JERUSALEM: Metzitzah: Two boys contract herpes

The Jerusalem Post
June 3, 2016

Two recent cases [of] herpes in babies following Brit Milah

by Jeremy Sharon
The Schneider Children’s Medical Center for Israel in Petah Tikva has reported two recent cases in which baby boys have been infected with the herpes virus following their brit mila.

The infections are believed to be the result of ritual circumcisions in which the metzitza ba’peh procedure was used, whereby the mohel, or person performing the circumcision, uses his mouth to suction blood off the penis after the foreskin has been cut off.

This practice is mentioned in the Talmud and codifications of Jewish law, but is now uncommon outside of the haredi community because of the risk of infection, and suction is achieved instead by means of a sterile plastic tube.

According to Schneider, one baby was released last week after having been infected with herpes, while another baby was admitted to the hospital two months ago with the same disease.

“Both children were quickly examined, treated appropriately and released in excellent condition. Both of them will continue to receive oral treatment until the age of six months,” Schneider said.
The hospital reiterated its backing of suction via a tube instead of by mouth “to avoid this difficult infection.”

According to Rabbi Moshe Marciano, director of the circumcision division of the Chief Rabbinate, the infected babies did not have the same mohel.

In one case, the mohel was the father of the infected baby, and is not an authorized mohel, while the second family refused to give the details of the mohel who performed the circumcision.

The Health Ministry confirmed that only one mohel had been identified, but did not indicate that is was the father of the baby.

Marciano said metzitza ba’peh is an approved practice for mohels authorized by the Chief Rabbinate, but added that parents can request that it not be used and the mohel is obliged to conform.

He also said that rabbinate guidelines state if the mohel has any wound or infection in his mouth he must not do metzitza ba’peh.

Metziza ba’peh has caused controversy in recent years, most notably in New York where at least 17 cases of herpes have been reported since 2000, resulting in two deaths.

Earlier story

LOS ANGELES: Actress Alicia Silverstone shuns genital cutting

Times of Israel
May 4, 2014

Alicia Silverstone nixes circumcision

Jewish actress cites medical studies in speaking out against performing a 'brit'
by Aron Dónzis

Count actress Alicia Silverstone among those Jews advocating against circumcision.

In her new book, “The Kind Mama: A Simple Guide to Supercharged Fertility, a Radiant Pregnancy, a Sweeter Birth, and a Healthier, More Beautiful Beginning,” the celebrity explains her personal decision not to circumcise her son, Bear, according to the website Beyond the Bris: News and Views on Jewish Circumcision.

“I was raised Jewish, so the second my parents found out that they had a male grandchild, they wanted to know when we’d be having a bris (the Jewish circumcision ceremony traditionally performed 8 days after a baby is born),” Silverstone writes. “When I said we weren’t having one, my dad got a bit worked up. But my thinking was: If little boys were supposed to have their penises ‘fixed,’ did that mean we were saying that God made the body imperfect?”

The 37-year-old actress, best known for roles including the 1990s classic “Clueless,” offers a number of other explanations in her book in favor of preserving the male foreskin, including rejecting as outdated the notion that circumcision is a health precaution, and arguing that sexual pleasure is increased when the foreskin remains intact.

Silverstone grew up in a traditional Jewish household, the website explains. Candles were lit on Friday nights, she attended Hebrew school and has fond memories of her bat mitzvah. As an adult, her ties to Judaism remain strong.

“Judaism turned me into who I am today, and I definitely feel I live a very spiritual life. I got that from my parents,” she has said.

Silverstone has a blog, entitled The Kind Life, and another book on healthy eating.

NEW YORK: Metzitzah: Another baby gets herpes

Vos Iz Neias
January 29, 2014

New York, NY - NYC Health Dept. Issues "Alert" To Medical Community After New Case Of Neonatal Herpes From MBP

by Glen Silver
New York, NY - The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has issued an “alert” to the city’s medical community following a January 2014 case of neonatal herpes following the Jewish circumcision ritual metzitzah b’peh, or MBP.

According to the document, the newborn was the product of a full term pregnancy and underwent the MBP ritual on his 8th day of life, after which a doctor conducting a routine check-up the following week noticed a rash on the child.

