SELECTED REFORM RESPONSA
The problem came before Rabbi Eidelberg because the convert was to marry a young woman in Rabbi Eidelberg’s congregation. The rabbi, therefore, had to decide whether he agreed with the converting rabbi that a man can be a full proselyte without circumcision. He discusses the question of hemophiliacs and diabetics, for whom the operation might be a grave danger, and also the question of a mutilated person who cannot be circumcised. Can such individuals ever be considered full converts? He ends his responsum by saying that the matter of conversion without circumcision can be argued either way and needs final decision by the leading scholars of our time, and so he refuses at present to make a decision and act upon it. The responsum is#7. However, David Hoffman, in Melamed L’ho-il, Yoreh Deah 86, says forthrightly that he would not convert any man who is too sick to be circumcised.
1977,#15.