Andrew Yang, an entrepreneur and quixotic challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination last year, recently launched his campaign to run for the New York City mayoralty. To many Jewish voters, his vocal anti-circumcision stance, which he has sought to moderate somewhat since arriving on the national stage, is a source of concern. Jon Levine writes:
In a [March 2019] interview, . . . Yang elaborated, saying he originally planned to have his two boys circumcised but his wife talked him out of it. “From what I’ve seen, the evidence on it being a positive health choice for the infant is quite shaky,” Yang said. “It’s sort of pushed on parents in many situations.” Yang added that he supports anti-circumcision activists, known as “intactivists,” although he also believes in every parent’s right to choose.
Circumcision has existed in traditional Jewish culture for thousands of years. . . . “There are . . . anti-circumcision activists who are pretty aggressive and threatening. They call up [traditional circumcision providers] and threaten them,” one rabbi told the Post. . . . “I can tell you from a religious and multicultural standpoint, this can be taken in a very negative light,” added Mendy Mirocznik, a Staten Island rabbi. “I hope that comments like this do not cause the flame of anti-Semitism to be ignited even further.”
Yang said he supports a live and let live approach to the procedure. “I have attended multiple friends’ brises and felt privileged to do so. I believe in religious freedom. This is every parent’s personal decision and not a role of government,” he said in a December 2020 tweet.
Read more on New York Post: https://nypost.com/2021/01/09/andrew-yangs-anti-circumcision-stance-cuts-deep-jewish-leaders/