N.Y. Rabbis: Health Department Spreading Lies’ About Circumcision-related Rite
Decrying upcoming vote on consent waver for metzitzah b’peh, rabbis say there is ‘not even an iota of blame or danger’ in the ancient custom.
Ultra-Orthodox rabbis in New York are accusing the city's Department of Health of "spreading lies" in order to pass a law mandating that parents sign a consent waiver in order to use a controversial circumcision-related rite.
- N.Y. Health Chief Calls for End to Metzitzah B’peh Rite
- Doctors: End Blood-sucking in Brit
- N.Y. Jews Decry 'Mohel Witch Hunt'
- Berlin Mayor: Jews Are Safe Here
- N.Y. Limits Circumcision Rite
- N.Y. Judge: Brit Milah Consent Law Is Legal
- Jewish Infants Gets Herpes From Metzitzah B’peh.
- Oral Suction at Bris Is Better, Say Rabbis
- For N.Y. Hasidim, Medical Knowledge Is Power
- De Blasio Must Outlaw Metzitzah B'peh
The health department is scheduled to vote next week on the waiver for the use of direct oral-genital suction, known as metzitzah b'peh. The form would indicate that parents are aware of the risk of infection.
Some 200 rabbis have signed a statement alleging that the department “printed and spread lies... in order to justify their evil decree. It is clear to us that there is not even an iota of blame or danger in this ancient and holy custom,” the New York Post reported.
The controversy over metzitzah b’peh was reignited in March after it came to light that an unidentified infant died Sept. 28 at Brooklyn’s Maimonides Medical Center from “disseminated herpes simplex virus Type 1, complicating ritual circumcision with oral suction," according to the death certificate.
Health department investigations of newborns with the herpes virus from 2000 to 2011 have shown that 11 infants contracted the herpes virus when mohels, or ritual circumcisers, placed their mouths directly on the child’s circumcision wound to draw blood away from the circumcision cut, according to a statement from the department. Ten of the infants were hospitalized, at least two developed brain damage and two babies died.
The rite is not used in most Jewish circumcision ceremonies, but many in the Haredi Orthodox community still adhere to it. Haredi leaders have resisted calls to replace direct oral suction with alternative approaches used by some mohels, such as the use of a sterile tube or gauze to take the blood from the circumcision wound.
Comments
ICYMI

Russia-Ukraine War Catapults Israeli Arms Industry to Global Stage

Israel Should End Gaza Operation Now, if It Can
What Does a Jew Look Like? The Brits Don't Seem to Know
'My Uncle Told Me, ‘Go on the Trip of Your Life, Go Dig in Israel.’ So I Did'

Replica of 2,400-year-old Ship Solves Ancient Mediterranean Mystery
