SELECTED REFORM RESPONSA
virtually universal requirement. It may be made easier, especially for an adult or an older child, by providing an anesthetic. The early authorities of the last generation were against using an anesthetic(Meir Arik , Imrei Yosher II, 140). This was part of the rejection of all innovations, but more recent authorities have not hesitated to approve the use of an anesthetic(J.L. Zierelsohn, Maarchai Lev, 53; Gedalia Felder, Nahalat Tzevi, p. 57). When the operation is done on a new-born child, it is presumed that the nervous system does not yet fully convey a sense of pain, but as that is not true of an adult or an older child, anesthetic may alleviate the pain and remove the fear of the impending operation. Circumcision may, of course, be postponed indefinitely due to health reasons, and we might consider the phobia as such a health reason. In this way, one could also assure the convert that he would be acceptable even without circumcision.
The prospective convert should be encouraged to undergo circumcision although, strictly speaking, this requirement may also be waived according to the earlier Reform decision.