"Preach it rabbi. Preach it to the judge."
Unholy Crap! I very nearly couldn't believe what I was reading in Christopher Hitchen's Aug 29th Slate column.
Is this kind of thing really legal?!
The primitive briss practice known as metzitzah b'peh is apparently still in use today and, at this point, being found worthy of study by the mayor of NY city, Michael Bloomberg.
Hitchen's speaks quite well of the insanity of NY's mayor and his quest for understanding the issue. All that I'll add is that I'm glad I received a link to this story documenting the decline of religious belief in the UK over the last 15 years before I read the Slate essay.
As it is, the idea that some mohels are sucking on infant penises which they've just mutilated is probably the only thing that could have got me to post right now. My life may indeed have taken a sickenin' turn but at least I'm not dealing with a newborn's religiously inflicted case of herpes or living through the aftermath of Katrina.
Is this kind of thing really legal?!
The primitive briss practice known as metzitzah b'peh is apparently still in use today and, at this point, being found worthy of study by the mayor of NY city, Michael Bloomberg.
But folks who take their Constitutionally guaranteed right to fantasize about the nature of reality apparently consider that right a loophole to suck blood out of the medically questionable wounds they've inflicted on their infant victims as part of their delusion.Study? What study? Can't the fool get through an article by a Jewish authority in Pediatrics?"We're going to do a study (said Bloomberg,) and make sure that everyone is safe and at the same time, it is not the government's business to tell people how to practice their religion."
Hitchen's speaks quite well of the insanity of NY's mayor and his quest for understanding the issue. All that I'll add is that I'm glad I received a link to this story documenting the decline of religious belief in the UK over the last 15 years before I read the Slate essay.
As it is, the idea that some mohels are sucking on infant penises which they've just mutilated is probably the only thing that could have got me to post right now. My life may indeed have taken a sickenin' turn but at least I'm not dealing with a newborn's religiously inflicted case of herpes or living through the aftermath of Katrina.
I have no idea what the hazards of this ritual may be. You'd have to assume they take some precautions - I mean, these are their children...
ReplyDeleteActually, I haven't kept up with the circumcision trends in larger society either. Just about everyone in my generation was - I guess for hygiene?? But for non-Jews of my father's generation, I don't think it was done.
Even rituals that are perfectly safe - water, bells, incense, candles, genuflecting, etc. - have always pretty much eluded me. That is, I know they are deeply meaningful to many religious people. And I can see beauty in some aspects of church life. I used to stop at Rockefeller "chapel" - far bigger than any church I'd been to in New Hampshire - on my way back from classes at U of Chicago. It would be midafternoon, usually there wasn't anyone else there, and the spaciousness, stained glass, and light flooding in were wonderful. Put you in a reflective state of mind.
But personally speaking, ritual has played no role for me in fostering greater spiritual awareness.