Rabbi may have given babies herpes

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER (AP) ^ | February 2, 2005 | Anon

[Pharmboy]

NEW YORK -- City health officials are investigating the death of a baby boy who was one of three infants to contract herpes after a rabbi circumcised them.

Ten days after Rabbi Yitzhok Fischer performed religious circumcisions on twins last October, one died of herpes and the other tested positive for the virus, according to complaint filed by the health department in Manhattan Supreme Court.

The complaint, reported in Wednesday's edition of the New York Daily News, also said health officials later found a third baby who had contracted herpes after being circumcised by Fischer in late 2003.

Under Jewish law, a mohel - someone who performs circumcisions - draws blood from the circumcision wound. Most mohels do it by hand, but Fischer uses a rare practice where he uses his mouth.

Fischer's lawyer, Mark Kurzmann, told the Daily News that Fischer was cooperating with the investigation, although it's unclear whether Fischer submitted to the city's request for a blood test.

"My client is known internationally as a caring, skilled

[Pharmboy]

This is disgusting...know your mohel!

[RushCrush]

By mouth? Wow....am curious but not sure I really want to know more. Sad.

[isthisnickcool]

Today Michael Jackson announced he is now Jewish.

[Pharmboy]

As a Jew, I have never heard of this "technique" before...anyone else ever have?

[Pharmboy]

LOL! You bad...

[Jet Jaguar]

LOL!!

[Xenalyte]

"Ah well, if it isn't Shakey the Mohel."

[Pharmboy]

Is he related to Krusty the Klown?

[Graymatter]

A lifetime of standing in supermarket checkout lines makes me very suspicious of stories like this. Not to mention the baby-killing blood-drinker angle.

[camle]

OY VEY!

[thulldud]

Ah, does anybody remember the one about the window shopper?

He was ambling along the street, looking at the various window displays, and he found one store front with a nice display window, but nothing in it but a clock. His curiosity piqued, he opened the door and went in. A bell on the inside of the door rang as he opened it, and little man came out of the inside room and greeted him.

"Yes, sir, may I help you?"

"Yes, I wanted to ask, how much would you charge to clean my watch?"

"Oh! Sorry, I don't fix watches. I'm a mohel."

"You're a mohel? But what about the clock in your display window?"

"So what would YOU put in the window?"

(Thanks for this story to the late, great Leo Rosten.)

[Xenalyte]

It's a distinct possibility.

[tiamat]

This CAN'T be right.

Is what this rabbi did legit?

Somebody enlighten us, please?

[Gingersnap]

"...but Fischer uses a rare practice where he uses his mouth."

Yuck! We need to ask our Jewish FReepers if this is legit. Anybody?

[Pharmboy]

The call has already gone out...

[Welsh Rabbit]

LOL! That was one of the funnier guest characters...

[RolandBurnam]

i am calling bs on the story.

[Xenalyte]

The Pigman had me cracking up.

[neutrality]

"The next stage is the performance of mezizah ('suction'). This has led to much controversy in recent years. Throughout the ages this was done by suction by the mouth in order, according to Maimonides, to remove the blood from the distant parts of the wound (Maim. Yad, Milah, 2:2). It was the recognized method of disinfection at the time. A mohel who refrained from performing it was considered to be endangering the life of the child, and had to be debarred from practice. Toward the middle of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century cases of syphilis, tuberculosis, and diphtheria occurring in infants were ascribed to infection from mohalim using this method of suction. This has been contested by a few Jewish doctors, and some communities still follow the original practice. The Paris Consistoire abolished mezizah in 1843."

[Pharmboy]

Nope...this is genuine. All over the media this morning in NYC. Imus covered it, among others. Google news search it...