After a series of unsuccessful treatments, HSV-1 (herpes simplex virus, type 1) was suspected and specimens were collected and sent off to the New York State Wadsworth Center Laboratories.

The child was hospitalized for treatment after the diagnosis of HSV-1 was confirmed.

According to the release it is the 14th laboratory-confirmed case of MBP-related HSV-1 on record at the Health Dept. since 2000, two of which resulted in death—-while yet another two young boys suffered brain damage.

The issue of MBP has continued to be a hot-button topic for New Yorkers, more specifically New York’s Jewish community after former-Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s implementation of parental consent forms sparked outrage.

At a January 16 news conference, new Mayor Bill de Blasio doubled down on his campaign promise to work with Jewish community members and religious leaders to actively seek an alternative to the consent forms, but said that for the time being they will remain in place.

Earlier story

NEW YORK: Mtzitzah: Mayor will keep consent form for now

New York Daily News
January 17, 2014

Rewind: Regulating Mezitzah B'Peh In NYC

by Celeste Katz
Mayor de Blasio will continue many of his predecessor's public health initiatives -- including requiring parental consent forms for mezitzah b'peh, he and his new health commissioner, Dr. Mary Bassett, said Thursday.

["A Satmar faction announced during the mayoral election that de Blasio had promised to remove the requirement in exchange for their votes – a claim de Blasio later said was false, even though it was made in English on a public address system in front of hundreds of hasidim by a leader of that Satmar faction who was standing only five feet from de Blasio when he made it." - Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com]

Bassett said "there have been some 13 infant deaths in the past decade related to risks associated with exposure to a practitioner who transmits herpes" during the circumcision ritual, which is observed by some Orthodox Jews and involves a mohel removing blood from the baby boy's wound by mouth.

The city is not outlawing mezitzah b'peh, Bassett said, but "we have to ensure that people understand the purpose of these regulations [and] do a better job of listening to their concerns about them."

De Blasio emphasized, "I've said we'll keep it in place while searching for a solution that we think is more effective... There hasn't been the kind of dialogue necessary to get to common ground." While the city can communicate better with those who want to continue the religious observance, he said, "our job is to protect children."
[video]

Earlier story

NEW YORK: Hypospadias - rabbi botches circumcision

Courthouse News Service
December 5, 2013

Mom Claims Rabbi Botched Circumcision

by Nick Divito
BROOKLYN (CN) - A rabbi botched the bris of an infant who had a birth defect involving his penis, and then failed to preserve the foreskin, the boy's mother claims in Kings County Superior Court.

Rabbi Eliyahu Shain performed the bris on Benjamin Altman in December 2009 at New York University Medical Center's Pediatric Associates of New York City.

But the boy's mother, Staci H. Altman, says the mohel failed to recognize that the boy had hypospadias, a medical condition where the urethra develops [no, emerges] on the underside of the penis.

[Hypospadias is an absolute contraindication for circumcision.]

Since then, the boy's permanent injuries have caused him to suffer "great physical pain and mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life," according to the lawsuit.

The circumcision was allegedly performed "outside of a hospital or appropriate medical facility," ...

The boy's mother seeks unspecified actual and punitive damages for negligence.

...

IRAN: Some Jews circumcised "incorrectly"

The Jewish Press
August 29, 2013

Concern: Some Iranian Jews Improperly Circumcised

by Yori Yanover

According to the website Ladaat, there is a concern that Iranian Jews who were circumcised in the city of Shiraz may not be properly circumcised according to Halacha, and may need to undergo a corrective procedure.

This alarming revelation is based on testimony by one Shiraz-born Jewish man, who is 56 today and goes by the name of Motti. In a get-together marking the month of Elul—a time of contemplation and repentance—which included Rabbi Yaron Amit of the Brit Yosef Yitzchak organization, the rabbi shared that there is a growing phenomenon of adult, observant Jews whose circumcision was not done in keeping with Jewish Law.

It turns out that there exists a less invasive method of circumcision, which does not fully remove the foreskin, and so, according to the law, despite the pain the subject of circumcision endures in the process, in the end he is not considered to be circumcised.

