Why Do Haredim Do Metzitzah B’Peh, The Dangerous Circumcision-Related Practice That Has Killed And Maimed Babies?

Why do so many ultra-Orthodox Jews still do metzitzah b'peh (MBP), even though it is dangerous and risks babies' lives? What follows is an answer to that question.

 

Why Do Haredim Do Metzitzah B’Peh, The Dangerous Circumcision-Related Practice That Has Killed And Maimed Babies?
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

The Daily Beast has new coverage on metzitzah b’peh (MBP), the direct mouth-to-bleeding-penis sucking done primarily by haredi mohels after they cut off a baby’s foreskin. (The Daily Beast article extensively quotes me and Ben Hirsch from Survivors for Justice.)

For new readers landing here from the Daily Beast, here are two posts that explain what MBP is, the first from the perspective of halakha (Jewish law) and the second from the perspective of medical history and epidemiology.

To properly understand this issue you really have to understand that before approximately 1800 CE, the idea that disease is transmitted by contact with small organisms we can’t see with our naked eyes – germ theory – did not really exist. Instead, illness was thought to come from an imbalance of the body’s four “humors,” yellow bile, black bile, phlegm and blood.

This understanding of the human body and illness originated in ancient Greece, slipped out of fashion somewhat, and then was brought back to the fore by the famous ancient physician Galen, who is considered to be the most accomplished of all ancient medical researchers and was so considered in his time, as well, and was known all over the ancient Near Eastern world, both in areas Greece controlled or influenced and outside it.

To explain this system, let me quote from The Healing Hand —— Man and Wound in the Ancient World, by Guido Majno (as quoted by Shlomo Sprecher in Mezizah be-Peh: Therapeutic Touch or Hippocratic Vestige?):

The Greek physicians studied disease primarily by giving it a lot of thought [as opposed to observation]. The result was an overall, synthetic, but wholly imaginary theory of disease, in which the basic disturbance, and therefore the treatment, was always of the same kind, even in the case of a wound. The reasoning went about as follows. In nature everything is balanced. ““Too much”” or ““too little”” causes an imbalance, which is disease. The actual components of the body that may go out of balance are the celebrated four humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. In the normal body these humors are harmoniously mixed; disease ensues if they are mixed in the wrong proportions, or if they become unmixed……[A]ny pain or lump could be explained as a ““distemper”” or disharmony of the blend…[B]lood was regarded as the worst offender, because it was liable to spill out easily and therefore to ““stagnate.”” This was supposed to be dangerous, because one of the key propositions in Greek medicine maintained that stagnating blood will decay…and in decaying, it might even become pus…the parts around the wound will develop spasms, attract blood, become soaked with it, and decay. The beauty of this thought (corruption originates around the wound), however wrong it may sound today, is that it shows how the Greeks struggled to explain the mechanism of what we call infection——or in their terms, corruption. They could have no idea that the cause was something [micro-organisms] deposited on the surface of the wound. Therefore, using their principle that ““stagnating blood decays,”” they rationalized that the trouble had to arise all around the wound: blood was attracted there, and turned into pus. This thought is stated or hinted at may times in the Collection [Hippocratic Corpus]; for instance, ““all wounds draw their inflammation and swelling from the surrounding parts, because of the blood flowing into them. In every recent wound…it is expedient to cause blood to flow from it abundantly, for thus will the wound and the adjacent parts be less attacked with inflammation……when the blood flows they become drier and less in size, as being thus dried up. Indeed what prevents the healing…is the decay of the blood.””

To heal wounds, physicians who relied on what became known as Galen’s theory thought that blood had to be drawn from the furthest parts of the body out through the wound to prevent blood “stagnation” which could lead to pus formation and we today know as an infection. And the way to achieve this was though suction.

Galen died sometime between 200 CE and 216 CE – exactly at the time of the codification of the Mishna, essentially the first code of Jewish law ever written and the foundation of the Talmud, which would be codified 550 to 750 years later.

The almost every other leaders in the known world at that time, the sages of the Mishna relied on Galen’s theory. Therefore they required that some form of metzitza – suction – be done after the baby’s foreskin was cut off to prevent danger to the baby.

While they did not specify how that suction was to be done, in practice often the only available ways to suction were the mouth or some type of absorbent cloth used to “draw” the blood out by absorption.

Because oral suction – MBP – was faster and drew out much more blood, it became the preferred method of suction.

