Hundreds Of Israeli Children May Need Second Circumcisions After Chabad Mohel Snips Too Little

"When he removed my child's pants he just said, 'Oy, oy, oy.' My heart sank. I almost breathed my last breath."

   

Hundreds in north may undergo circumcision corrections
Chief Rabbinate to hold hearing on rabbi from Haifa area suspected of not removing entire foreskin during brit ceremony. Following discovery, dozens of concerned parents contact experts to check if their children's circumcision was performed thoroughly. No concern for medical complications
Kobi Nahshoni • Ynet

Israel's Chief Rabbinate suspects that a mohel (ritual circumciser) from the north performed hundreds of circumcisions in recent years that did not comply with Jewish Law. Some of the children circumcised by the rabbi have already undergone surgery to correct the brit, thus rendering it kosher. There is significant concern that others will be forced to undergo a similar procedure.

Ynet learned that the mohel oversight committee instructed the rabbi not to conduct additional circumcisions until the Rabbinate's hearing on his case, expected to be held this week, is completed.

According to the item published on ladaat.net, suspicions were aroused after a number of senior rabbis from the Haifa area were present at a brit milah performed by L. – a rabbi affiliated with the local Chabad – were surprised to find out that he did not remove the foreskin around the penis, as is required by halacha. The guest rabbis notified the Chief Rabbinate, and word spread throughout the community.
 
Following these revelations, dozens of concerned parents contacted expert mohels to examine their children's circumcision. A number of circumcised children even had to undergo a surgical procedure under full anesthesia to correct the botched circumcision. Each such surgical procedure costs thousands of shekels.

The said mohel is well-known and performs hundreds of circumcisions a year. Estimates are that the scandal will likely have implications for thousands of children. For instance, the Chief Rabbinate may decide to summon the circumcised children for an examination whether the circumcisions meet kosher standards.

However, it is important to note that there is no concern of medical complications. The issue is a purely halachic and aesthetic one.

Rabbi Moshe Weisberg, a member of the inter-ministerial committee of the Health Ministry and Religious Affairs ministry for oversight and training of mohels, told Ynet that he does not remember any such instance. "It can happen to anyone because no one is an angel, even if he is a mohel or a doctor," he explained. "But on such a scale? This is already in the realm of the abnormal."

Weisberg added that a number of worried parents have already contacted him on the matter. In most cases, he ruled that though their sons' organ may look "weird," by his definition, it can be ruled retrospectively that the brit milah was kosher. However, in some cases, he recommended that the corrective surgery procedure be performed.
 
"If it were my son, I wouldn't think twice," he said. Other mohels and doctors from the north have also performed the "corrections" on a number of children.

'Brit milah must be done performed in entirety'

N., a haredi parent of a three-year-old circumcised by L., told Ynet of the sense of panic and subsequent meeting with Rabbi Weisberg. "He is known as one of the foremost experts in our community. When he removed my child's pants he just said, 'Oy, oy, oy.' My heart sank. I almost breathed my last breath. Fortunately for us, it was okay in the end, and he said we don't need a correction."

N. said that he specifically chose L. to perform the brit milah because he heard that babies don't cry when he does the procedure. Now, three years later, he understands why.

"Whenever I bathed the children, I saw there was something weird with him, but I didn't make a big deal about it," he added. "I told myself it could just be a difference between one child and the next. Only when my wife told me about the Rabbinate's investigation did the other shoe drop."
 
Despite this, N. emphasized that the said mohel is "a God-fearing adherent," and that the botch, if there was one, was done innocently.

Head of the Chief Rabbinate's brit milah department Rabbi Moshe Morsiano told Ynet, "There is no medical damage, but it is a halachic matter. Circumcision is a commandment and must be done in its entirety. There is concern here that this was not the case. This is a serious, well-known, and highly regarded man who apparently made a mistake."

Comments

[yankele]

It's just like like my mom used to tell me. There are no short cuts in life.

[DK]

Big emergency.

[nachos]

My people never fail to dissappoint me!!!

[nachos]

I hope this mohel has malpractice insurance.

[chaim1]

Why isnt the mohel named? I suppose he charges for his 'services'. I also wonder if he uses the 'clamp'. That is usually why they dont cry. This story ought to be properly investigated. Just because he calls himself chabad is no excuse. Dont these people have a rabbi as a sandak, who would be 'experienced'. Thousands of children the mind boggles. He must have made a fortune. I cant see insurance paying anything the kids are not in danger.
Where I live the mohel does it free, he is only too pleased to be of service. They usually use a 'guide' as they 'pull' the skin foreward. Many fathers do it themselves under supervision although not the 'prioh'. Here although the mohelim 'cut' non-jews, but someone whose father is the only Jewish parent they dont allow. I wonder if the did them as well.
Being chabad who are out to 'get' anyone it wouldnt surprise me. Well this is his downfall. I cant understand how they can be so complacant about it.

[Maskil]

I actually know a girl who got the 'clamp' from a Chabad mohel. It took a very strong antibacterial treatment and the side effects were long lasting.

[Mr. Apikoros]

I nominate O.J. to finish the job.