Motti, for reasons he does not share in the video, decided to go and be checked by Brit Yosef Yitzchak, and, just as he had suspected, his brit milah required some corrective surgery, which was performed on the spot.

Motti was circumcised at the age of 8 days, like every newborn Jewish baby, but the mohel-ritual circumciser did not finish the job.

According to the website, there has been a similar phenomenon in northern Israel a while back, and some children also required corrective surgery to complete their circumcision.

In Motti’s case the suspects are a father and son team of mohels who worked for years in Shiraz. If this is true, and Motti’s botched circumcision was not the exception, but merely one sample of the Shiraz “style” of circumcision, it could mean that a large number of men in their fifties and sixties from that city may require an examination.

["botched"? On the contrary.]

This is why Motti has gone to the trouble of shooting a video—in Hebrew—to alert his former neighbors to the possibility of the need for a recall.

This reporter inquired with immigrants from Iran, and it appears that the general impression of the Shiraz community is that it is more machmir-stringentin than many in their religious practice, and so the problem with the brit could not have stemmed from rejection of the custom.

TEL AVIV: New excuses for circumcision death

Israel Hayom
June 9, 2013

Baby dies eight days after losing consciousness following brit

Eight days after being hospitalized, the baby boy who lost consciousness immediately after being circumcised has died. The cause of death is still unclear, but apparently is not connected to the circumcision itself.

Jewish tradition mandates that boys be circumcised at eight days old in a ritual known as "brit milah."

The Edith Wolfson Medical Center in Holon reported that the infant had been hospitalized "in very serious condition of near brain death."

The birth of the boy, born to an ultra-Orthodox family from Bat Yam, was entirely normal, in the 38th week of pregnancy. At eight days of age, he was duly circumcised. About 30 minutes after the circumcision, when his mother tried to nurse him, the family noticed that he had stopped breathing and he was rushed to hospital.

The hospital spoke with the mohel who performed the circumcision to determine whether the child had been given any sedatives or anesthetics that could have caused an allergic reaction, or whether any excessive bleeding had been spotted. Both possibilities were ruled out.

The speculation that the boy had suffered from an undetected congenital heart defect was also ruled out, as was the possibility that he had choked to death after being fed.

The prevalent assumption among the medical staff who treated the child was that he had suffered from an undiagnosed metabolic or endocrine disorder, though no one was sure what had caused the boy's death. His family reportedly refused to allow an autopsy.

[If "a sharp drop in blood pressure resulting from shock trauma" can kill a 13-year-old girl, why not an 8-day-old boy?]

"This is a very sad incident," said a friend of the family, identified only as Abraham. "We pray that this couple will have more children soon."

Earlier story

TEL AVIV: Botched baby dies - circumcision exonerated again

But the circumcision didn't caused his death, oh no, that's impossible!


Jewish Press
June 7, 2013

Baby Dies in Israeli Hospital following Circumcision

The circumcision had actually been performed flawlessly, and apparently baby choked during feeding.

by Yori Yanover

A newborn baby who was hospitalized in serious condition at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, Israel, from complications following a rite of circumcision, passed away on Friday. Both Chief Rabbis and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel expressed their sorrow to the mourning family.

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel stated that “immediately after the initial report of the incident, the director of the dept. of circumcisions in the Chief Rabbinate was in constant contact with the mohel (ritual circumciser) who conducted the rite, with the doctors who treated the baby at the Wolfson Medical Center, and with the senior physicians who are members of the joint circumcisions committee of the Ministry of Health and the Rabbinate.”

It was reported by the rabbinate that “since the initial diagnosis, the doctors who treated the baby were convinced that the complication in the baby’s condition was not the result of the circumcision but resulted from a previously existing medical condition. Later treatments administered to the baby confirmed this determination.”

“An investigation revealed that the mohel who performed the circumcision is a veteran, certified mohel,” said the Rabbinate’s statement. “The mohel followed procedure and performed a test on the baby after the rite. Only about half an hour after circumcision did signs of the medical complication in the child began to appear, not related to the circumcision itself. The mohel accompanied the family to the hospital.”

