Mohel Investigated After Death of Baby
New York City health officials are investigating whether a baby died after contracting herpes during a ritual circumcision. The city officials believe that at least three babies might have contracted herpes, and one died, after Rabbi Yitzchok Fischer performed a process known as “metzizah b’peh,” in which the mohel puts his lips to the wound on the penis and then sucks blood into his mouth to stop the bleeding. Fischer is a well-known mohel in suburban Rockland County, N.Y., and city officials filed a legal complaint against him after he refused to stop the practice. According to a recent report in the journal Pediatrics, the process has led to herpes cases in Israel and Canada during the past few years.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
