• Acknowledgements xi
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• Reading the Texts 1
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• Crossing the Gender Divide: Public Ceremonies, Private Parts, Mixed Feelings xiii
• Wounds, Vows, Emanations: A Phallic Trope in the Patriarchal Narrative 3
• Foreskin Sacrifice: Zipporah's Ritual and the Bloody Bridegroom 18
• A Brief History of Jewish Circumcision Blood 30
• The Cut of Wholeness: Psychoanalytic Interpretations of Biblical Circumcision 443
• Circumcision, Secrecy, and the Veiling of the Veil: Phallomorphic Exporsure and Kabbalistic Esotericism 58
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• Cultural Markings 71
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• Circumcision and Castration under Roman Law in the Early Empire 75
• Brit Milah: A Study of Change in Custom 87
• Depicting the Ambiguous Wound: Circumcision in Medieval Art 98
• Circumcision and Baptism: The Development of a Jewish Ritual in Christian Europe 114
• Christian Travelers to the Circumcision: Early Modern Representations 128
• Circumcision and Modern Jewish Life: A German Case Study, 1843-1914 142
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• Contemporary Voices
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• Circumscribed Circumcision: The Motivations and Identities of Israeli Parents Who Choose Not to Circumcize Their Sons 161
• Circumcision in Hungary after the Shoah 177
• Three Rabbinic Perspectives
• A Plea for Inclusion 188
• A Covenant Above Reason 194
• Noam's Bris 197
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• Epilogue: A Medley of Women's Voices 201
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• Notes 205
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• Contributors 245
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• Index 247
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