September 17, 2012--"I Don't Know What They're Doing There"

As we witness expressions of fanaticism in the Middle East, spurred in part by anti-Muslim fanaticism in America, also in America, in New York City, happily not nearly as violent, there is a controversy about a fanatical religious practice--metzitzah b'peh, a form of ritual circumcision practiced among ultra-orthodox Jews in which the rabbi, who cuts off an 8-day-old baby's foreskin, sucks with his mouth some of the blood that results from the procedure.

The controversy stems from the fact that going forward, before this form of circumcision is allowed, the New York City Board of Health wants parents to sign an informed consent form since there have been serious medical consequences that are the result of the blood sucking. Herpes, for example, is a distinct possibility; and in some cases, the infection that may occur is so virulent that a number of infants have died.

The mohel, or circumciser, who is most widely sought for metzitzah b'pehs, A. Romi Cohen (who claims to have performed more than 25,000 of these) and his Hasid supporters are up in arms, claiming that the city is interfering in a religious practice that is constitutionally protected.

It may turn out that it is in fact constitutionally protected; but, the ultra-orthodox fail to mention that it is extra-biblical--there is no mention whatsoever in the Old Testament that calls for this form of circumcision. Yes, there is a biblical requirement that all Jewish boys be circumcised, but not in the manner practiced by Mohel Cohen.

In Genesis 17:10-14, God commanded the biblical patriarch Abraham to be circumcised in an act to be followed by his descendants:

10 This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt Me and you. 12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner, that is not of thy seed. 13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised; and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant.

There is no mention here or elsewhere in the bible about how to do this, much less any mention of sucking the blood.

Metzitzah b'peh is rabbinical, something religious leaders more recently than in biblical times came up with because it allegedly leads to less infection than if the blood is removed with gauze. Clearly this is not true, but the practice persists to this day among those who consider themselves the most fervent believers.

As part of the ritual the infant's grandmother carries the baby to the mohel on a white satin pillow. As reported in the New York Times, at a recent metzitzah b'peh, one such grandmother, Sara Mor, confessed that she never looks at the cutting--"I'm scared to watch it," she said. Then added, as mohel Cohen bent over baby Benjamin Asher, "I don't know what they are doing there."

Well said, grandma.