Someone brought this news story about a mohel suspected of giving three baby boys herpes to my attention at the weekend.

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.

I really cannot believe that parents would allow someone to do this to their child. We spend so much time shaking our heads in disgust/disbelief at other cultures, and then find out that similarly grotesque practices are taking place in our own back yard.

According to the Journal News:

Twelve researchers, including seven from Israel, also considered the religious and cultural traditions behind the practice. They noted that the Babylonian Talmud, completed in the fifth century, required oral suctioning in order to remove health risks to the infant.

My feeling — and this is just a hunch, so bear with me — is that the Babylonian Talmud is slightly out of sync with 21st century health and child protection laws. If Rastafarians are not allowed to smoke marijuana, why are mohels allowed to apply their mouths to 8-day-old boys penises? And how did the good rabbi contract herpes in the first place?