I am getting very tired of this. This is not sha’as sh’mad. This is not anti-semitism. This is not, as many popular Jewish media term it, an “attack on bris milah”.
What this IS is an attempt by the city’s Dept of Health to walk a fine line between being seen as trampling on religious sensitivities and being reasonably responsible in discharging their duties as protectors of public health, regarding a practice that few can deny goes against modern medical best practices.
This fight between Jewish groups and the DOH over DNA evidence, “incontrovertable proof”, misleading evidence, etc is irrelevant and itself misleading. I’d like to meet the person that flatly denies, in light of what modern medicine has uncovered, that putting an open mouth over a bleeding wound on a neonate is a perfectly sanitary thing to do, PERIOD. I’d like to see those people consent to surgery on their person or a loved one where none of the docs or nurses are wearing masks, gloves, gowns, etc.
The DOH views circumcision and it’s attendant rituals as a medical procedure, albeit one currently outside their regulatory purview. That being the case, they cannot idly sit by while a practice that they see goes against the safe practice of sanitized medicine is being performed under their very noses. On the other hand, they are rather keen on the fact that there are groups that view the procedure as almost sacrosanct; they therefore mandate not the procedure itself, but that parents are aware of the risks before they perform it.
Why is this a terrible thing?
Bottom line is, this fight is being waged by people who are seeking some thing, anything, to fight for, “for Hashem”. Nothing more, nothing less, at least that’s my read when I read the “official” literature on the subject, in the form of Kol Korehs and Aguda letters. The people involved view themselves as “standing up to those who would trample upon and ridicule our time-honored customs”, as fighters in “milchamot Hashem”, rehashing the Ortho-Reform battles of the 19th century. This isn’t the 19th century, at least in the USA. No one is banning anything, no one is attempting to seriously ban milah in this country.
The whole debate is being framed in the wrong way. Not once, not ONCE have I seen a detailed, reasoned, public discussion of the halachic issues on the subject. I have not seen any attempt to keep this debate private; now this is splashed over the public media for all Jews and non-Jews alike to see. All I see is hysteria and cries of anti-semitism and making mountains where molehills stand.
A serious reflection on what the DOH’s proposal (now mandate) really meant BEFORE jerking your knees in reaction would have been better. Now it’s too late.