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Thursday, November 16, 2006

New York - Jewish Leaders Have New Concern Over Metzitza B'Peh

New York - Eliot Spitzer’s transition team has yet to decide a single appointee. But speculation that the Democratic governor-elect may tap New York City health commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden for the state’s top medical post has some Orthodox activists worried.

Crain’s New York Business reported that Frieden’s efforts seem to have caught the eye of the reform-minded Spitzer.
Placing Frieden at the helm of the state health department would likely signal an end to the state’s relatively passive approach to the metzitza b’peh controversy. Earlier this year the state’s current health commissioner, Dr. Antonia Novella, met with Orthodox leaders and announced a set of guidelines that practitioners of metzitza b’peh should use to avoid the transmission of herpes to infants. Those nonbinding guidelines were rejected by Frieden.

“It would alienate a very large faction of our community,” said Rabbi Jacob Spitzer, a Borough Park activist on health-related issues who has met with Frieden to discuss the city’s investigation of neonatal herpes, “I would strongly advise the Spitzer administration to look for another candidate.”

16 Comments:

  • At 12:06 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    HELL NO, I think we should start a petition drive, to demand Spitzer chooses someone else!

    Please spread the word, & let's start this thing rolling!

     
  • At 12:10 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Demonstration works!!!!!

     
  • At 1:11 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Wow! What a slap in the face if he appoints him.

     
  • At 10:15 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    where is the thousends of signatures that the so called MACHERS in williamsburg handed over and told everyone that they took care of this issue?

     
  • At 1:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    All you suck ups from Willy and BP who ran to help out this lib disaster deserve what you get. Watch your minhag become illegal because you elected this chazer.

     
  • At 1:19 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Good. The Halacha clearly accepts metzitza Bepeh with a sanitary barrier such as a syringe tube as many very erliche Mohelim use. We should be taking every possible precaution to safeguard the health of the babies especially with all the newly emergent and newly virulent pathogens that did not exist in the zman of chazal such as HSV1 and 2, HIV, HCV, and HBV,etc. The Rabonim were warned years ago to take precautions and they ignored the warnings. So now the children will have to be protected by the state. I say good and next time educate yourself in the science and biology so you do not look like a caveman.

     
  • At 4:18 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Ever since City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden publicly ">criticized a Jewish circumcision practice for spreading potentially fatal cases of Herpes to infants, he has not been the ultra-orthodox community's favorite public official.

    Today, the Yiddish news service Kol Mevaser is worried that Eliot Spitzer is close to selecting the City's Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden as the state's top health official. (The daily report is accessed through a telephone call-in-number and is popular with Yiddish speakers who try and steer clear of what they consider to be inappropriate ads on radio.)

    "We got a report that he was about to become the next State Health Commissioner," said Zalmen Wieder, one of the service's editors. "We have a lot of people with connections to government. We are trying to get a few people to check it out. It seems to be true."

     
  • At 4:36 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    RABOSY ICH MORA AZ THIS IS ONLY THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG
    (EXCUSE THE PUN) ER VET ZICH NEMEN TZE DE BAYNER FUN ALA FRUMA KUNTZEN
    IN ALEH INYUNIM NISHT NUR METZIZA BPEH

     
  • At 4:48 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    anon 1:19
    you are sounding like an ignorant, intolerant caveman. If you are from the small minority of yidden who do not have a mesorah for traditional metzizah b'peh, Dont do it. But don't dare to interfere with my right to uphold my minhagim.

    If you can not accept the reality that there is a significant percentage of klall yisroel who do not accept the use of any barrier because it is an unacceptable change in our mesorah, then it is indicative of your bias and intolerance towards others.

    Now let's get down to the science.

    Although a prestigious medical journal published an article condmening traditional metzitzah b'peh, you must bear in mind that this article has been roundly critiized and was deemed "junk science". Not by rabbonim or askonim but by respected scientists, including MD's PHD biologists and immunologists, as well as Infectious disease specialists.

    The authors started with a conclusion and they found facts to support it. That is not the way science works. First you look at all the facts and then you find a theory that fits all of them.

    If these "concerned people" were correct, then you would be seeing 1,000's of cases a year through the charedi world of Herpes. The facts and statistics simply do not support their "evidence".

