JEWISH VERSUS AFRICAN PRACTICE OF CIRCUMCISION (similarities and differences)

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Similarities

1. In both cases, it promotes one into full membership of the community.
2. In both cases, it is a mark of identification of a person to a particular community.
3. In both, it is carried out on male children.
4. In both cases, circumcision has a religious significance.
5. In both cases, special people/ religious leaders/heads of the community carry out the operations.
6. In both cases, it unites the members with the ancestors.
7. In both cases, members receive new names.
8. In both cases, the rite is carried on from generation to generation/ is compulsory/ whoever fails to observe it is considered an outcast.
9. In both cases, the ritual is a communal affair.
10. In both cases, it involves the cutting of the foreskin.

Differences

1. In some African communities, they circumcised both boys and girls while the Jewish community circumcised boys only.
2. The African communities circumcised mainly teenagers while the Jews circumcised infants at 8 days.
3. Jewish circumcision is a religious requirement while the African circumcision is a cultural requirement/ rite of passage.
4. In the African communities the initiate would later be entrusted with new roles/responsibilities e.g. marriage, inheritance of property etc which was not the case for the Jewish community.
5. Among the Jews it was commanded by God while in African communities it originated from ancestors.

What are the differences between the Jewish and Traditional African practices of circumcision? - KCSE 2016 CRE PAPER 1

1. In the Jewish community circumcision is for the male children only whereas in African practices, it is for both male and female.
2. Among the Jews, circumcision is performed on babies of 8 days old: whereas in traditional African communities, it is done during adolescence stage.
3. In African communities, it is a test of courage, whereas in Jewish community, it is a sign of covenant with God/sign of faith,
4. Circumcision in African communities is a communal practice whereas among the Jews, only members of the immediate family participate.
5. In Traditional African communities, initiates takes up responsibilities while among the Jews, the initiates are too young to shoulder any responsibility.
6. In traditional African communities circumcision is carried out during specific seasons while among the Jews, it is continuous.

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