A week ago, at about 11 AM, MDA paramedics were called to a synagogue in Holon, after an infant who had undergone a rite of circumcision there had stopped breathing and lost consciousness, shortly after the ceremony. The rescue crew took him to Wolfson Medical Center. After resuscitation in the hospital shock room, the baby’s condition stabilized.

Hatzolah volunteer Yehuda Mizrachi, who was among the first on the scene, told Channel 2 News: “We received a call about an unconscious baby. When I arrived I found a completely blue baby, not breathing and without a pulse. We started resuscitation and massaging, until the ambulance arrived and took him to the hospital.”

After investigating the circumstances of the case, it was discovered that the circumcision had actually been performed flawlessly, and apparently baby choked during feeding.

[So did he choke during feeding, or did he have a pre-existing medical condition? This is like the story of Susanna and the Elders.]

“The bris had concluded safely and then everyone sat down to eat,” Abraham, a friend of the family, related. “He was nursing from his mother and then she put him in his cart. At some point we noticed that the child was not responding and had turned blue.”

“One of the guests called the MDA, and with their guidelines performed a cardiac massage,” added Abraham, described the event. “Then the rescue team continued the efforts, along with the MDA.”

Earlier story

TEL AVIV: Botched baby in critical condition

Times of Israel
May 30, 2013

Baby in critical condition after circumcision

by Stuart Winer

Barely breathing boy rushed to hospital following ritual

A baby boy slipped into unconsciousness during a circumcision ceremony and was taken to hospital in a critical condition on Thursday.

The eight-day-old infant underwent the brit milah ritual at the Pinhas Lavon synagogue in Holon when he stopped breathing and lost pulse.

The family made desperate calls to Magen David Adom for an ambulance and to the Hazalah first response organization.

Medic Yehuda Mizrahi was first to arrive on the scene.

“When I arrived, the baby was completely blue, not breathing and with no pulse,” he told Channel 2, and described how he began resuscitation techniques, including massages to try to restart the boy’s vital systems. Finally an ambulance arrived and the infant was rushed to Wolfson hospital.

Doctors began investigating what might have caused the incident, including excessive blood loss, a congenital disease, or infection. [Hmm, I wonder. How about that wound on his penis?]

ISRAEL: Intactivist group spreads the word in Hebrew

Gonnen
May 2, 2013

Israeli Intactivist group produces Hebrew materials

Gonnen, an Israeli Intactivist group, has produced stickers and postcards in Hebrew:
1. (card, front)

A WORD ON BRIT [a double entendre in Hebrew]
CIRCUMCISION SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCES THE SENSITIVITY OF THE PENIS. On normal skin the size of the foreskin there are 50 nerve endings. In the foreskin, there are 1000 nerve endings.		THE FORESKIN IS IMPORTANT AND HAS MANY FUNCTIONS. There are risks and complications in the cutting of the foreskin. Some of the problems are only revealed in adolescence. Some people are not aware that they were damaged and think it's normal.
SOMEONE BORN TO A JEWISH MOTHER IS JEWISH WITH OR WITHOUT A FORESKIN
Removal of the foreskin is no guarantee for social acceptance.

1. (card, back)

	"In the natural state, the corona within the foreskin is protected as an internal organ, moist like the eye. In infancy, the foreskin is connected to the organ and protects it. An organ without the foreskin is exposed to infection.
		Many of the circumcised require corrective surgery to widen the urethral opening under full anesthetic.
	THE MOHEL PARES AND REMOVES AROUND 1/3 OF THE SKIN OF THE PENIS!
	RECOVERY FROM THE CIRCUMCISION WOUND IS SIMILAR IN SEVERITY AND RISKS TO RECOVERY FROM A THIRD DEGREE BURN. (ORGAN WITHOUT SKIN)
	Following the removal of the foreskin, the psychology of sexual relations is changed. Sexual intercourse with a foreskin is gentler, more sensitive, and more satisfying.
	For additional details, visit 'Gonen on the child' www.gonnen.org and in the forum 'Passing on Brit Milah' on Tapuz.

