Hamantashen and Circumcision...

Ok - is that how you spell circumcision? Tough one. I have the MOST bizarre experiences in my job. Being in the science field, the majority of my meetings are with Asians and Jews (in one network, not the other). So, I was meeting with this guy from Moffitt Cancer Center (one of the biggest cancer centers in the U.S.) and he was hurting my brain with all of his scientific questions so I decided to change the subject. Please picture this man - typical Jewish-looking guy. A bit pasty, glasses (Ray-bans, interestingly), yellow teeth, short and pretty big hair. ANYWAY, I was meeting with him on Good Friday and my head hurt from all of the science so I steered the conversation to Judaism, not knowing it was Purim.

First, we talked a bit about Hamantashen (the fruit-filled triangular cookies we Jews eat on Purim). Then, he told me that his wife is more religious than he is and that she converted. SOMEHOW, the conversation moved to circumcision. He was talking about his wife being pregnant and she is having a girl and I said something like, "At least you don't have to have a bris!" These little conversations, by the way, keep me sane in my line of work while leaving me with a story to tell my friends and also, help me to be successful - who wants to ONLY talk about DNA, right?

So, I was telling him (please don't forget what he looks like) about my conversation with my Swedish friends and how the Swedes don't circumcise. My friend couldn't understand WHY we circumcise in the U.S (it's a very hard word to write, by the way) and she just wasn't buying the "sanitary" explanation. So finally, her husband explained that the kids who aren't circumcised get laughed at in the locker room. She COMPLETELY understood this! Yes, I told this story to this man :)

His reaction? Well, he laughed and told me that he remembers the one kid growing up from the locker room and how weird he looked with his uncircumcised penis. RIDICULOUS. The next day, I got an e-mail from him....some of it was about science but a good 3 paragraphs were devoted to the various hamantashen flavors and the fact that his convert wife didn't do such a good job of cooking them! These moments are just priceless and I need a hidden camera or something!!