Jerusalem – Joining countries and cities around the world, the Israel Ambulatory Pediatric Association (IAPA) is calling for the discontinuation of the practice of metzitza b’peh, the last step in a bris mila which involves using oral suction to remove blood from the baby’s wound. IAPA wants Israel’s Health Ministry to require maternity wards and clinics to advise parents that metzitza b’peh is not necessary.
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Yediot Ahronot reports (http://bit.ly/Nk1sYV) that IAPA is suggesting that the mohelim use a tube as an alternative to prevent direct contact with the infant’s incision.
According to Haaretz (http://bit.ly/PJsqFq), IAPA’s stance is modeled after that of the City of New York, which recently established a health department committee to determine whether metzitza b’peh should be outlawed altogether. The committee was established in the wake of the September 2011 death of a baby who contracted herpes – presumably from his mohel who performed metzitza b’peh. Between 2000 and 2011, 11 babies contracted herpes following their circumcision. Of the 11, two babies died. Out of 60,000 to 70,000 circumcisions performed in Israel, there are three or four cases of babies who become infected with the herpes virus each year.
There is a great rabbinical debate being waged over whether a sterile pipe or other implement can be used in lieu of performing metzitza b’peh. The Chatam Sofer and former Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook allow a tube to be used. Yaakov Ariel, the chief rabbi of Ramat Gan and a religious Zionist, has said that not only is the use of a tube permitted, it is mandatory. Haredi rabbis, however, have remained firm on the issue, maintaining that metzitza b’peh must be performed for a bris to be valid.
Rabbi Chaim Moshe Weisberg, a well-respected mohel, told YNet News and Haaretz, “”They’re not after the child’s best interest; they’re against circumcision. They want all parents to stop circumcising their sons, as they did in Germany. The cases of reported diseases, allegedly originating from the custom are very few – and even then they can’t prove it was actually transferred from the mohel. Only if a parent requests metzitza b’peh, as people have done for 3,000 years, do we do it at his request. I’m opposed to compulsion. Why do you want to prevent a Jew from Mea She’arim from upholding the traditions of his forefathers, if he knows what the risk is? Why not respect him?”
Rabbi Moshe Morciano, leader of the Circumcision Division of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, said, “The Rabbinate instructs mohels to consult the parents; those who are interested in the metzitzah b’peh should have it, and those who aren’t – won’t. ”
The Health Ministry and the Chief Rabbinate issued a joint position paper on the subject. Rabbi Professor Avraham Steinberg of Shaare Zedek Medical Center and Dr. Moshe Westreich wrote, “In the view of the poskim who think metzitza b’peh is an integral part of performing the commandment of circumcision, there’s no place for abolishing this act in light of modern-day knowledge.” They explained that the risk of a baby contracting the herpes virus is low, and there is “no clear scientific proof” that a baby has ever acquired herpes from metzitza b’peh.
Rabbi Weisberg is quoted as saying, “Why do you want to prevent a Jew from Mea She’arim from upholding the traditions of his forefathers, if he knows what the risk is? Why not respect him?”
And what about the Meah Shearim parent who does not know what the risk is? For them, and they are 99.9% of the Meah Shearim population, is that called informed consent?
Anything you can do, I can do better….
Anything America can do, Israel can do better
Or, more likely, the American protagonists (Jewish, perhaps) have contacted their Israeli counterparts for support, knowing full well, of course that since a significan number of Israeli doctors train in the USA, the ISraelis will bend over backwards to accommodate them.
Protecting life is more important than any mitzvah in the Torah, even if the danger is very remote (אחד מני רבבות, “one in tens of thousands”).
The Jews wandering in the Midbar did not do milah for 40 years because it was considered dangerous to have milah when travelling.
Of course some people will close their eyes and ears and say, “I can’t hear I can’t see,” … but the undisputed FACT is that we instituted MBP because we thought in was MEDICALLY beneficial for the infant. Now that we know it can be medically DANGEROUS to the infant, it is criminal and heipech halocho to perform MBP. There are numerous ointments a million times more effective than saliva which carry none of the risks. But ultimately, it’s your own children, so carry on as you wish. Personally, I will inquire ahead of time, and will not attend any bris at which they will perform MBP. That’s the extent of my power, and so that’s what I will do.
What about freedom of speech?
How can the government compell a mohel to quote their paper when he feels that they ate bogus claims driven by reform Jews.
maybe Germany should call now Israel to protest…………..
Science is based on empirical research and religion is based on impulse, faith, and paranoia of uncertainty. These two can never ever work together because the religious team would need to start reasoning. When rabbis are willing to allow X amount of babies to die for a bizarre traditional custom, convincing the flock of this danger is futile.