Galen’s theory was the gold standard of medicine until the early- to mid-1800s, and therefore MBP was the gold standard of suction for mohels (Jewish ritual circumcisers) until then.

What changed that?

As germ theory began to be proposed and accepted in the medical community, doctors suddenly began to view MBP differently.

Before germ theory, infant mortality in and outside the Jewish community was appallingly high. Babies were expected to die. The minimum pre-modern infant mortality rate was 20% to 30%. When the rate jumped significantly higher inside or outside the Jewish community, it was thought to be caused by miasma (“bad air”) or by God.

When the Plague ravaged Europe, many non-Jews thought the Jews must have poisoned the wells because Jews seemed to be dying in fewer numbers proportionate to population than non-Jews. This perception led to pogroms. But the likely reason for the slightly lower death rate of Jews was that Jews ritually washed their hands before eating each meal containing bread – which in those days essentially meant every meal, because bread was used almost as a utensil, and people ate by scooping up or sopping up food with bread, or drinking it from a bowl if liquid, or holding it in their hands if it was solid, for example, like a bird leg. The ritual hand-washing, instituted by the rabbis of the Mishna to remember what the Kohanim (Jewish priests) did in the Jerusalem Temple, provided some protection from the plague and from other illnesses – although they did not know that when it was instituted. In fact, it wasn’t known by anyone until germ theory was widely proposed and subsequently proved true.

During epidemics in the early 1800s of Jewish babies dying or becoming seriously ill after circumcision, doctors started to tell community rabbis and mohels to stop doing MBP. In locations where the rabbis and mohels listened to the doctors and stopped doing MBP, the epidemics stopped. This helped confirm the validity of germ theory and it saved the lives of many babies.

So why do many haredim still do MBP?

There are two answers to that question, and both have essentially joined to become the haredi rationale for continuing MBP despite the danger it entails:

1. Opposition to non-Orthodox streams of Judaism and to modernity. Haredism is essentially a modern movement formed in opposition to the haskala (Jewish enlightenment) and to the early Reform Movement. Change of any type was strongly opposed by many haredi rabbis, especially hasidic rebbes and non-hasidic haredi rabbis from Hungary and surrounding areas where the Reform Movement and the haskala were strong. Even though the hasidic movement itself was an innovation in Judaism only established less than a half century before, it was founded before Reform and was essentially grandfathered into traditional Judaism which froze all further development in opposition to Reform. It is likely that if germ theory had been discovered and propagated 100 years earlier, no one would be doing MBP today. But because it was discovered and propagated just at the time being a secular Jew or a non-Orthodox Jew became possible and at a time when Jews were able to assimilate into wider society for the first time, and because that was when doctors – many of them secularized Jews – first proposed banning MBP, banning MBP was rejected by these haredi rabbis because it could be viewed as a deviation from the traditional Judaism they claimed to uphold.

2. Kabbalah and hasidut. MBP was given special kabbalistic significance in the late Middle Ages by a tiny handful rabbis. This aberration was picked up by the hasidic movement, which was founded in the late 1700s and which claimed to be based in large part on Kabbalah and on its founder the Ba’al Shem Tov’s own teachings. The Ba’al Shem Tov was an herbalist who acted as a type of native healer and physician in Eastern Europe. A contemporaneous tax record even refers to him as a doctor. But the type of medicine the Ba’al Shem Tov practiced was apparently a combination of native herbalism, spiritual healing and the medicine of his day – which was still based on Galen. If germ theory had been propagated while the Ba’al Shem Tov, who died in 1760, was still alive, would he have urged mohels to stop doing it? We can’t know for sure, but he did adopt a new form of slaughter knife and encourage others to do so, as well, even though many leading rabbis of the day opposed it. But the Ba’al Shem Tov argued that new knife was more humane because it cut better and caused less pain to the animals and wanted it adopted for that reason. That new slaughter knife is the knife used by shochets (Jewish ritual slaughterers) today. So perhaps he would have advocated stopping MBP, as well.

Do today’s haredi rabbis have any right under halakha to put babies at risk unnecessarily? After all, we know germ theory is true. We have extremely powerful microscopes and scanners and 150 years of medical studies, along with loads of empirical evidence, that have proved it true. Antibiotics work (at least until bacteria become resistant to them). Anti-fungal medication works. Anti-viral medication works. We are long past the time when it is possible to legitimately debate whether putting your mouth on a baby’s open wound is safe – it isn’t safe, and we know that with certainty.