2. (sticker)


Circumcision = Abuse
3. (sticker)



I am against circumcision
and any unnecessary word
[a double entendre in Hebrew]

4. (sticker)



PENIS IS GOOD FOR THE JEWS!
The association for the abolition of circumcision.

5. (sticker)



JEWS DON'T CUT JEWS!
The association for the abolition of circumcision

- translation by Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon

LONDON: Doctors slam MP for pro-circumcision stance

Secular Medical Forum
March 11, 2013

Secular Medical Forum challenges Ed Miliband's support for religious circumcision

by

The Secular Medical Forum has condemned Ed Miliband's recent support for the ritual genital cutting of children and called on the labour leader to rethink his stance on the issue.

On 7 March Ed Miliband told an audience in London that he supports the practices of brit milah – a Jewish religious male circumcision ceremony performed on 8-day-old male infants. In reference to ritual circumcision and kosher animal slaughter, the leader of the Labour party said: "These are important traditions … ways of life must be preserved".

The removal of a young boy's foreskin is commonly practised in the UK for religious reasons. The Secular Medical Forum (SMF) argues that the operation disregards autonomy and exposes the child to significant risks, including bleeding, infection and death. In a statement, the SMF said it questioned Mr Miliband's support for the "ethically flawed and medically dangerous" procedure.

Anthony Lempert, Chair of the Secular Medical Forum, said; "The first principle of healthcare is 'primum non nocere – first do no harm'. This guidance is disregarded by supporters of ritual circumcision.

"The Secular Medical Forum calls on Mr Miliband to focus squarely on the rights of vulnerable infants and children. Mr Miliband should prioritise the rights of children rather than harmful religious traditions. Mr Miliband should defend the weak, rather than preserve abusive traditions. He should not be misled by misplaced allegations of anti-semitism against those striving to protect children from harm."

In 2012, a German court caused international controversy when it found that parental consent to religious circumcision was in conflict with the best interests of the child, and ruled that parents do not have the right to circumcise their children without a medical reason. Following the court ruling, the government of Angela Merkel introduced legislation permitting the tradition.

A full statement from the Secular Medical Form can be found here.

ISRAEL: More Jews not circumcising

Haaretz (subscription required)
June 14, 2012

Even in Israel, more and more parents choose not to circumcise their sons

What will the kids in school say - not to mention army buddies? What is healthier? Should such men be called Jews?
By Netta Ahituv
 
... of 1,418 parents of boys, 4.8 percent did not have them circumcised.

"...Suddenly I realized that people do more research about strollers than they do about the issue of slicing off part of their son’s body."

Writer Meir Shalev noted ... “It is not only circumcision itself that should make us wonder, but also the enthusiasm we display in preserving the custom. Something very strange is going on here. "

“Our children are pleased that they were not circumcised. They never got angry at us, ...."

Tamir, for her part, wonders what will happen if an anti-AIDS vaccine is developed in 10 years’ time. “How will I feel about having cut my son’s sexual organ in order to reduce the likelihood that he will contract AIDS when there is already good nonsurgical protection available (the condom) and in the end a vaccine will also be developed?

Yuri, 26 (not his real name), ... was circumcised when he was 16. ...“the feeling in the sexual contact was affected, it was wrecked. ... I had made a mistake. I was 16 and I was an idiot.”

... Many fathers who have their sons circumcised express the desire that they will not look different, adding that they are happy to have been circumcised and accordingly are happy to pass on the custom to their children. To this Galit responds, “My children never asked me why they are different from their father. Since when do children have to be exactly like their parents?”

NEW YORK: Parents to sign consent for metzitzah?

New York Times
June 12, 2012

City Urges Requiring Consent for Jewish Rite

By Sharon Otterman
New York City health officials proposed on Tuesday that Orthodox Jewish parents be required to sign a consent waiver before they can take part in a circumcision ritual that is believed to have led to the deaths of at least two babies in the city over the past decade.

The proposal, introduced at a Board of Health meeting, represents an escalation of the city’s efforts to curtail the ancient Jewish procedure of metzitzah b’peh, in which an adult male, usually the circumciser, places his mouth directly on the wound created by the removal of the infant’s foreskin to suck away the blood.
Last week, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report based on city information that said that from 2000 to 2011, 11 newborn babies in New York contracted the herpes simplex virus after the ritual. Ten of those babies were hospitalized; two suffered brain damage, and two died.

