circumcision.
Obviously, being an atheist, if it was up to me I wouldn't go along with this archaic custom at all.
But my wife succumbed to social pressure from the family and in turn I had to oblige as well.
At the very least, I had my way in avoiding the religious custom and doing the 'secular version' instead.
Which means, we did the operation at a medical clinic by a professional doctor, instead of some bearded Rabbi in a synagogue.
The main difference, other than the person who performs the operation, is that it's done using strong local anesthetic, so my son didn't feel any pain at all until after the anesthetic wore off.
And even then, he only cried for very short bursts of a few seconds at a time.
He cried a bit more later when we got home but it was also for only a few seconds.
I think it's because it was painful for him to pee.
But whatever it was, it's gone now and he's totally fine.
The doctor who performed the operation even came today for a home visit to make sure everything was okay.

We made this occasion as minimalist as possible, inviting only the closest possible family members.
It was rather exciting nonetheless (for our guests especially).
My wife's father was the godfather, and I helped during the circumsicion by giving sugar water to my son in order to keep him calm.
We recited a few ceremonial words, ate a few snacks and took a bunch of pictures.

Well, my son officially has a name now and I can declare it openly to everyone:

Welcome to the world, Oz Blumin.

The word "Oz" in Hebrew has a strong meaning (literally).
It means "might" and "strength".
It's a bit of an ironic name to be given to a kid who is most probably going to be physically small.
But maybe that's an even better reason for him to have that name.

I also have my other reasons for choosing that name, specifically it was meant to be named after Ozymandias - both for the infamous Egyptian Pharaoh, as well as the fictional character from 'The Watchmen' graphic novel.
I know that's a lot of potential to live up to, but I allow myself to aim high :)

My Own Circumcision

Unlike my son, I was not circumsized when I was 8 days old.
I was born in Ukraine in the mid 80's, and during that time there was still much antisemitism there.
So many Jews, my parents included, preferred to hide their origins as much as possible.
That included not having me circumsized.

But they did go forward with it after we got to Israel... Although it took a couple years even then.

I was circumsized when I was 7 years old.
I still remember that day.

I remember how we arrived to the hospital and I had no idea what was happening.
I remember my mother holding me in her hands and then giving me away to someone I didn't recognize. I didn't know what was going on but I had an extremely bad feeling about it, possibly due to my mother's worried facial expression. I immediately started crying and going berserk as I saw my mother's worried face pulled farther and farther away.

I remember being put down on an operating table, still crying and flailing my hands and feet around, something like 5 doctors leaning over me and pinning me down, while another shoves a mask on my face.

Once that mask touched my face I almost immediately blacked out. I must've been hyperventilating and inhaled large amounts of the sleeping gas at a short time.

I even remember dreaming.

I dreamed about the event that just happened to me.

Although I must have been disoriented because I remember thinking in my mind that this scary event happened "yesterday". I remember thinking to myself "wow what happened yesterday? that was scary. what was that all about? well at least it's over now."

And that was pretty much it. It was a very short 'dream' (which was hardly a 'dream' as it was mostly me talking to myself for a bit).

I remember waking up in a small bed in a hallway, with my mother sitting across from me.

I remember the first words that came out of my mouth as I woke up.

I said: "mommy, my wee wee is itchy".

She said that she knows and that it's normal.

I also remember being nauseous and had to puke for a while, and I was told that it was a side effect of the anesthesia.

I remember how some time after that I found myself with my mother in a room full of people sitting down, and some bearded guy stood in front of us as if doing some kind of entertainment show.

I remember him pointing towards different people in the crowd and asking them something and they answered him something back, and occasionally everyone would say something in unison, and he would be like a conductor in a symphony. I remember how he pointed at my mother and asked her something, and she replied "Eitan". And that was it. I got my Hebrew name and it became official.

In retrospect, of course, I realized that during that time there was a large influx of ex-soviet Jews who immigrated to Israel once the 'flood gates' were open. So it made sense to me that this event was some sort of a mass circumcision ceremony that was meant to do quick work of the many immigrants who had to perform circumcisions.

In summary, this is one experience I could very well do without.

It was rather traumatic and as you can see I can still remember it till this day, 24 years later.

I'll probably remember it for the rest of my life.

If it was up to me, I'd make circumcision as something the person himself would choose to do or not do when they become older, like 18 years old or something like that.

And then, if they choose to do it, undergo regulated surgery in a hospital or whatever.

It would probably make many Rabbi mohels lose their jobs, but who cares.
Even better, if you ask me.