So how do haredi rabbis justify doing MBP?

They essentially deny reality in order to uphold the two totems of MBP I mentioned above. They contend that MBP is safe, even though it absolutely is not, and they refuse to entertain what medical science has proven. If they did not do this they would have to admit that the haredi rabbis who fought against banning MBP almost 150 years ago were wrong. That would mean that hundreds of hasidic rebbes would be wrong – an existential threat to a movement that ascribes near-infallibility to their leaders the rebbes. Hungarian non-hasidic Orthodoxy has been highly influenced by the hasidic movement and adopted the hasidic movement’s view of its leadership and applied it in only slightly modified form to its own. Stopping MBP would also be a type of existential threat to it.

Eighty-five years ago, much of non-hasidic Lithuanian haredi Orthodoxy had long since stopped doing MBP. But today it is making somewhat of a comeback, in part because non-hasidic Lithuanian haredi Orthodoxy became influenced by the hasidic movement after the Holocaust, and in part because in past several years, doing MBP has become a sort of gold standard for proving how haredi you truly are. The more haredi you want to appear, the more likely MBP is. After all, resisting the evil city government and its informed request requirement for MBP circumcisions harks back to the original war against the Jewish Enlightenment and the Reform Movement. Haredim believe they are fighting the good fight for their own religious freedom and for the propagation of “authentic” Judaism – even though science, history, fact and empirical evidence all prove them wrong.

This is why MBP is still an issue today.

Why don’t more babies die from MBP-transmitted illness like they did 200 years ago and earlier?

Because today we have Bacitracin, antibiotics and anti-viral medication, and we have IVs and life support.

Modern drugs virtually ended MBP-syphilis transmission, which appears to have been alarmingly common 200 years ago, and most of the other MBP-transmitted infections.

Herpes – which is primarily what is killing and maiming MBP babies now – is widespread today in adults. But that was not true 200 years ago. However, based on reported symptoms, babies clearly got MBP-transmitted herpes 200 years ago and died from it. Today, many of those babies are saved by modern medical science (although it has been proposed but not yet proved that herpes causes “sub-clinical” or undetected cognitive impairment and learning disabilities in many babies).

Absent the existential issues mentioned above, Jewish law would ban MBP outright.

But those existential issues – themselves modern innovations – are not absent, and many haredim will not stop MBP as a result.

Related Posts:

A Graphic History Of MBP.

A History Of MBP Disease Transmission.

All MBP Posts.

Shlomo Sprecher's Medical History Of MBP.

Comments

[Barry 1]

One problem is that things get started for a specific reason and as time goes on, those reasons are forgotten and it becomes law.

Even if MBP continues, there should at minimum require that anyone doing so be medically tested. They can also use a tube to draw out a little blood, so there is no direct contact.

It seems to me that any Mohel unwilling to be tested should be treated almost as a rodef and should not be used.

It is a parents primary responsibility to protect their children. People have to stop being sheep, think for themselves and demand to see test results. Otherwise, they should reject the practice altogether. While I doubt that would happen in some communities, at minimum demand proof of the Mohel being disease free, or the father should do it himself.

[jancsibacsi]

The answer is that they think that once they can get away with such a despicable act they can do anything they want according to them they own you its their way or the highway,people who think they are god act like one.

[jancsibacsi]

Barry 1--" or the father should do it himself"
This kind of writing is mindless you think the father is clean most people carry that herpes and an 8 day old child has a very weak immune system to defend himself, you just write without thinking things through, a shoyte to say the least

[Yahoshua David]

"When the Plague ravaged Europe, many non-Jews thought the Jews must have poisoned the wells because Jews seemed to be dying in fewer numbers proportionate to population than non-Jews. This perception led to pogroms. "

Don't worry to the goy reading this.. We cant help but to throw in unproven, yiddish folklore of victimization in any kind of history lesson of ourselves. The victimhood must get thrown in. If we teach each other how to play poker, we'll find a way to get that yiddish, Russian, fable, folklore, 'goy-killed all of us' from discussing how to play poker. It's the Russian Pagan way after all - you discuss how great your magic ancestors were and tell legends and fables around the fire about how they defended your people from the wicked outsiders.