[the shinto]

The real reason for circumcisions(there was no covenant that is man made invention)

"Moses Maimonides

Moses Maimonides, the famed medieval Jewish rabbi, physician and philosopher, recoginized the real reason circumcision is performed and wrote about it in his book, THE GUIDE TO THE PERPLEXED, translated by Shlomo Pines. (University of Chicago, 1963)
Part III, Chapter 49, Page 609:

Similarly with regard to circumcision, one of the reasons for it is, in my opinion, the wish to bring about a decrease in sexual intercourse and a weakening of the organ in question, so that this activity be diminished and the organ be in as quiet a state as possible. It has been thought that circumcision perfects what is defective congenitally. This gave the possibility to everyone to raise an objection and to say: How can natural things be defective so that they need to be perfected from outside, all the more because we know how useful the foreskin is for that member? In fact this commandment has not been prescribed with a view to perfecting what is defective congenitally, but to perfecting what is defective morally.

The bodily pain caused to that member is the real purpose of circumcision. None of the activities necessary for the preservation of the individual is harmed thereby, nor is procreation rendered impossible, but violent concupiscence and lust that goes beyond what is needed are diminished. The fact that circumcision weakens the faculty of sexual excitement and sometimes perhaps diminishes the pleasure is indubitable. For if at birth this member has been made to bleed and has had its covering taken away from it, it must indubitably be weakened. The Sages, may their memory be blessed, have explicitly stated: It is hard for a woman with whom an uncircumcised man has had sexual intercourse to separate from him. In my opinion this is the strongest of the reasons for circumcision.
Page 611:

This class of commandments also includes the prohibition against mutilating the sexual organs of all the males of animals, which is based on the principle of righteous statutes and judgments, I mean the principle of keeping the mean in all matters; sexual intercourse should neither be excessively indulged, as we have mentioned, nor wholly abolished. Did He not command and say: Be fruitful and multiply? Accordingly this organ is weakened by means of circumcision, but not extirpated through excision. What is natural is left according to nature, but measures are taken against excess. He that is wounded in the stones or hath his privy member cut off is forbidden to marry a woman of Israel, for such cohabitation would be perverted and aimless. Such a marriage would likewise be a stumbling block for the woman and for him who seeks her out. This is very clear."

[DK]

"Accordingly this organ is weakened by means of circumcision, but not extirpated through excision."

The middle path in action. How moderate of rabbinic Judaism not to excise the sex organ in its entirety.

[yudel Shain]

http://yudelstake.blogspot.com/2008/08/bris-again.html
These Mohels e.g. Pesach Krohn should be banned from society

[Molly Mayim]

"I hope this mohel has malpractice insurance."

The good news - he does

The bad news - his carrier insists on a 2 inch deductible

[Rarian Rakista]

Many Americans increasingly consider this practice the same as female circumcision.

I for one, think such Rabbis should be locked up for life and any culture that encourages such a practice on unwilling children to be abhorrent.

[Abu Jihad Schneerson]

The article says that the Chief Rabbinate will summon those babies to check out if thei milah is kosher.But do they have the right to summon anyone?If I were a parent of one of these kids,I'd tell them to piss off!

[David]

If hundreds of babies have been incorrectly snipped, I find it staggering that no one noticed until now.

[DK]

The article says that the Chief Rabbinate will summon those babies to check out if thei milah is kosher.But do they have the right to summon anyone?

Move over creeping Shariah. Now there's creeping Halacha!

[danny]

"It won't be long now, said the Mohel as he rounded Stevens Point (Wisconsin)"

[effie]

Resist, babies! Resist!

[Menachem Mendel lll]

Terrible.

[jay]

Sounds like the Moihel was a real cut-up.

[norm]

There is no end to these pricks!

[Taking the High Road]

Reminds me of an incident in the Mikvah when I saw a famous old Mohel comment about the young men standing next to him, "Dos Iz a Shnit!" I was glad he didn't comment on mine...

[seymour]

you would think it would have been noticed before.

would not be surprised if they knew and told people to be quiet they will fix the problem and of course did not

[Ben Dover]

Never trust your pecker to a sheker.

[Mr. Apikoros]

That would be O.J. Schecter, of course.

[corn popper]

all the more to molest

[Adam Neira]

Ouch !

Fortunately said operation happened when I was just a wee chap.

[Nobody]

what is the clamp?

[Hometown Postville]

Perhaps there needs to be a "recall" of all circumcisions done on rabbis who abuse. Do they need a few more snips to weaken "the faculty of sexual excitement and diminish the pleasure?"

[Alter Kocker]

And Toyota has problems with recalls, Oy!!

[Jewish Cynic]

Guess Kolko etc have a new alibi
"I was just checking to see if they had kosher brit"

[Shmarya]

Guess Kolko etc have a new alibi
"I was just checking to see if they had kosher brit"

A very similar alibi was used by a Chabad teacher during the time of the Tzemach Tzedek, and sadly the alibi worked.

[Kofer]

I'm Pissed! Jewish Cynic and Shmayra stole what I was going to post :-) . . . . . oh well - maybe we could fuse the two stories - get kolko, berkovitz, Lanner, etc. together - and tell them they get one more romp - as long as they "clean up" after themselves. I know, I know: "sick" - so tell me, how sick is it that WW III is happening because a chabad jesus freak didn't slice and dice deep enough while ruining kids' sex life instead of straightening out all the intranecine prejudice and violence in Israel?

[Chicago Sam]

Hey, it's so typical of the Haredim--they always want a piece of the action, obviously for their wallets or luggage!