September 13, 2012

"When [mohel, A. Romi Cohn] circumcises an infant, he said, he almost always put his mouth on the baby’s penis to pull blood away from the wound..."

"... in an ancient part of the circumcision ritual, known in Hebrew as metzitzah b’peh, that is still commonplace in parts of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community but is rare in other branches of Judaism."
The city estimates that metzitzah b’peh is used in some 3,600 local circumcisions each year. The city’s health department says that, between 2000 and 2011, 11 babies contracted herpes as a result, and 2 of them died. This spring, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared that the procedure created a risk for transmission of herpes and other pathogens and was “not safe.”

So on Thursday, the city’s Board of Health is scheduled to vote on a proposal that would require parents to sign a consent form indicating that they are aware of the risk of herpes transmission when a circumcision procedure, or bris, includes direct oral contact.
Cohn is an 83-year-old Holocaust survivor who has performed the ritual 25,000+ times, free of charge, and, he says, without ever causing an infection. He says he'll go to jail before complying with this new regulation (which only requires informed consent — it's not a prohibition). He's sought out by parents who say things like "I don’t want a 99 percent job, I want a 100 percent job... I want [my son] to be fully Jewish."

32 comments:

Wince said...

"...he almost always put his mouth on the baby’s penis to pull blood away from the wound..."

And Andrew Sullivan still opposes it?

PatCA said...

I'm the government, and I'm here to help.

What could go wrong?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

To be Frank..

I'm a little cripped out by this...

and don't call me Frank.

HokiePundit said...

Is it not kosher to use a straw?

HokiePundit said...

Is it not kosher to use a straw?

Anonymous said...

Fighting...so...many...jokes...about...Hollywood...being...dominated...by....Jews...and...gays...

But seriously, those people who get their dander up about circumcision (for either sex) are just trying to shit on religion via another method, because they're too chicken shit to attack Judaism and African practices head on.

When these assholes jump on Samoans for their tattooing (it ruins skin sensitivity!), I'll believe their "concerns" about "mutilation" are legitimate. Until then, they're just cowardly.

In completely unrelated news, the rabbinical ranks are about to get "fabulous."

Strelnikov said...

OK,but I don't want to see the pictures.

edutcher said...

More of the Demos' war on religion.

You do not mess with God's Chosen People or The One True Church.

Andy said...

More of the Demos' war on religion.

Religious people don't get to do whatever they want, no matter how damaging or destructive it might be, and then say, "Magic sky fairy god told me it's ok!". That's not how America works.

Pastafarian said...

Way to stand up to those violent religious extremists, Andy R.

That's a big risk you're taking. Aren't you afraid of reprisals? Some accountant with a beanie and long curly sideburns might grab you and saw your head off.

You're a brave man, Andy R.

John henry said...

So two drivers were talking about their respective bosses.

One tells the other "On Friday night my boss always blows the shofar"

The other one replies, "Wow! Best my boss ever does is an occasional pat on the back."

John Henry

Rocketeer said...

Religious people don't get to do whatever they want, no matter how damaging or destructive it might be, and then say, "Magic sky fairy god told me it's ok!".

Embassies throughout the Middle East disagree.

Pastafarian said...

I mean -- "magic sky fairy"? Some might call that denigrating to religion, something that your very own beloved President Obama has "rejected".

In fact, President Obama spoke for all of us when he said: "...the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others..."

So do you oppose President Obama on this issue, Andy R?

edutcher said...

Very good, John.

Andy R. said...

More of the Demos' war on religion.

Religious people don't get to do whatever they want, no matter how damaging or destructive it might be, and then say, "Magic sky fairy god told me it's ok!". That's not how America works


That's exactly how America works, sweetie,.

Ever hear of the First Amendment?

And didn't Mommy and Daddy ever tell you if you "do whatever you want, no matter how damaging or destructive it might be", bad things will happen to you.

Although I have the nasty feeling your parents were very progressive and gave their little Hattie anything he wanted and never corrected him.

Which explains a lot.

MB said...

70% of people in NYC have oral herpes? I appreciate that fun fact but the only thing that matters here is whether or not the mohel does.

Did they say? I didn't see if they did but I stopped reading about half way through. The words seemed to go on longer than the story did.

bgates said...

Hat, you waste time typing on here, but if you'd gone to Charlotte with your rhetorical talents I'm sure you could have gotten the Party leadership to ignore a much larger majority in favor of eliminating mention of God from the platform.

John henry said...

So two drivers were talking about their respective bosses.

One tells the other "On Friday night my boss always blows the shofar"

The other one replies, "Wow! Best my boss ever does is an occasional pat on the back."

John Henry

kentuckyliz said...

First Amendment. Not only disestablishmentarianism, but noninterference with the "free exercise thereof."

John henry said...

Never seen that before.

I posted once at 10:51 and the post appears again, without any participation on my part, at 10:58.

What's up with that?

John Henry

Pastafarian said...

I guess, Andy R, that this means you thought Obama was wrong to include that bit about "reject(ing) efforts to denigrate the religious" in his statement about the attack on the Cairo embassy.

I mean, how else would you square this circle? Either we, as a people, reject denigration of religions; or we don't. Apparently, you don't. So did Obama lie, or was he mistaken?

So you've come around to our side, then.

Welcome aboard, Andy R.

Pastafarian said...

