New York – A group of rabbis are clashing with New York City health officials over the safety of an ancient circumcision ritual.
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Three rabbis and three Jewish groups sued the city Thursday in an attempt to block enforcement of a new regulation requiring written parental consent for the rite, which health experts say spreads infection and has killed two children since 2004.
During the ritual, the person performing the circumcision attempts to cleanse the wound by sucking blood from the cut and spitting it aside.
New York City’s Health Department says the saliva contact could give the infant Herpes simplex, a virus that is harmless in adults but can be deadly in newborns.
The ultra-Orthodox rabbis in the suit say the city has exaggerated the danger and infringed on their religious freedom.
The organizational plaintiffs are the international Bris Association, Agudath Israel of America, the Central Rabbinical Congress of the United States & Canada; the mohel plaintiffs are Rabbi Samuel Blum, Rabbi Aharon Leiman and Rabbi Shloime Eichenstein.
It is a religious obligation to protect life. This obligation is more important than all the mitzvos of the Torah. I have yet to hear a rational explanation of why this rule does not apply to mbp.
I wish them well in their endeavor.
If vin allows ,i will point out that infrinced in the article language is a slant of -they are extremist. We here at vin will not assist them. As a matter of course vin will spin the story to make it sound like theyre well… a bit off.
The reader who spends a moment reading the suit cant help but wonder what the DOH and the city have up their sleeve.The numbers are clearly in favor of proving that the ritual poses what can be considered no risk at all.certainly not to warrant such a crazed disproportianate response.
Consider how many of the infected 83 were female or non circumcised, versus how many were blood sucked orally by a mohel.
I truly wish Vin sounded as if they respected and cherished age old antiquated judaism as much as they would any other religions belief.
Shame on you mr. Bloomberg
Perhaps instead of suing and spending time and money, these organizations should instead focus on making sure that any mohel (known to them) that has a disease would not be doing milah in the first place. Then all of of these issues of the Government haveing to step in in order to protect the (unprotected) innocent.
Perhaps they should also require scheduled testing on any mohel doing MPE and then have a dissemination of the results. If they do not yet know, then why would they not know? The first logical step would be to find out which Mohel had performed the /any/ milah on the most recent boy, who did get a disease. It is quite easy to find out who did it, as I am sure many people were at the Simcha. One would just need to ask.
As a Jew, Metzizah BPea makes it more unlikely that I will seek a religious life in the same way as the ultra charedi.
Nebech, they will lose this case.
I think this is welcome news for 2 reasons:
1) It will be a good opportunity for both sides to “duke it out” in court and have a (hopefully) unbiased judge verify if the alleged risks of MBP are exaggerated or not.
2) Win or lose, putting up a good fight will benefit ALL Torah-abiding Jews because it will demonstrate to the authorities that our religious customs and laws are not an easy target.
Atheists, ultra-liberals, anti-Semites, anti-Mesorah and many estranged Jews all have a particular hatred for Mitzvas-Milah in general. Which is why throughout history, during every “Gzeiras Shmad”, circumcision was the first to go.
Even if (serious “if”) the new MBP regulations are motivated solely by genuine altruistic concerns, our enemies can and will, in the future, utilize this NYC ordinance as a “first step” in attacking our beloved Mitzvah.
Therefore, even now, the bigger the fight we put up the better. Even at the risk of appearing somewhat fanatical and unreasonable.
And it’s quite possible the court’s ruling will determine that the plaintiffs are not unreasonable after all…
I am a little surprised the Aguda agreed to be a party to the suit. They claim to represent all branches of orthodoxy, and I know some mohalim who use a tube for metzitza suction are officers of the organization. And I wonder if they stand a chance, since the law only requires written parental consent which does not seem to be an infringement of religious liberty. This lawsuit will lose and tens of thousands of public money and charitable dollars will be poured down the drain. A sad day for orthodox Jewry when we have to invent imaginary enemies to fight.
We have a massive tuition crisis, alarming rates of intermarriage, and crisis in Israel….but the Agudah is busy with this.
No wonder the Agudah has become irrelevant.
the rabbis should sue themselfs for being super stupid.
be prepared for all your rights & freedoms to be taken away slowly but surely-not in one shot-& soon WE will not be able to live in the USA as frum yidden. all our rights & freedoms are being taken from us one at a time & the USA is about to become what used to be communist russia
pack your bags NOW & head for Eretz Yisroel, while the pressure is not so hard & before america is attacked by iran. for then it will be too late & everyone will be leaving in poverty, wishing they had left-now-when they were told.
BOTTOM LINE:this is all the work of Hashem & the choice is yours if you wish to leave now or wait & suffer ahead C”V
MBP without verification of the non-diseased nature of the mohel is insanity. In fact, it is insanity even with such documentation.
Imagine, if you will, a Jewish child going to Maimonides Hospital because he fell, and will need several stitches. Before getting stitched, the surgeon spits on a was of cloth, and rubs it on the wound.
Would any normal frum person stand for this? No, because germs from the mouth can infect the child. This is standard medicine of 2012.
Is there any basis in Halacha for saying that standard medical requirements do not exist because a Jew wants to do a heedur mitzvah?
I don’t think there is.
This is insanity.
Makes sense: a board certified urologist, even the head of his department, is obliged to achieve advised consent, but to ask it of Mohalim is anti-semitism and the beginning of the slippery slope to outlaw Bris Milah. See what no education can accomplish.
Pro-Lifer,
and others
Your statements have no place in this thread.
We are talking about a suit brought by various groups against NYC for reasons of freedom of expression and freedom of religion.
What in the world does your comments have to do with the suit.
You may have a point when Rabbinic leaders meet regarding the importance of MBP, and they discuss if it should be promoted or not, but here we are not discussing the issue and merits of Metzizah B’Peh, rather we are discussing the suit, and if they ( groups who brought the suit) feel it is important for the future of Judaism and its practices here in the city to bring the suit, fine. Why does it bother you.
When groups advocating alternate lifestyles bring a suit against the city does it bother anyone, why are you all so upset.
If you had an open wound and your doctor sucks on it to get the bad blood out You would sue him for malpractice.
Half the adult population has herpes in their mouths
http://www.aad.org/skin-conditions/dermatology-a-to-z/herpes-simplex/who-gets-causes