The 2,000-Year Campaign to Ban Brit Milah

Logosofia no Dia a Dia · May 31, 2026 · 33m

Belgium's parliament is considering a bill that would ban non-medical circumcision for anyone under sixteen — and European Jewish groups are calling it the most serious threat to Jewish life since the Holocaust. But this isn't a new fight. In this episode, we trace the 2,000-year history of state attempts to outlaw brit milah, from Hadrian's Roman Empire in 135 CE to medieval Christian Europe, the Spanish Inquisition, the Soviet Union, and Nazi-occupied Poland. Each time, the legal framing has been remarkably consistent: child protection, bodily integrity, public health. We break down the…