By COLlive reporter
The Forward, the liberal Jewish newspaper, ran an editorial on Friday, April 25, 2014 titled: “Hey Mr. Mayor, Remember Your Promise.”
They wrote as follows:
“Hey, Mr. Mayor! When you were the public advocate of the City of New York — an office with little more than a megaphone — you criticized city agencies for failing to respond to Freedom of Information Law requests. Government, you said, must be held accountable!
“Now, Mr. de Blasio, you’re the mayor, and it’s time for you to follow your own advice. Especially when it concerns the health of the most vulnerable citizens of your great city.
“As our Paul Berger reports, the city health department appears not to be enforcing its own rule requiring written parental consent before a controversial circumcision rite called metzitzah b’peh, known as MBP, is performed on an 8-day-old infant. What’s more, one of the city’s big-deal mohels, Rabbi Avrohom Cohn, chairman of the American Board of Ritual Circumcision, is flouting the rule with apparent impunity.
“The Forward’s attempt to get a response from the city — eight emails, four phone messages, one FOIL request on appeal — have gone unanswered. So we’ll remind you of a few other numbers. Since 2000, 14 infants have been infected with herpes during MBP. Two died. At least two others suffered brain damage.
“You want that on your conscience? Are you listening, Mr. Mayor?”
In response, Mendy Hecht, a Monsey-based writer, editor and columnist emailed the Forward the following (with hopes that it will get published or receive a reply):
Hey, editorial board!
How many Jewish babies are circumcised in the greater New York area every day?
Considering the size of our community, I might even say 1,000. But for now, to simplify things, let’s say 100. I mean, counting Monsey and upstate, the Five Towns, the Five Boroughs, and New Jersey, you’ve easily got 100 a day right there.
Now: 100 a day x 365 days a year = 36,500 new Jews a year.
Now let’s get straight to the point: What is the percentage of those 36,500 yearly circumcisions who contract herpes?
Let’s see: 14 cases of herpes from 2000 to 2014. That averages to one a year.
One. Out of 36,500. Each year.
What percentage is 1 out of 36,500? An extremely, extremely small number. And this is what the Forward is busy with?! This is a Jewish newspaper?!
This is little more than another salvo in the ongoing demonization of Orthodox/Chassidic Jews. And from an ostensibly Jewish newspaper, no less. For shame. You editors need a refresher course in Jewish history: Persecution always began when demonization and delegitimization was met with silence instead of getting rightfully slammed down. Once accepted, it proceeded past that first step to things worse… and worse… and worse.
Where is the ADL on this? If this isn’t defamation, I don’t know what is.
For all his foibles, Mr. de Blasio is rightfully ignoring this transparent witch-hunt. But, dear Forward editorial board, let’s say that, thanks (but no thanks) to your “crusade,” MBP gets banned…
Do you want that on your conscience? A sacred Jewish ritual banned, partly because of agitation by a Jewish newspaper?
Re Mendy Hecht’s response – Don’t know why people are arguing about the numbers, whether they’re accurate or not. Point is, that just as there are those who would ban kosher slaughter, there are those who would like to ban bris milah. (Ultimately, that’s where its headed by placing ‘restrictions’ on the procedure.) Bad enough when we get this from uninformed or Jew hating gentiles, worse yet from ‘well meaning’ Jews.
By more careful analysis, the number of Orthodox Jewish babies per day in the tri-state area would be around 20-30 — So assuming a birth rate of 25 then we would have 12.5 boys per day and 4500 boys per year. (11000 births per day in USA and that leads to an assumed 780 births per day in NY tristate area. . Orthodox Jews number around 500000 in tri-state area. Total population of tri-state area is 22.2 million. ) Orthodox Jews have a higher birth rate. However the thrust of the article is still valid. 1 out of 4500 is… Read more »
Where did you get that he was talking about Monsey only? Please reread:
“How many Jewish babies are circumcised in the greater New York area every day?”
And he ends up using the figure 100, not 1000. So your comment is doubly wrong. Please, if you want anyone to bother reading your comment, at least make it sound a little more accurate!
Where does it say in the article that 1000 boys are born in monsey each day as you claim????
None of those cases was clearly proven to be from the mohel, as opposed to the hospital or other source; and there is clear evidence of falsifying data by the Health Department to get those numbers. What’s more, herpes is R”L contracted by plenty of children who are not circumcised, making the connection quite tenuous.
If the Forward was truly concerned for the health of the babies then I would say you are right. I do not believe for a second they are interested in the health of the children – it’s the same old problem.. our worst enemies are from within. We need the Forward to remind a parent about their child’s safety? They are accusing parents of endangering their children!? False accusations is also a crime!. A mother does not carry her child for nine months and requires the forwards to remind her to be concerned for the welfare of her baby!! This… Read more »
I heard a story one time (they adribut it to the rebbeh rashab)
some one asked him why don’t you support the bolsvicks the zaar is a terrible person
he answered the zaar is a migraine headache the bolsvicks are a brain tumor
Why is it that to be a socialist you have to be against torah and religious people and religious Jews in particular
my dear friends we will survive the angry sad people who wrote and support this non sense
One life is a whole world! Pikuach nefesh overides all but three mitzvos. Instead of arguing, work to find a safe way to solve the problem. Perhaps the mohel could clearance from a doctor before each bris. Perhaps some type of mouth guard or skin shield can be presented to poskim for approval. Don’t waste time and energy arguing- work on solutions!!!!!
fact. Not one case of herpes had ever been remotely proven to have any ties to the mohel
and perhaps statistics from other activities. Lets start with football. do the numbers for highs school, or college or pro football, and lets learn what percentage of players suffer various maladies due to their playing. as the percentiles will undoubtedly be higher than for MBP, lets get these sports banned. And i fully expect the bleeding heart concerned Forward to be in the forward of this campaign, rather than leading from behind.
1000? A day? So you think 365k baby boys are born each year in Monsey?! There are approximately 11k babies born each day in the USA which means about 5 and a half thousand boys, do you really think 20% of babies born each day are from Monsey?! Please if you want your calculations to hold any weight, at least make it sound a little more accurate!
very well written,thank you
Hurray!! mENDY. vERY PROUD OF YOU. Bubby.