Your silence is deafening, Andy R.

I'm starting to think that you might be a bit of a hypocrite.

And a moral coward: The lowest form of craven ninnie who attacks good because he doesn't fear it, but cringes before evil. It's not a hard thing to speak truth to power, after all, when that power is wielded by an orthodox Jew or a Baptist minister.

There was a time when I'd stop to read your comments, Andy R. But this cowardice is just too ugly to look at. You've just achieved SOB status: Scroll on by.

Rocketeer said...

Easy, Pastafarian. Maybe Andy's just busy passing out sandwiches to the homeless right now. Not so they can sate their hunger, mind you, but so they can meet him and understand how fabulous he is.

ricpic said...

Hey Andy R. hot to trot to investigate the medical practices of voodoo Jamaican-Americans? Be very careful before answering Andy because 1) they're black 2)they might put a spell on you.

Andy said...

I guess, Andy R, that this means you thought Obama was wrong to include that bit about "reject(ing) efforts to denigrate the religious" in his statement about the attack on the Cairo embassy.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of denigrating religion. For my own personal goals, there are strategic reasons why it might not always be a good time or place to attack religious people, but I have no general problem with the practice.

It might surprise some of you that I actually have a personal set of standards about when I have, and will continue to, participate in group prayer activities.

holdfast said...

I would think the "informed consent" route is a pretty reasonable compromise. It's pretty much the least the city can do.

I'm glad my folks used a more reformed mohel.


Though Cohn doesn't get charge for his work per se, I assume he accepts tips?

BarrySanders20 said...

When John Henry was a little baby

A sitting on his papa's knee

He saw a rabbi comin for his bleedin' pee-pee

Said, " Metzitzah b’peh gonna be the death of me," Lord, Lord!

"Metzitzah b’pehgonna be the death of me!"

prairie wind said...


I posted once at 10:51 and the post appears again, without any participation on my part, at 10:58.

What's up with that?


Google appreciates a good joke when it sees one.

Pastafarian said...

In case anyone missed it: I asked Andy R if he thought Obama was wrong to include that bit about "rejecting efforts to denigrate religions" in his statement about the Cairo embassy attack.

Andy R answered "Yeah..."

After he spent the entire morning jumping all over Romney in other threads because Romney...criticized Obama, for doing what Andy R himself says Obama shouldn't have done.

My immediate thought: Could he be any more loathesome? Was immediately answered: Yes, yes he could, when he sneered:

"It might surprise some of you that I actually have a personal set of standards about when I have, and will continue to, participate in group prayer activities."

No, asshole, this doesn't surprise me AT ALL. You've already declared yourself an unprincipled hypocritical hacktastic douche who cowers when confronted. I can easily picture you feigning belief when it suits you: When those scary dusky people who make you feel so guilty, say, lead your local socialist coffee-klatch in prayer, for example.

You'll join in with a shitty smirk on your face, picturing yourself an enlightened missionary playing along with backward savages.

"For my own personal goals, there are strategic reasons why it might not always be a good time or place to attack religious people..."

Like, say, if you might get your ass kicked. Or if you might be pushed out of the Eastern Cleveland chapter of the Che Guevara Fan Club. So it's right to speak truth to power...when it's advantageous to you and your own personal goals. Otherwise, not so much.

Congratulations, Andy R. You've made it crystal-clear to everyone here what a despicable coward and two-faced shit you are.

And please stop assuming the mantel of ordained atheist. Leave that to someone with some moral courage. You soil ideas when you pick them up and flounce around with them about your neck like a big feathered boa.

Rocketeer said...

Pasta, brilliant and devastating. And yet we can count on the jackass to keep coming back for more.

Cedarford said...

Bad news is the rabbi puts the ironic, but dark-humored truth into the smear "Blood-sucking Jew".

Sacred Ritual or not to the Jews - Its still a guy sucking on a baby's penis!

Now there was this hot-looking female rabbi on TV....her doing some penis sucking is a good thing, even on decades since being circumsized Jews and goys!

==========
In better news for the Jews, the smear of Sam Bacile (aka Nakoula Basseley Nakoula) being an Israeli Jew backed by 100 "wealthy Jewish donors) to make his movie - has been discredited.
Egyptian Copt, and a cabal of refugee Copts behind it as well as some Christian Zionists of native US citizenship.



kentuckyliz said...

When the Bible ordained circumcision, where did it say to suck away the blood with your mouth?!

It doesn't say that.

But there is a strict prohibition on consuming blood, even affecting the way animals must be slaughtered.

So, somewhere along the way, somebody started a new tradition and it became the way things are.

Was it a baby-fellatin' pedophile?

Makes Christ's condemnation of the traditions of men ring even louder in my ears.

I have good reason to believe this development was after the Christian era. When Jesus tells his followers they must eat his flesh and drink his blood to have eternal life (in John 6), if fellating a baby's bloody pee pee was accepted, normative practice, this would have not been a controversial statement.

But it was controversial. Many of his followers left him that day and went back to their former way of life. Even the Apostles didn't understand but decided to stick with Jesus anyway...because he seemed to have the words of eternal life. They were willing to sit with their confusion and shock at the unkosherness of it all.

chill said...

to sign a consent form indicating that they are aware of the risk of herpes transmission when a circumcision procedure, or bris, includes direct oral contact. Wedding ring men