[Shmarya]

Barry 1 –

It's very difficult to test for herpes. If no lesions are present, tests are usually negative – even though many of those people actually have it. And even when lesions are present, people sometimes test negative.

The only real answer is to ban MBP and to treat doing MBP as form of child endangerment.

When enough babies die, or the right baby dies, from an MBP-disease transmission, a tipping point will be reached and maybe that will happen.

Until then…

[Yahoshua David]

Sucking blood was done for the longest time. Just as a child when you get by a mosquito you know to suck out the 'poison' out. Since the ealiest times leeches were used to suck 'bad blood'. Then there is the antient 'cupping' method where you poke holes in yourself and try to drain out blood. This is actually many thousands of years old.

But in those days people may have had herpes and they certainly would have known how it transmits. So i do not believe it was practiced before the Mishnah as the article states. It was a man made suggestion that was not some sort of infallible word from God. We know this because this method has not stood the test of time. This further lends discredibility of 'Oral Law'.. No pun intended. But i could be wrong who knows.

What matters here is the SPIRIT of the law. The spirit of this law is to disinfect and keep the area clean to prevent infection. This is why the VAST majority of Jews do not use mouth suction.

Of course, there is paganism life blood practices of taking in the blood from a pure soul.. Basically have a clean babies blood in you. But that was likely not it as it was heavily frowned upon 2000 years ago as it was well known pagan practices of most other cultures.

Anyhow.. Im going to go to Target today to get some odds and ends. You know... Target owner has a wife thats a jew. And the circles from target are actually from her grandmother Golda who used to draw circles while she was held in jail for trying to look after innocent Jewish orphans during the pogroms,.. Errr... The Russian one., ya know.. Of 1870.. Yeah that one ya know. And each circle represneted a year that she was held in jail where she was beaten by an evil outsider. Oh and those outsiders were Reform and Conservatice jews who were dogs for the evil goy. But Golda got out of jail and those circles stayed with her. And she moved to the US and found a rich guy and everyone was rich because we're so awsome and ffwd to today and Target has those circles from Golda abuse and tragedy in her life. She then went onto fund yeshivas all over the US, Australia, Isreal... And... Umm.. Argentina and Mexico too.

Some say those circles was the magic life force responsible for all this as we can reference the kabballah and Zohar... (And the pagan legend continues).

[S M L]

"...Some say those circles was the magic life force responsible for all this as we can reference the kabballah and Zohar... (And the pagan legend continues).
..."

Either you've got a hell of an imagination (spoken admiringly, understand...) or else I wish I had some of whatever you smoked just before coming up with that story. Of course it's no more improbable a fable than any other our dark-hatted kinsmen have come up with over the years...

[(The other) Eli]

Shmarya, could you cite sources for these types of posts? Not necessarily proper citations, just mentioning a few books from where you got the info.
I'm not suggesting you're not being truthful, I'm just interested in looking further into some of these background postings and I'd like to know where to start.
Especially ones about Orthodox Jews who used electricity on Shabbat, aside from Auerbach's arguments on why it should be permitted, minus incandescent bulbs.
Thanks

[Shmarya]

Try following the links in my post.

[Koifer beikar]

Dear failed messiah
When quoting a chosheveh person please use the proper title
He is doctor rabbi Shlomo sprecher
Not Shlomo
Thank you

[jewish patriot]

We have natural antiseptics in our saliva that protects us from bacteria and viruses from invading our bodies and making us sick , it is likely that sucking on the wound was done to prevent infections . In some cultures still today saliva and urine are used as antiseptics . It is not some barbaric practice that the self hating jews would have you believe . But there have to be precautions and mohalim should be tested for diseases .

[Lazer]

This lengthy and tedious dissertation is basically a smoke screen and only begs the question. To merely state the case that the procedure is dangerous, without giving statistics, is useless in adjudicating this issue. All things carry risks, and we do things all the time that have a certain probability of causing injury. Is Metzitzah B’Peh as risky as say, driving a car? or a motorcycle? Or eating in a restaurant, or going to a mikvah? If you can't answer those questions, than you don't have much to go on. Now, if you choose not to perform the procedure, that's ok I guess. The question is whether it is logically consistent to push for legislation banning it. That is the real question as far as I can see.

[Nachum]

Jewish Patriot, don't be silly. Virtually all Jews live in countries with ready availability of antibiotics. Why would you want to depend on some saliva hocus-pocus (if it's even true) when you have a proven method?

