[Attention — first three links in German]
A German children’s advocacy group called MOGiS and Friends is pressing assault charges against a Jewish orthodox circumciser.
Last month, at the bris (circumcision ceremony) for the son of Berlin Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, the mohel practiced metzitzah p’beh, which involved him placing his mouth on the baby’s freshly-mutilated genitals to suck away the blood. The ritual is controversial, in part because hygiene is by definition poor, as the mouth-to-penis contact can transmit STDs such as herpes.
The chair of the European Rabbinic Conference, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, advises against mouth-suctioning and recommends that mohels use a medical pipette instead.
He says that some orthodox Jewish communities erroneously believe that they have de facto immunity against herpes and the like, because
they don’t practice pre- or extra-marital sex, nor homosexuality, nor do they use illicit drugs. But some of their own violate these communal rules.
In the U.S., since 2000, there have been at least 13 cases of herpes associated with metzitzah b’peh, including two infant deaths. Two other babies contracted herpes infections that led to permanent brain damage.
[image via Berliner Zeitung]
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