"Over the past few months the New York City Mayor Michel Bloomberg (a Jew), has been combating Metzitzah Ba'peh - a very important procedure of the Brit Milah ritual [sic]. A tenet in the Jewish religion. Historically we have found many harsh rulers which have also tried to outlaw Metzitzah Ba'peh starting from the times of the Chasam Sofer in the 18th century, making many false libels against it. We will discuss the Torah perspective and medical benefits of metzitzah bapeh. We will also discuss the different things a mohel must insure before performing Metzitza Ba'peh."
Metziztah b'peh being performed by a Chabad mohel in Brooklyn in late August 2012
A Chabadnik, Rabbi Dovid Bressman of the Knesset Israel Synagogue in the Beverlywood area of LA, wrote a breathtakingly stupid email about metzitzah b'peh (MBP) – the direct mouth-to-bleeding-penis sucking (please see the above photo) done by mohels like Bressman to infants who cannot consent to the risky procedure – and sent it to KI's mailing list in early November.
The email was forwarded to me by an exasperated reader, and I posted it along with commentary that called for Bressman to be fired because he was clearly too ignorant to lead.
As you know, NYC passed a law requiring an informed consent be signed by parents before MBP is done on their child.
Haredim and a Chabad-led mohels group has filed suit the city to stop enforcement of the law. The haredim also tried to get a stay to stop enforcement of the law until the trial is over and verdict rendered. That attempt was strongly rejected by a federal judge last month. It was appealed and, earlier today the appeal was also rejected, and the law remains in force.
In a bit of serendipitous timing, Bressman chose last night and today to threaten to sue me for defamation, and his arguments to support that potential lawsuit are even dumber than his original email.
To show you how truly incompetent Bressman is, here is Bressman's email exchange with me followed by my original post on him. That post includes his original emailed remarks on MBP:
On Feb 20, 2013, at 1:11 PM, Dovid Bressman wrote:
B"H
2/20/2013
Mr. Rosenberg,
Someone sent me your slanderous false article against me.
I only will respond shortly.
You quoted me: "Historically we have found many harsh rulers which have also tried to outlaw Metzitzah Ba'peh starting from the times of the Chasam Sofer in the 18th century, making many false libels against it.."
This is a true statement, I also did not go into the details of what the Chassam Sofer holds, nor did I quote the Sedei Chemed (in his Kuntres Metzitzah) where he quotes 200 prominent Rabbis from his time (after the times of the Chasam Sofer) which hold that Metzitzah must be done be'peh. I also did not mention that the Chief Rabbinate of Israel demands all of their certified Mohelim to sign on a document that they will do Metzitzah bapeh unless there is a medical concern. I also alluded in my email (which I was writing in short): "We will also discuss the different things a mohel must insure before performing Metzitza Ba'peh". It is understood from there that when there is a medical concern in which Metzitzah would be done in a different way.
b)You conclude: "Congregations, I think, need to evaluate rabbis like Bressman carefully.
What else are they telling you that is objectively false?
What else are they in essence paskening about that they don't actually have the knowledge or ability to pasken on?
In many cases, if a rabbi is as ignorant or as cavallier with the facts as Rabbi Dovid Bressman clearly is, he shouldn't be serving as a rabbi at all.
And I would think that is case here, as well".
This is an oral defamation and if you do not take down your article within 5 days I will check my halachaik and legal rights and decide what I will do.
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2012/11/haredi-rabbi-compares-nyc-mayor-michael-bloomberg-to-harsh-rulers-who-made-many-false-libels-against-metzitzah-b-peh-567.html
Sincerely,
Rabbi Dovid Bressman
On Wed, Feb 20, 2013 at 6:30 PM, Shmarya Rosenberg wrote:
I see you are as ignorant of secular law as you are of Jewish history, medical ethics, and science. No one defamed you, rabbi. What you wrote was accurately reported, and the stupidity of it is yours and yours alone. You are not misrepresented at all. In libel law, truth is an absolute defense. And this emal is continued proof that you are unquestionably an idiot. So sue me. I look forward to a court of law affirming it.
On Feb 21, 2013, at 1:59 PM, Dovid Bressman wrote:
Mr. Scott Rosenberg
You wrote in your email: "You are not misrepresented at all"...
You also wrote:" and that the Hatam Sofer actually stopped the practice because of the danger it posed to babies, are two things this rabbi isn't honest enough to tell his congregants – or isn't smart enough and educated enough to even know.
The Hatam Sofer also held that metzitzah b'peh was not a part of the mitzvah of circumcision – a position echoed by dozens of other rabbis after him.
You also wrote:"What else are they telling you that is objectively false?"
Scott, you misrepresented not only myself but also the Chasam Sofer as well. The Chasam Sofer did not stop metzitzah bapeh as you falsely wrote, he allowed the usage of sponges in place of metzitzah for a specific case. The source of the Chasam Sofer which I am sure you never even read from the original, was written by him in 1837 (which the only mistake I made was that I said from the 18th century instead of the 19th century) to his student the Baal Yad Eliezer later published in the Cochavei Yitzchak vol. 1 p. 40. In that letter he allowed them to use a sponge because apparently the mohel of the area had some contagious sickness. The Chasam Sofer did not urge anyone to stop doing Metzitzah bapeh as was done from the times of Moshe Rabeinu rather he allowed them to use a sponge for their specific case.
