by John Trout
The death of one infant boy from herpes and the
infection of two other baby boys who contracted
herpes shortly after a rabbi circumcised them, has
focused attention on an ancient practice that is
still used in some Orthodox Jewish communities as
they circumcise babies. New York City health
officials are investigating whether the mohel who
operated on the three boys had infected them. The
city's legal department has been granted a temporary
restraining order against the mohel, Rabbi Yitzhak
Fischer, until the investigation is complete.
Under Jewish law, a mohel — someone who performs
circumcisions — draws blood from the circumcision
wound. Most mohels do it by hand, but Fischer uses a
rare practice where he uses his mouth.
Fischer practices a custom called metzitzah b'peh
— loosely translated as oral suction — that is
still considered an integral part of the brit milah
in some parts of the Orthodox Jewish world (mainly
but not exclusively among Chasidim). It's not known
if Fischer carries the herpes virus, but the
restraining order forbids him from practicing
metzitzah b'peh, and demands that he wear surgical
gloves when he performs a circumcision.
The Talmud describes the process of removing the
baby boy's foreskin in three steps: The foreskin is
cut, the mucous layer underneath is removed with a
flick of the mohel's fingernail and then the blood
is removed through oral suction. Often the first two
steps are combined, and the fingernail motion is
abandoned in favor of a surgical clamp.
In the third step, the mohel traditionally takes a
sip of wine in his mouth, quickly sucks the blood
off through the wine and spits the mixture into a
bowl to be discarded. That is metzitzah b'peh. The
custom of metzizah is thousands of years old. But
experts said that these days, many mohels breathe in
through a sterile tube to draw the blood instead of
using their mouths directly on the wound, although
in some Orthodox sects, the oral practice is
mandatory, however it usually depends on the
preference of the parents, and that depends on their
particular religious community. Some estimate that
"tens of thousands" of circumcisions using
metzitzah b'peh have been done in recent years, with
very few adverse results.
Not true, concluded a panel of researchers who
wrote:
"Ritual Jewish circumcision that includes
metzitzah with direct oral-genital contact carries a
serious risk for transmission of the herpes simplex
virus from mohels to infant," concluded a
research paper signed by 12 medical doctors and
Ph.D. researchers and published in the August 2004
issue of the medical journal Pediatrics. The paper
examined the cases of eight young babies who had
developed herpes within two weeks of their
circumcisions.
One of the researchers was Rabbi Moses Tendler, who
holds a doctorate in biology and teaches biology at
Yeshiva University, teaches rabbinical students at
Y.U.'s seminary. Rabbi Tendler, a pulpit rabbi who
also specializes in Jewish medical ethics, minced no
words when discussing metzitzah b'peh.
"What people don't understand is how widely
disseminated the herpes virus is. Statistics say
that 80 percent of the adult American population
carries it, as you well know from how many people in
their lives acquire a cold sore," he said.
"It's an omnipresent danger, and for an infant,
in the early days before his immune system kicks in,
it's not necessarily localized. It can be a systemic
infection. "I'm particularly disturbed that
once this information becomes available, the mohelim
don't do what they're told," Tendler continued.
A lawyer for the rabbi told the New York Daily News
that his client is cooperating with officials,
although it's not clear if he has submitted to a
blood test.
This
article is part of a free educational series of
articles written by John Trout, on the subject of
the herpes virus. To get the complete series, simply
send a blank email to: herpes@newsabout.info
Article
Source: http://www.herpes-pics.com/
**********************************************************
Web publisher & author: John Trout is a full
time internet research specialist and webmaster for
several informational websites including: http://herbs-herbal-remedies.com
, http://newsabout.info
and http://herpes-pics.com
You have permission to publish this article
electronically or in print, free of charge, as long
as you leave the article title, author name, body
and resource box in tact (means NO changes) with the
links made active and you agree to our posted publisher
terms of service.
**********************************************************
