The Dec. 16, issue of the Jewish Week reports that New York City's Health Commissioner has issued an unprecedented public warning about a controversial circumcision procedure after a breakdown in an agreement the Department had with a Jewish religious court in Brooklyn. (See prior posting.) Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden wrote "An Open Letter to the Jewish Community", saying: "there exists no reasonable doubt that metzitzah b'peh can and has caused neonatal herpes infection." Herpes can be fatal in newborns. The letter says that "the Health Department recommends that infants being circumcised not undergo metzitzah b'peh." The Health Department has also developed a Fact Sheet for parents, available in English online, and soon to become available in Yiddish and Hebrew. While the Health Department considered regulating the controversialal procedure, or requiring informed consent be obtained by Mohels using it, ultimately it opted for an educational effort.
Rabbi Moshe Tendler, a dean at Yeshiva University’s rabbinic school who is an expert in Jewish medical ethics with a doctorate in microbiology, has long opposed metzitzah b'peh as medically dangerous and unnecessary under Jewish law. However Rabbi Levi Heber, a mohel from the Lubavitch community where the procedure is often used, objected to the Health Department's initiative. "The concept of non-Jewish authorities trying to influence certain behaviors should not be accepted by anyone," he said. "You never know where it could lead."