[Tony]

The apostate Shmarya Rosenberg strikes again!

[Koifer beikar]

Dear failed messiah
I don't have the link but rabbi yair Hoffman has a great article
That shows mathematically how dangerous MVP
Is
It is much more than is thought both with death
And maiming of children
Please research and include that link to answer
To the people that think the risk is minuscule
And babies should not be subject to any risk however
Small if it is proven that there is no religious reason to do it

[Barry 1]

jancsibacsi: You're a fool. You don't read an entire post and jump at one statement.

The father would probably know if he has herpes, there are signs and it's a whole lot safer than a total stranger whose medical history is completely unknown.

While I don't like the practice itself, my son-in-law does it for his own children and not the Mohel. If the parents think it's so important, they should do it themselves.

Why don't YOU think things through for a change instead of the nonsense you always write, like the nonsense conclusions in your first post. The only reason they do it is because they think it's a Halacha or a minhag at least. There is no sinister motives and they don't think that they're G-d.

You are no different from the extreme among them. You call it a despicable act. You're just at opposite end of the spectrum than they are, except with hate. They just truly believe what they are doing, whether they are right or wrong.

[Barry]

Barry 1 - in concentrating on the physical health issues (as Lazer does) of MpB, which admittedly today because of modern medicine is not as deadly as in the past, you are choosing to ignore the psychological aspect of it, that is how can any normal person indulge in such sick and repulsive behaviour?

How is it that some see something wrong in a woman exposing her elbows whilst seeing nothing wrong is placing a baby's bleeding sexual organ in one's mouth? There is also the possibility that this behaviour encouraged the myth of the blood libel. You must not ignore the psychological and social aspects that such behaviour entails just because the physical harm is not as great as it was.

It is like eating someone else's shit.
Just because antibiotics makes eating shit not as dangerous as it once was, it is still disgusting behaviour which turns people's stomachs and has terrible social consequences for those who do this.

It one thing for Shmarya to explain the historical context for this practice in pre-modern times and to try to explain the social reasons why this practice continues amongst the most religious Jews, but the average person will tell you that any culture that supports this practice when it is known that it has no health benefits whatsoever is evil.

[Yahoshua David]

Ok guys.

Herpes is spread through skin on skin contact. For the herpes to stay and 'live' to become a lifelong virus, it needs to stay stagnant in a warm, moist environment and then fester, live, and grow on your skin which promotes this environment (around mouth and genetles). Beards likely heavily promote this.

Hashem created herpes to let wives know when their husbands were seeing escorts and prostitues. Frum people would NOT have herpes. Both male or female.

If a frum person has herpes, this is VERY telling. If he has it on the MOUTH, then this is huge reason for concern of who this guy is and WHERE HIS MOUTH HAS BEEN!

If sucking WAS traditional before the Mishnah, then there would have been herpes also transmitted back then and there would have been rabibical rules mentioning this.

But i have to give cred to the author for his research into this. The Mishnah was a redaction of all the oral law at the time supposedly. The Rabbi's did have authority to change it and it's not considered 'infallible' doctrine.

Thus, we look at the SPIRIT of the law. Obviously the sucking was for HYGENIC reasons. But little did they know that herpies would ONLY likely live on a babies genetles as it's the only part of the body that's moist enough to allow it to fester and live.

It's also Hashem sending a signal to the black hats saying 'Take the spirit of the oral law - not the letter because I dont want you to idolize books and forget about me as only my Word stands - mans word does not.'

Of course, when cars and electricity come about.. Well then of course they have no problem updating the Spirit of the law. Do you think Hashem cares if you have a lighbulb on or you drove a car to temple? Do you think Hashem likes rules that cause people to give up and not do Shabbos or attend synagogue?

[Alter Kocker]

There should be no debate on this issue: MBP is a disgusting and dangerous practice. I object to mohels which do not have medical degrees, let alone a filthy bastard that wants to suck on a babies cock.

[Barry 1]

Barry: Shmaya posted this because it's a current issue.

If you read what I wrote. I too oppose the practice. When it started, they thought it was beneficial. The problem is that things don't get evaluated in context and people then believe it's the law.

The Jewish Press had a great article on this very topic of how minhagim get started. They pointed out that this past Lag B'Omer, Chareidim used masks to shield the heat from the bonfires. They suggested that in 100 years from now, no one will remember how and why this practice got started, but people will insist it's a mandatory minhag. They are probably correct.