    So we can do without all of your hatred and incindiary rhetoric about cavemen. Believe it or not there are people who wear shtreimalach who are educated in the sciences. Show some repect for the minhagim kedoshim of klall yisroel.

    Don't assume that because someone with a PHD after his name said something, he's always right.

    I just love it when there is an issue about which most major poskim, pasken one way, some poskim say another way and here we have Mr Anon 1:19 sticking his head in between the poskim and saying "the halach clearly accepts....."

     
  • At 5:14 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    anon 4:48

    Well said, yasher koach!!!!

     
  • At 5:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Anon 4:48

    Well Said

    Thank You!

     
  • At 5:27 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Ich hub nisht moirah, veil a yid alle mul kumpt mit a drei!!!

    What's the worst thing that can happen, it will become illegal, NU. Spitzer was in charge of the Kosher Law fining Shevach $1000 for ten years of selling treif.

    We weren't smart by voting for the Democrats. Klal Yisroel and all we hold dear will be ripped apart for the next two years. Hopefully, we won't be so stupid again.

    We gave up in getting to the bottom of the Kashrus problems plaguing our community, and you'll soon see much more Poirtzei Geder from Unzerer Chevra.

     
  • At 6:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Don't assume that because someone with a PHD after his name said something, he's always right.
    ================================
    Hey smart ass .
    If you had a prostate issue would you visit your local optomologist?
    YOU FOOL!

     
  • At 7:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    We will continue doing Metziza B'peh no matter what!

    Do you hear Spitzer!!!
    Do you hear the dept. of health???

    If chas vesholom need be, We will have the babies at home! We will do the bris in the cellar!
    But we will never change the way a bris was done by us Jews from the start!

    We will not change and do what some "Ehrlicha Mohalim" use.

    For those that are still afraid, maybe you should use a Mohel that didn't do a bris on non frum yidden!

    But we will continue!

    ...and lets hope that we can preform this Mitzvah without worry in Yerusholayim Irr Hokodesh in the Bais Hamikdash Bekorev!

     
  • At 2:17 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    anon 6:48

    You seem to have some stangely elevated concept about what a PHD is. A PHD graduate is someone who worked very hard for a number of years and produced a paper on 1 specific topic in his field. This does not make him an expert in that entire academic field.

    For example; If someone spent years studying hilchos Shabbos and got farhered and is a recognized expert in hilchos Shabbos - then he is an expert in Hilchos Shabbos. It doesn't mean that he is now an expert and can pasken Shailos in Choshen Mishpat.

    If I want an expert scientific opinion in this field of Metzitzah B'peh I will go to someone who has done the equivalent amount of research which is required for a PHD. I will not change one iota of my minhagim for any academic scientist who produces "junk science" papers. Such a person has an agenda and can not be relied upon for objective scientific data.

    If any of the authors would have presented this paper as their PHD thesis, their professors would have had a good laugh. It takes years of painstaking research and compiling data from 1000's of cases to present a PHD thesis. All they coud find was 7 cases of Herpes over 20 years among the tens of thousands of brissim that were done with Metzitzah B'peh.

    The common thread that the doctors againts MBP say that it is surprising that there aren't more cases. Well maybe that's because their assumption is just plain wrong.

    There are enough MD's and PHD's who do not see MBP as such a problem as Dr. (Rosho) Frieden and his supporters.


    BTW I happened to speak to one of the Hisachdus Rabbonim and he showed me the stacks and stacks of scientific papers about this issue that he had been studying. Imagine that a CRC Dayan reading something about science. and educating himself.

    So if I had a question about the safety of Metzitzah B'peh, I would ask some experts in Infectious diseases, not this bunch of "junk scientists".

    It's also interesting to note that the City Health Department has made it mandatory for doctors to report cases of this terrible disease called Herpes but if a child has AIDS or HIV, they're not allowd to.!

     
  • At 11:44 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    To Anon 2:17
    You are a phenomenal writer, hope you have the same right minded views on other issues too.
    Keep up your good workl, Klal Yisroel can use your g-d gifted writing skills in defending their true original ideas.

    Thanks, you’re the best

     

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