Based on those findings, the city’s health department issued a statement last week strongly urging that direct oral-genital suction not be performed during circumcision. It also announced that a number of hospitals had agreed to distribute a pamphlet to parents considering at-home circumcision, warning them of the risks.
On Tuesday, Dr. Jay K. Varma, deputy commissioner for disease control for the health department, announced the city’s next step, proposing that the Board of Health, which approves public health policies, require all parents who want direct oral suction to be used to sign a consent form indicating that they are aware of the risk of infection.

...

... In its study, the C.D.C. estimated that roughly 3,600 newborn boys a year in New York had circumcisions that included the procedure. Those infants, the agency said, had more than triple the normal risk of contracting herpes.

Over the past decade, as stories of babies sickened after such circumcisions have come to light, ultra-Orthodox authorities have strongly defended the practice as a religious right. [There is no such thing as "a religious right", only the rights of people to practise religion, which are subordinate to human rights.] Some rabbis argue that there is not enough evidence to show that the procedure causes infection, while others say the practice is important enough that it should be continued anyway.

Avi Shafran, spokesman for Agudath Israel, an umbrella group for many ultra-Orthodox organizations, said on Tuesday that the group wanted to study the proposed regulation before commenting on it. In March, the organization’s executive vice president, Rabbi David Zwiebel, warned that regulating the practice could drive it underground, making it more risky. [This objection is never used against regulating female genital cutting.]

In his presentation to the Board of Health, Dr. Varma said that two of the families whose babies got herpes after the ritual had told health authorities that they were unaware beforehand that it would be performed. He said distressed families had called, as recently as two weeks ago, saying they did not know their mohel would place his mouth on their infant’s wound, and wanting to know what could be done.

The health department is accepting public comments on the regulation until a public hearing on July 23, and will vote on it in September. Dr. Varma said the department was prepared for opposition.

“Since we are regulating how part of a religious procedure is done, this will be heavily scrutinized by legal experts, and it may be challenged at some point,” he said. “But we feel we are on very firm legal ground, because there is a compelling interest on behalf of the city in protecting the health of infants.” [How does allowing parentally consented metzitzah protect the health of infants?]

...

Earlier story

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL: Mohel tweets about small penis, brit b'li periah

Life in Israel
April 18, 2012

Mohel Tweets Himself Into Trouble With Controversial Tweets

By Rafi G.

In a very strange incident, Rav Avi Zarki, a popular mohel in Tel Aviv, tweeted two tweets on his twitter account that have him in hot water.

1. According to my professional opinion, today we can do the circumcision according to halacha without doing the traditional "preeya". [Then why not without the traditional milah?] tweet
2. Today I did a circumcision on a child with the smallest penis I have ever seen - a micro penis. You should undertand, it was slightly thicker than a matchstick. [One hates to think what damage will come to light when its owner grows up.] At 1st I thought it was a girl. Zeh HaKotton Gadol Yiheyeh (play on words saying this small one should become big). tweet

Kikar [in Hebrew] spoke to Rav Zarki to get a response, after his tweets caused a stir. Zarki defended his tweets basically by saying he is in an unusual position and has silent rabbinic support for his style. His position is unusual because he works a lot with the non-religious community and needs to do brash things in order to keep circumcision a topic of conversation. He says he has rabbinic support for his approach, but the rabbonim dont always want their names mentioned publicly, though he reminds us that he was one of the leading students of Rav Wolbe zt"l..

Regarding his comment that preeya is no longer necessary, he did not offer much of an explanation. He did say that it is the Solonika method that performs the circumcision together with the preeya, while he has letters from many rabbonim (including Rav Ovadiah Yosef he says) supporting his alternate method.

The comment about the baby, while he had a cute line with his "zeh hakotton gadol yiheyeh", was tasteless and inappropriate for him to make. if the parents had seen what he tweeted, I am sure they would not have been happy. The comment about preeya demands more of an explanation than trust me that anonymous rabbis support me.