# How To Get Rid Of A Foreskin After Seven Days **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-foreskin-after-seven-days/196263 "2003-08-19T19:31:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-foreskin-after-seven-days/196263/1 "2003-08-19T19:31:33Z")
In orthodox or conservative Judaism, is there a specific method for disposing of or keeping the foreskin after circumcision? (I know that in some Arab tribes they’re kept in a special pouch or on the doorpost of the house, while in other cultures they’re buried. My own was disposed of with other bio-waste from the hospital since it was a medical rather than religious snipping.) ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-foreskin-after-seven-days/196263/2 "2003-08-19T19:38:49Z")
When they get enough, they make a purse. Rub it and it turns into a suitcase! ---
**Author:** ![TVAA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TVAA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVAA)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-foreskin-after-seven-days/196263/3 "2003-08-19T20:06:54Z")
Aren’t some infant foreskins kept and sold for use in cosmetics testing? (At least, I vaguely call the existence of such a UL, only I don’t know if it’s a UL. Technically, I think hospitals might retain the right to use human tissues for whatever purpose they feel like, including financial transactions. There was a major lawsuit a few years ago about cancer cells from a patient being used to create a highly profitable line of “immortal” cells for drug testing.) ---
**Author:** ![RedNaxela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ad7895/32.png) [@RedNaxela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedNaxela)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-foreskin-after-seven-days/196263/4 "2003-08-19T20:27:18Z")
The general Jewish custom is to bury it in earth or sand. IIRC, this is done in order to recall G-d’s promise to Abraham - the first (proto-)Jew to undergo circumcision - that his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth. (For my sons’ circumcisions, I brought along a plastic cup with earth in it, and later disposed of the contents in the synagogue’s unpaved backyard. I’ve seen other people who used a flowerpot for this purpose.) ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-foreskin-after-seven-days/196263/5 "2003-08-19T21:17:31Z")
This may be TMI, but I was circumcised when I was 25 (long story). Anyway, I asked the surgeon if I could have it (to make an earring out of, [I was heavily anesthesized]). He said that I wasn’t allowed to have it back. Yeah right, he probably took it and made an earring out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-foreskin-after-seven-days/196263/6 "2003-08-19T21:32:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jackknifed Juggernaut \* > \*\*This may be TMI, but I was circumcised when I was 25 (long story). \*\* Would you consider it something of a sore point? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-foreskin-after-seven-days/196263/7 "2003-08-19T22:01:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jackknifed Juggernaut \* > \*\*This may be TMI, but I was circumcised when I was 25 (long story). \*\* _Suuuuuuuuure, it is._ :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-foreskin-after-seven-days/196263/8 "2003-08-20T00:21:41Z")
Aaron’s foreskin was disposed of as most medical waste is. The moyl (who was an MD) took it with him. I know this, because I asked what was going to happen to it. Robin ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-foreskin-after-seven-days/196263/9 "2003-08-20T03:44:42Z")
Biologists sometimes use foreskins as a source of several cell types for research, like if they need skin cells or fibroblasts. (My own research uses cells derived from a cancerous breast tumor.) They’re also used to grow skin for grafts for burn victims. These foreskins come from hospitals; at the (many) Orthodox Jewish circumcision ceremonies I’ve been to, I think it’s always been buried. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-rid-of-a-foreskin-after-seven-days/196263/10 "2003-08-20T05:23:39Z")
> [@](#): > > I was heavily anesthesized I assume you just shook it off with a bris walk ?