The Chasam Sofer also did not write that "metzitzah b'peh was not a part of the mitzvah of circumcision" - as you falsely write, he said that it was not openly mentioned in the Talmud rather only by the Kabbilists, and that if there is a medical concern one can use something else that will withdraw the blood. Which I am in agreement and is simple to see from my email that I sent out in November.
I did not misrepresent the Chasam Sofer, you did. So the only objectively false facts are from you alone.
What should I expect from a hate site written by an apikorus that you are, trying to promote your prejudice propaganda.
Hate is not the way to make your self feel good, it is through helping people and doing mitzvoth and learning Torah. May Hashem have mercy on you.
Rabbi Dovid Bressman
From: Shmarya Rosenberg
Date: February 21, 2013 4:31:18 PM CST
To: Dovid Bressman
Subject: Re:
You're a fool. Call your attorney and try to sue me and you'll quickly find out not only how foolish you are, but the consequences to you of that foolishness. Your shul should have fired you. Maybe now they will.
From: Shmarya Rosenberg <[email protected]>
Date: February 21, 2013 4:46:30 PM CST
To: Dovid Bressman
Subject: Fwd:
Let me also add that you clearly don't know how to learn. The Hatam Sofer makes the point that because MBP is not a part of the mitzvah of milah itself, therefore metzitzah can be done other than b'peh. His entire point is based on the fact that MBP is not part of the mitzvah of miliah:
"…we do not find the metzitzah (suction) is specifically with the mouth, except for the position of the Kabbalists who say that [using the mouth] enacts a neutralization of strict judgment through the lips and the mouth. We are not engaged in the hidden matters [of Torah – i.e., Kabbalah] when there is some concern for physical danger. Now, the roots mitz and matzat are the same, c.f., Proverbs 30[:31] mitz apayim and Judges 6:38 "and wrung dew out of the fleece." In all these places Rashi explains them in terms of squeezing, compressing, and suctioning something with force. Radak and Ibn Ezra similarly explain them. If so, we only need to draw the blood from the 'far places' though whichever method we are able, and we can rely on experts who assure us that some method accomplishes it. I further say that even if it was explicit in the Talmud that the suction is meant to be oral, nevertheless since this is not an integral part of the circumcision, but only adjoined because of a health measure, so if one circumcised and did not suction the blood, he has already performed the commandment, and the baby is permitted to eat terumah, and the father may make a Passover sacrifice.…"
You are an ignoramus, rabbi, and a fool of the highest order who risks the lives of infants for nothing. And now the world will know that again, because I'm going to post your ignorant, moronic drivel right now. I hope your shul fires you because you truly lack the knowledge and the understanding to teach or to lead.
Here is my original post on Bressman dated November 8, 2012:
Rabbi Compares NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg To "Harsh Rulers" Who Made "Many False Libels" Against Metzitzah B'Peh
Over the past few months the New York City Mayor Michel Bloomberg (a Jew), has been combating Metzitzah Ba'peh - a very important procedure of the Brit Milah ritual [sic]. A tenet in the Jewish religion. Historically we have found many harsh rulers which have also tried to outlaw Metzitzah Ba'peh starting from the times of the Chasam Sofer in the 18th century, making many false libels against it.
From Rabbi Dovid Bressman's (of Knesset Israel in the Beverlywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California) weekly email. Bressman is a Chabad follower:
The Shabbos afternoon Class will be at 4:15 pm.
Over the past few months the New York City Mayor Michel Bloomberg (a Jew), has been combating Metzitzah Ba'peh - a very important procedure of the Brit Milah ritual [sic]. A tenet in the Jewish religion.
Historically we have found many harsh rulers which have also tried to outlaw Metzitzah Ba'peh starting from the times of the Chasam Sofer in the 18th century, making many false libels against it. We will discuss the Torah perspective and medical benefits of metzitzah bapeh. We will also discuss the different things a mohel must insure before performing Metzitza Ba'peh.That thousands of children died from metzitzah b'peh in the 19th century alone, and that the Hatam Sofer actually stopped the practice because of the danger it posed to babies, are two things this rabbi isn't honest enough to tell his congregants – or isn't smart enough and educated enough to even know.
The Hatam Sofer also held that metzitzah b'peh was not a part of the mitzvah of circumcision – a position echoed by dozens of other rabbis after him.
There are no "medical benefits" to metzitzah b'peh, either – metzitzah b'peh kills and maims babies.
The supposed "benefits" Bressman refers to only exist if you accept Greek medicine circa 300 BCE as accurate, while you ignore all the scientific and medical developments of the past 250 years. And even under the Greeks and their evangelist, Galen, who lived just before the codification of the Mishna in 200 CE, the type of epidemiological evidence against metziztah b'peh available by the era of the Hatam Sofer would have caused them to stop metziztah b'peh anyway – which is why so many doctors who still relied on Galen at that time urged governments to ban metziztah b'peh.
Congregations, I think, need to evaluate rabbis like Bressman carefully.
What else are they telling you that is objectively false?
What else are they in essence paskening about that they don't actually have the knowledge or ability to pasken on?
In many cases, if a rabbi is as ignorant or as cavallier with the facts as Rabbi Dovid Bressman clearly is, he shouldn't be serving as a rabbi at all.
And I would think that is case here, as well.
Related Posts:
A History Metzitzah B'Peh Disease Transmission.
Related Post: Haredi Request For Emergency Stay Blocking NYC's Informed Consent For Metzitzah B'Peh Denied.