Bizarre religous rituals of which I had no idea
June 13, 2012 2 Comments
I’ve got three circumcised boys and remain a fan of circumcision even as it becomes less popular (believe it or not, in part because of my Jewish heritage). Now, since we’re not actually Jewish, our boys were circumcised in the hospital by a doctor not in a religious ceremony. Now, I’m vaguely familiar with the Jewish practice, though I’ve never been to one, but wow– had no idea about the Orthodox version:
New York City health officials proposed on Tuesday that Orthodox Jewish parents be required to sign a consent waiver before they can take part in a circumcision ritual that is believed to have led to the deaths of at least two babies in the city over the past decade.
The proposal, introduced at a Board of Health meeting, represents an escalation of the city’s efforts to curtail the ancient Jewish procedure of metzitzah b’peh, in which an adult male, usually the circumciser, places his mouth directly on the wound created by the removal of the infant’s foreskin to suck away the blood. [emphasis mine]
Um, wow. Here’s my favorite circumcision gone awry:
About Steve Greene
Some babies have contracted various venereal diseases during the “procedure”. Maybe they should put a warning sign on the Rabi, like they do on tobacco products.
“Warning: Having a Rabi suck on your infants penis is probably never a good idea. Having him do it after creating a fresh open wound also might not be safe and could transfer bacteria and viruses. It would probably be safer to have a dog lick it clean. But you could just use sterile swabs.”
Its not as bad as what some call female ‘circumcision’ but should more properly be called ‘female genital mutilation’.
Humans are strange animals.
Thanks for a good laugh. I think just gauze is the way to go.