BTW, Shmaya, herpes testing is not foolproof, but it's better than no testing at all. I still believe that if parents want it done and it should be their choice (and so is the consequences), they should do it themselves, or at least use a tube where there would be no skin contact.

I do agree with you that this practice should be stopped, but we all know that it won't be.

[MM]

Y.D., you are confused. The herpes we are talking about is the one that occurs on the lips, commonly known as cold sores or fever blisters. There are two herpes simplex viruses HSV1 and HSV2. Generally the oral herpes is caused by HSV1 and genital herpes by HSV2, although both can cause problems, some very serious, in many parts of the body. Cold sores/fever blisters are a VERY common affliction, and having cold sores does not imply ANY sort of sexual activity. The cold sore virus can be spread by any contact with an infected person's saliva, say, by kissing, or by sharing cups and glasses or eating utensils, or a towel or toothbrush that has been used by an infected person. Children often share a drink or food by using utensils that may be infected or dry their faces with a towel used by someone else.

Because both types of herpes simplex are lifelong and can affect many parts of the body, a mohel who contracted cold sores as a child by using someone else's towel or fork can then transmit herpes to the genitals of an infant during MBP. This does NOT mean that the mohel engaged in oral sex with a prostitute. Nor are frum people immune. In fact, with so many children in a family, the chances of children sharing cups, forks, spoons, towels, etc., and thus transmitting oral herpes is very high.

Herpes is most easily spread when lesions are present, but it can also be spread when lesions are not present. At the very least parents should not permit MBP if the mohel has a visible cold sore, but the absence of active lesions does not mean that the mohel does not have herpes.

So, Y.D., the presence of herpes in a frum person is NOT very telling about where the person's mouth has been. What it likely means that children, frum and non-frum alike, tend to share drinks, towels, food, etc., with their siblings and classmates and get kissed by their doting relatives.

Cold sores are so common that it is safest to assume that an adult has been infected by HSV1 at some time and to act accordingly.

[Justice]

Shmarya, you make some good points. But politics plays a big part in this. For example, while an HIV/AIDS patient is advised to tell their partners of their status, they often don't. And the paw is helpless to protect their partners from a reasonable chance of catching it. No informed consent. They aren't even informed. The stigma about the virus protects the patient as oppose to their innocent partner. The sick person's right to privacy trumps the importance of keeping others from catching the virus.
Political correctness has kept HIV status quiet. The only reason why metzi that b'peh is treated differently is because the media, yourself included, vilified it as a perverse, pedophilia type of thing.
This article is more accurate about the reasoning behind the practice. But years of bashing it as a barbaric, perverse action gave it and Orthodox Jews unfair attention.

[Shmarya]

Please.

You are a fool.

People who have intentionally spread HIV by having unprotected sex with unknowing partners have been criminally prosecuted and civilly sued.

Past that, infants are not able to make their own decisions. They are not consenting adults.

Under law, they are considered VULNERABLE and are given special protection by government as a result.

The US Supreme Court has long ago settled this issue by holding that the government has the OBLIGATION to stop parents from endangering or injuring their children by withholding needed medical treatment for religious or other reasons and the like.

But like many people in your community, you think a few dead babies wouldn't be worth any scrutiny or media attention and think there wouldn't be any if I and others hadn't equated MBP with pedophilia (something, BTW, I've never done).

That is completely and empirically false.

You are a sick person.

[Jeff]

"It is not some barbaric practice that the self hating jews would have you believe."

I'd like also to push for legislation to prohibit these idiots from calling every Jew who criticizes their world "self-hating".

[Jeff]

"While I don't like the practice itself, my son-in-law does it for his own children and not the Mohel."

One is at a loss for words.

You are a credit to the institutions that failed you.

[helend]

I have to wonder if parents who are thoroughly educated in Primary Immune Deficiency diseases would still allow this to be done to their baby? Keeping in mind that these genetic diseases render these babies and children unable to fight off bacteria and viral infections, a large percentage of these children are are not diagnosed until months or even years after their birth. The whole risk of exposing a child to germs that could risk their health seems incredibly selfish and naive to me. Just for info: http://primaryimmune.org/ or http://www.idanmyhero.com

[Matt]

Soo mutilating a perfectly fine organ full of nerve endings aka male circumcision is OK but it's too far when the rabbi does this? Lol you guys are stupid