Aposthia
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2008-01-29T21:03:37Z
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'''Aposthia''' is a rare [[congenital disorder|congenital]] condition in humans, in which the [[foreskin]] is missing.
Toward the end of the [[19th Century]], [[E. S. Talbot]] claimed in ''[[Medicine (journal)|Medicine]]'' that aposthia among [[Jew]]s was evidence for the now-discredited [[Lamarckism|Lamarckian]] theory of [[evolution]]. It is likely that the cases he described were actually [[hypospadias]], a condition in which the [[urinary meatus]] is on the underside of the penis. Neither condition has a particularly high incidence among Jews.
== Aposthia in Islam ==
According to legend, the prophet [[Mohammed]] was born without a foreskin[http://www.phreak.co.uk/head/articles/manwoman.html]. However, [[Arabs]] had been practising [[Circumcision in the Bible|circumcision]] long before this, and this legend is not the reason that [[Muslim]]s circumcise.
== Aposthia in Judaism ==
The [[Midrash]] of ''Ki-Tetze'' [כי תצא] notes that [[Moses]] was born aposthic. Other sources tell us that [[Jacob]] and [[David]] were also born aposthic. [[Halakha|Jewish law]] requires males born without a foreskin or who lost their foreskin through means other than a formal [[circumcision]] ceremony (''[[brit milah]]'' ברית מילה) to have a drop of blood (''hatafat-dam'', הטפת דם) let from the [[penis]] at the point where the foreskin would have been (or was) attached. The [[Talmud]] (Shabbat 135A) records a discussion of whether the importance of this letting of blood supersedes [[Shabbat]], on which only a child who was born the previous Shabbat can be circumcised. If a regular circumcision is delayed, there is no disagreement that this may not be performed on Shabbat. However, in the case of aposthia, there are two schools of thought.
:''R. Elazar Hakappar said that the school of [[Shamai]] and [[Hillel]] do not differ as to a child that is born without a foreskin. Both agree that the blood of the covenant must be drawn from the glans. The school of Shamai, however, contends that this may be done on the Sabbath, while the other holds that the Sabbath must not be desecrated on that account.''
[[David Levy (Israeli politician)|David Levy]], former [[Israel|Israeli]] Foreign Minister and member of [[Knesset]], was born aposthic. [[Arye Avneri]]'s authorized 1983 biography of Levy notes this:
:''"When David Levy was born on [[1937]] [[21 December]], in [[Rabat]], the capital of [[Morocco]], his mother Sima noticed at once that he was different from other baby boys. He had been born already circumcised, for the foreskin was entirely missing."''
The rabbis in Rabat proclaimed that this foretold that Levy would grow up to be a "leader of Israel", even though the State was not founded until Levy was 11, in [[1948]]. It should be noted, however, that this proclamation was not necessarily prophetic of the founding of the country Israel, for "Israel" is a term occasionally used to mean "the Jewish people."
==Sources==
*[http://www.mercksource.com/pp/us/cns/cns_hl_dorlands.jspzQzpgzEzzSzppdocszSzuszSzcommonzSzdorlandszSzdorlandzSzdmd_a_54zPzhtm Aposthia] in [[Dorland's Medical Dictionary]]
*E. S. Talbot, "Inheritance of circumcision effects", ''Medicine'' 1898.
*''Shulchan Aruch'', Code of Jewish Law, '''Yoreh Deah''' § 263 Law 4 (ש"ע י"ד ס' רס"ג הל' ד).
==External links==
*Amin-Ud-Din M, Salam A, Rafiq MA, Khaliq I, Ansar M, Ahmad W. [http://www.emro.who.int/Publications/emhj/1302/article7.htm Aposthia: a birth defect or normal quantitative recessive human genetic trait?] ''East Mediterr Health J.'' 2007 Mar-Apr;13(2):280-6.
[[Category:Andrology]]
[[Category:Penis]]