Haredi Rite Questioned
Egypt Ties In Danger?
Israeli doctors seek end to oral contact
during circumcision.
Jerusalem/JTA
T
he Israel Ambulatory Pediatric
Association (IAPA) is calling for an end
to a controversial circumcision-related
rite that is also under fire in New York.
Direct oral-genital suction, known as metzitzah
b'peh, should not be performed during Jewish
ritual circumcision, the IAPA said. The association
is calling on Israel's Health Ministry to require
maternity wards and clinics to advise parents
against metzitzah b'peh, Israeli media reported.
IAPA is recommending that mohels, or ritual
circumcisers, use a tube to take the blood from
the circumcision wound, preventing direct con-
tact with the infant's incision.
The rite is not used in most Jewish circum-
cision ceremonies, but many in the haredi
Orthodox community still adhere to it.
Rabbi Chaim Moshe Weisberg, a mohel, told
Haaretz that the IAPA is not after the child's best
interest and is against circumcision.
"They want all parents to stop circumcising
their sons, as they did in Germany," Weisberg
said. "The cases of reported diseases allegedly
Alex Fishman
Ynet News
originating from the custom are very few — and
even then they can't prove it was actually trans-
ferred from the mohel. Only if a parent requests
metzitzah b'peh, as people have done for 3,000
years, do we do it at his request.
"I'm opposed to compulsion. Why do you
want to prevent a Jew from Mea Shearim from
upholding the traditions of his forefathers, if he
knows what the risk is? Why not respect him?"
The controversy over metzitzah b'peh was
reignited in New York in March after it came to
light that an unidentified infant died Sept. 28
at Brooklyn's Maimonides Medical Center from
"disseminated herpes simplex virus Type 1, com-
plicating ritual circumcision with oral suction,"
according to the death certificate.
New York Health Department investigations
of newborns with the herpes virus from 2000 to
2011 have shown that 11 infants contracted the
virus when mohels placed their mouths directly
on the child's circumcision wound to draw blood
away from the circumcision cut, according to
a statement from the department. Ten of the
infants were hospitalized, at least two developed
brain damage and two babies died.
❑
Everyone's a
p
resident Mohammed
Morsi's termination of the
Egyptian military's old
guard with one swipe and without
resistance was one of the most
surprising and dramatic develop-
ments of the revolution.
Morsi annulled the constitution-
al amendments that had granted
the army far-reaching powers
over the country and "purged" the
senior military leadership, thus
beginning the process of removing
Mubarak's men from all govern-
ment institutions and replacing
them with Muslim Brotherhood
members or officials loyal to him.
The two strongest people in
Egypt, Defense Minister Gen.
Hussein Tantawi and Chief of Staff
Sami Enan, had no idea they were
about to be ousted.
-
It also caught Israel by surprise.
Several Egyptian officials "retired"
by Morsi had close working rela-
tions with Israel. The changes may
have an adverse effect on diplo-
matic and security ties.
On a tactical level, in Sinai, the
connections will likely be upheld
to safeguard common interests,
but they will gradually cool. While
newly appointed Egyptian Defense
Minister Gen. Abdel Fattah al-
Sissi, the former intelligence chief,
maintained working relations with
Israeli counterparts, he is viewed
as a critic of the Jewish state.
The Obama administration
received a slap in the face from
Morsi. The sacked army chief,
Enan, was the U.S.' "man" in
Egypt's military leadership.
The damage caused to Egypt's
pro-West and secular military
may eventually jeopardize the
peace treaty with Israel. The pro-
cesses in Egypt are so dynamic,
fast and unexpected that it is
difficult to predict what the rela-
tionship between Israel and Egypt
will seem like in a few months'
time.
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August 16 • 2012
47