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Photo: "The rabbi then bent over the baby and sucked the wound."

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Doomsday Cultist

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Dec 23, 2007, 10:26:08 AM12/23/07

"The baby cried, blood flowed on to his penis and - as the rabbi had
predicted - Graham [the godfather] did not faint. The rabbi then bent over
the baby and sucked the wound. I know this sounds awful, but it is part of
the Jewish tradition. It's supposed to help the healing." Jack Shamash. "My
Son on the Cutting Edge." Independent (London), no. 3,797 (Thursday,
December 17, 1998): p. R8.

"The traditional practice of metzitzah b'peh, which has its roots in the
earliest history of the Jewish people and has survived unchanged to the
present time, should be viewed with great respect. It is spoken of very
positively in the Jewish literature on circumcision both as an essential
part of the ritual and as a health measure which prevents infection and
promotes healing." Henry C. Romberg, M.D. Bris Milah: A book about the
Jewish ritual of circumcision. Jerusalem/New York: Feldheim Publishers.
1982. pp. 57-58.

Here is a photo of a rabbi performing metzitzah b'peh on a baby boy:

http://sexuallymutilatedchild.org/mohel-1a.jpg

Mohel Rabbi Yosef David Weisburg
The Jerusalem Post Magazine, Nov. 5, 1976, p. 14

http://sexuallymutilatedchild.org/mohel-1b.jpg

The Jerusalem Post Magazine, Nov. 5, 1976, p. 14

Shabbath 19:2
They may perform on the Sabbath all things that are needful for
circumcision: excision, tearing, sucking [the wound], and putting thereon a
bandage and cumin. If this had not been pounded up on the eve of the Sabbath
a man may chew it with his teeth and then apply it.

The Mishnah
Translated by Herbert Danby
Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1933. pp. 116-117.

Shabbat 133B
II.1.
A. Suck [out the wound]:
B. Said R. Pappa, "A Surgeon who didn't suck out the wound - that is a
source of danger, and we throw him out."
C. So what else is new? Obviously, since we are prepared to desecrate
the Sabbath on that account, it is certainly dangerous not to do it!
D. What might you have supposed? That this blood is stored up. So we are
informed that it is the result of the wound, and in the status of a bandage
and cumin: Just as when one doesn't put on a bandage and cumin, there is
danger, so here, too, if one doesn't do it, there is danger.

The Talmud of Babylonia: An American Translation
Translated by Jacob Neusner
Number 275. Volume II.E: Shabbat Chapters 18-24.
Program in Judaic Studies Brown University
Atlanta: Scholars Press. 1993. p. 45.

[The brackets in the quotes below are in the texts quoted.]

"There are three stages required for the performance of a ritually
correct circumcision in Jewish law: the removal of the foreskin; the tearing
of the underlying membraene so as to expose the glans completely; and the
sucking away of the blood, m'tsitsah." Roger V. Pavey. The Kindest Cut of
All. Bognor Regis, W. Sussex: New Horizon. 1981. pp. 87-88.

"The method to be adopted is laid down thus: 'One excises the foreskin,
[that is] the entire skin covering the glans, so that the corona is laid
bare. Afterwards, one tears with the finger-nail the soft membrane
underneath the skin, turning it to the sides until the flesh of the glans
appears. Thereafter, one sucks the membrane until the blood is extracted
from the [more] remote places, so that no danger [to the infant] may ensue;
and any circumciser who does not carry out the sucking procedure is to be
removed [from his office].' . . . The operation itself, then, consists of
three distinct acts: the excision of the prepuce; the laceration of the
mucous membrane covering the glans; and the sucking of the blood from the
interior of the wound." Immanuel Jakobovits. Jewish Medical Ethics: A
Comparative and Historical Study of the Jewish Religious Attitude to
Medicine and Its Practice. New York: Bloch Publishing Company. 1959. pp.
193-194.

"And what of the practice of sucking the bleeding penis? While
condemning the procedure, some physicians contend that it was used to stop
bleeding.47 Not only is there little evidence for this theory, but it was
also a largely ineffective method. Furthermore, even in antiquity, surgeons
had better methods to stop bleeding, such as pressure, instruments, and
medication.48 According to Dr. H. Speert (1953), Maimonides 'staunchly
supported this procedure [sucking the bleeding penis] as a prophylactic
measure against inflammation.'"49 Edward Wallerstein. Circumcision: An
American Health Fallacy. New York: Springer Publishing Company. 1980. p.
160.

"mezizah -- Hebrew term for the third step in the Jewish circumcision
ritual, in which the mohel applies his mouth to the freshly circumcised
infant's penis and sucks up the first drops of blood. In more recent times
this procedure has been carried out via a tube, as infections, venereal
disease, and tuberculosis, sometimes resulting in the death of the infant,
have occurred due to contamination of the wound. Most Jewish circumcisors
today have eliminated this step from the circumcision ritual. Critics have
attributed sadistic and homosexual implications to this practice, while
defenders claim that this was simply all that was known during ancient times
to stop the bleeding." Rosemary Romberg. Circumcision: The Painful Dilemma.
South Hadley, Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey, Publishers, Inc. 1985. p. 395.

http://sexuallymutilatedchild.org/mohel.htm

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