New York, NY – As the battle to require New York City parents to give their consent before metzitza b’peh can be performed on their newborn sons continues to wage on, a United States district court judge issued a continuation of the stay order that has been in effect for the last several months.
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In a brief oral argument that took place Tuesday before Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, attorneys for the City of New York argued that metzitza b’peh has been determined to be a dangerous practice by the Centers for Disease Control and must be regulated and that even a brief delay in Mayor Bloomberg’s “informed consent” rule could endanger the health of New York City children.
Attorney Shay Dvoretzky, who represented a coalition which included the Central Rabbinical Congress of the United States and Canada, Agudath Israel of America and the International Bris Association, came armed with supportive affidavits issued by experts and argued that the CDC’s study was fundamentally flawed and that there is no DNA evidence that proves that metzitza b’peh has sickened or killed even a single child.
While Dvoretzky readily admitted that no one believes that anti-Semitism is a factor in the attempt to require parental consent for metzitza b’peh, singling out the practices of one religious group while ignoring other cases of neo-natal herpes discriminates against that religious group.
“We have seventy nine other cases of neo-natal herpes infections and the city has only targeted the religious practice,” said Mr. Dvoretzky. “Since June, the city has had an agreement with New York City hospitals to distribute pamphlets to the mothers of newborns. That should have been sufficient. Requiring a mohel to obtain a consent form from both parents before performing a bris violates the constitution’s guarantee of free speech.”
Judge Buchwald announced that she expected an official ruling in the matter to come within the next few weeks.
On the way out in the elevator, Mr. Dvoretzky was heard to say “I need a few hours to unwind.”
they are going to enact the law, they’re just dragging it out.
I want this whole issue over already. I’m in the process of buying a house for myself and need to know if NYC is an option.
Obviously, if the court ch”v upholds the city’s ruling, then there’s no place for a frum yid there.
Waste of time, they can’t banned it for no money, lot of ant-semite & reform people treid already in the last 5000 years to bann it but didn’t work out
I was in court today for the entire argument. Dvorsky was masterful and far outlawyered the City’s counsel. However, his argument is a tough one and the judge made her opinion extremely clear (at least to me) that this law is constitutional. I would be stunned if she ruled otherwise. It did not help that a number of professional medical associations all supported the city.
Dvorsky did the best job he possibly could have. However, the judge was not buying it and if you were there, you would understand why. The position is a very weak one from a legal / constitutional standpoint.
I think the best would be to ask for consent and remove the language about danger, but probably better for the government not to be involved.
the whole metziza thing doesnt hold back the bris from being valid. so 1) who cares? 2) why fuss about this in the public eye when it is KNOWN that this practice can transmit herpes so use A STRAW OR LET THE PARENTS SIGN THE FORM.
I think the court will rule in city favor since the city doesn’t prohibit anything, they only want the parents consent which is required in any other medical procedure.
But let’s not kid our selves, that the Mayors goal is to ban a Bris in a shul, he’s just starting with a small innocent requirement but the next thing will be that the Mohel has to wear gloves and then you need a city issued medical license for a Bris, then will require a doctor to be on stand-by, till he’ll ban to do it in a shul, so the only option is to fight him NOW !!!
his term ends in a year, think he can get all that done by then? and i sure hope the mohel uses rubber gloves it sounds smart
#7 , r u a posek, Most poskim of the last 100 years paskend that Metzitzah B’peh is part of Bris Milah, if the City’s rule is upheld 99% of Chasidim including Satmar, Lubavitch and many Litvishe will Not Comply, it will only give the City more power to Ban Metzitzah and Priah and maybe Ban Bris Milla by a Mohel
The hatred against chareidi yidden is incredible. The secular self hating Jews hate us just as the antisemites. The mayor does not bother with the gays or abortionists who cause death every day. AIDS effects society but never would they ban gay establishments. The biggest opponents of bris millah comes from the gay community. At their vulgur parade which I and some others protested,they had a group of marchers who want to make circumcision illegal. We are facing dangerous times right here in liberal new york. There is a double standard when it comes to frum Jews as evident in the crown heights yankel Rosenbaum jury and the Weberman jury. In yankels case with a bloody knife as evidence,the jury freed him and went out that night to party with the murderer. In webermans case they ruled guilty on 59 counts in less time than you can even read so many accounts only on He says She says claims. As frum yidden we should all register to vote. If two hundred thousand yidden go down to jury duty and convict every one who is accused of murder or robbery the jury system will be dismantled. The civil rights groups along with Al Sharpton will threaten to burn NY down if there are wall to wall convictions by us blackhatters. Way to go my friends.
Mr Dvoretzky, I beg to differ and it was wrong to agree that it was not motivated by hate against religious beliefs.
of course there is no evidence of the hate, you won’t hear them speak it, they are cunning enough. But since when do they care about our children.
We out there feel the hate against us.
And as long as OUR Rebbe’s fight we will fight.
This is nothing short of a Bloodstream Libel.
Shame on Bloomerg for heading this BLOOD LIBEL and interfering in our religion.
I wish somebody would demonstrate that ALL the poskim hold that MBP MUST be done directly with the mouth. I don’t think the poskim are anywhere near unanimous on this point. That being the case, I don’t see how it makes sense to treat this issue as if it’s an attempt to ban milah outright.
Many Poskim rule that direct oral contact is not necessary at all. Why then do we do it? Minhag!
If you want sources, check out the encyclopedic Sefer HaBris by R’ Moshe Pirotinsky.