The Evil of Metzitzah B’peh
Metzitzah B’peh is a ritual that has been controversial historically. It is a traditional part of the brit mila (i.e., circumcision) ritual which is undertaken where the mohel – allegedly for reasons of ‘hygiene’- (1) sucks blood out of the penis of the male baby that has just undergone the circumcision process.
The fact is however that this frankly barbaric ritual is widespread among ultra-Orthodox jews - who are growing rapidly in number demographically (2) and concomitantly in power (3) in both Israel and the Diaspora – and is viciously defended by them. (4) This is hardly a new thing as historically jews and their communal institutions have pulled out all the stops to defend this ‘holy rite’ that male jews ‘must go through’. (5)
This is because Metzitzah B’peh ‘is believed to be a commandment from God, written in the Mishnah by learned sages, elevated by mystical interpretation’. (6)
This doesn’t mean there hasn’t been dissent from this position from factions within Judaism less bound by tradition, (7) but rather that the most traditional, fanatical as well as increasingly numerous Hasidim hold fast to and absolutely refuse to budge.
To quote Frimet Goldberger:
‘When customs and traditions take absolute precedence, no enthusiastic mayor with a stack of consent forms will change that. The parents of infants who are circumcised in this manner will overwhelmingly resist signing a consent form if they are not explicitly permitted by their rabbis to do so, or they will sign it paying no heed to the risks. A consent form has no value when the rebbe decries its perceived threats to circumcision from his pulpit, and prohibits the parents from signing it. Furthermore, mohels are venerated and treated as pure and pious. To question a mohel’s health would be unthinkable.’ (8)
The problem however – historically as now – (9) is that the health of the mohel may not be ‘pure’ in the slightest. Since doctors have documented numerous cases of infants being infected with herpes among other diseases by the ‘pious and pure’ mohels who performed Metzitzah B’peh on them in medical studies. (10)
Nor does it take long to find a wide assortment of anecdotal news reports of just this phenomenon. (11)
Indeed New York City’s mayor’s office has even had to directly order two mohels to stop conducting Metzitzah B’peh, because they keep infecting babies with herpes. (12)
So why isn’t Metzitzah B’peh banned?
Because to quote Janice Hopkins Tanne in the British Medical Journal in 2006:
‘The ultra-Orthodox community lobbied the mayor, saying freedom to practise their religion was guaranteed by the US constitution. The community includes survivors of the holocaust and their descendants. “We chose America because of religious freedom,” Rabbi David Niederman told the New York Times (2006 Jan 6:A1). Many believe that if a metzitzah b'peh circumcision is not performed, the boy is not truly Jewish.’ (13)
Basically, there is one rule for the jews and another for everyone else.
References
(1) http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/124412/birth-right-3; https://web.archive.org/web/20061120073118/http://www.thejewishweek.com/top/editletcontent.php3?artid=4591
(2) https://www.timesofisrael.com/haredim-are-fastest-growing-population-will-be-16-of-israelis-by-decades-end/ ; https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2022-05-03/ty-article/.premium/nearly-one-in-four-jews-will-be-ultra-orthodox-by-2040-new-study-says/00000180-98a2-dab4-a187-9babda7e0000 ; https://en.idi.org.il/haredi/2022/?chapter=48263 ; http://forward.com/fast-forward/368679/new-york-city-kept-silent-on-dangers-of-circumcision-rite-for-years as to the
(3) https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/27/israel-ultra-orthodox-judicial-religion-netanyahu/ ; https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/09/world/middleeast/israel-ultra-orthodox-parties.html ;http://forward.com/fast-forward/368679/new-york-city-kept-silent-on-dangers-of-circumcision-rite-for-years; https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-the-ultra-orthodox-parties-became-biggest-winners-in-israels-new-government/ ; http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/06/israel-ultra-orthodox-netanyahu-western-wall-alliance-likud.html
(4) Robin Judd, 2007, ‘Contested Rituals: Circumcision, Kosher Butchering, and Jewish Political Life in Germany, 1843-1933’, 1st Edition, Cornell University Press: Ithaca, pp. 1-2; 87; http://forward.com/fast-forward/367742/brooklyn-rabbi-slams-new-circumcision-rules-as-modern-blood-libel/
(5) Ibid., p. 4; http://collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=22284&hl=metzitza; http://crownheights.info/jewish-news/47779/assault-on-bris-milah-unites-jewish-communities/
(6) http://forward.com/sisterhood/192951/why-my-son-underwent-metzitzah-bpeh/; also http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/124412/birth-right-3
(7) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-braver-moss/metzitzah-bpeh-circumcision-ritual-inconsistent-with-jewish-principles_b_1598281.html
(8) http://forward.com/sisterhood/192951/why-my-son-underwent-metzitzah-bpeh/
(9) Judd, Op. Cit., pp. 1-2; 87
(10) http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/114/2/e259.pdf
(11) For example: http://forward.com/fast-forward/365526/6-more-new-york-babies-get-herpes-after-undergoing-circumcision-rite/; http://forward.com/fast-forward/365526/6-more-new-york-babies-get-herpes-after-undergoing-circumcision-rite/; https://web.archive.org/web/20070522001308/http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=11539; http://www.jta.org/2014/02/02/news-opinion/united-states/n-y-newborn-contracts-herpes-from-controversial-circumcision-rite; http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/jewish-baby-contracted-herpes-bris-article-1.2055911; https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/02/21/nyc-orthodox-jews-in-talks-over-ritual-after-herpes-cases/23798751/
(12) http://forward.com/fast-forward/367638/2-new-york-mohels-ordered-to-stop-controversial-circumcision-rite/
(13) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1336756/ ; confirmed by https://jewishaction.com/jewish-world/metzitzah_bpeh_rabbinic_polemics/