I tried to post on this topic that was started on another forum but was not given permission, so I am posting here! (It is a different aspect of the topic anyway.)

I have a book called TO LIFE: A CELEBRATION OF JEWISH BEING AND THINKING, by Rabbi Harold Kushner. In it, the author states "Technically, a bris ceremony is not required to make the child Jewish (unlike, say, an infant baptism). The exception is the case where the child's mother is not Jewish and the circumcision is for purposes of converting the infant to Judaism. Yet, over the centuries, Jews have risked humiliation and danger to fulfill this commandment."

How can the author say that it is "not...required", yet in the same paragraph call it a "commandment"? Isn't a commandment, by definition, something that is required?

I have also read - though I can't remember where - that all Jews who have undergone this ritual are guaranteed (by Hashem) land in Israel. This source went on to explain that although it is still TRADITIONAL for Jews to be circumcised, it is not NECESSARY by Jewish law unless the child grows up and wants a piece of land in Israel.

Would somebody knowledgeable please comment on this?

Thank you.

It is quite correct to say that if one is born a Jew, then Bris Milah will not affect one's status as a Jew. The child is Jewish from the moment of birth, not 8 days later at his Bris.

Indeed, there are 2 situations in which a Bris may not be performed. They are (1) if it would be dangerous to the child's life (e.g. he is a hemopheliac (sp?) and (2) if the child's older brother died as a result of his own Bris.

Nowadays, there is no practical consequences of a child not having had a Bris, but in Temple times he would not have been able to partake of the Korban Pesach, the Pascal Sacrifice.

OTOH, it is a very serious matter to transgress this commandment. It is one of only 2 Positive Commandments (the other being the partaking of the Korban Pesach) where the punishment for not performing it is Kareis, being cut off in the World to Come (or, as I have also heard, dying childless).

I think you can compare it to someone being a US citizen who doesn't comply to the law. He'll be repremanded for his actions, yet he still remains a citizen.