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Sunday, March 19, 2017

IN MEMORIAM: DR. SHLOMO SPRECHER MD Z"L --- Metziza B'Peh:Therapeutic Touch or Hippocratic Vestige?

 
DR. SPRECHER Z"L
Metziza B'Peh:Therapeutic Touch or Hippocratic Vestige?


Conclusion:
I hope this excursion through the arcana of medical history has not obscured the basic message that paramount halakhic authorities, such as the Hatam Sofer and most of the Litvishe Gedolim, accepted at face value the nascent medical evidence that MBP poses a risk. Now that the process of person-to-person transmission of infection is so firmly established, can we really be cavalier about that risk? For example, the CDC Hepatitis C guidelines include the risk of transmission of this deadly disease via even occasional sharing of a toothbrush! Can we guarantee that no mohel performing MBP can transmit this illness, which can be latent for several decades? Can our community anticipate a nes nigleh each time MBP is performed?

READ ENTIRE HALACHIC ANALYSIS BY RABBI DR. SOLOMON SPRECHER MD Z"l.


City evaluating Hasidic community’s cooperation in herpes cases

http://nypost.com/2017/03/13/city-evaluating-hasidic-communitys-cooperation-in-herpes-cases/




6 More New York Babies Get Herpes After Undergoing Circumcision Rite

Daniel J. Solomon
Six babies are said to have been infected with infant herpes in New York City since Mayor Bill de Blasio cut a deal with the Hasidic community that continues to allow ritual circumcisers mouth-to-genital contact.
The news emerged Thursday after a newborn was rushed to the hospital two weeks after undergoing the procedure, known as metzitzah b’peh, in which the mohel sucks the blood out of the circumcision wound using his mouth.
The Health Department under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg cracked down on the practice due to hygienic concerns, with his administration requiring parents to sign a waiver before the procedure.
De Blasio, who derives a large base of support from the Hasidic community, rolled back that policy, setting instead for a compromise in which the community was supposed to help test circumcisers from herpes and prevent those infect from oral-genital contact with infants.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
News

31%, That’s Trump’s Job Approval Rating Among Jews, Says Poll


A national poll by Gallup shows that the president’s approval rating among Jews stands at 31%. That’s 11% below the national average.
On the negative side, Gallup suggests, are the lack of mention of Jews in his statement for International Holocaust Remembrance day, his slow and lackluster response to the wave of anti-Semitism in the first two months of his tenure and the appointment of Steve Bannon as his chief strategist. Bannon, the report comments, “has been accused of making anti-Semitic comments.”
On the positive side, Trump did eventually denounce anti-Semitism, has a Jewish daughter and son-in-law closely involved with his administration, and he has mouthed strong support for Israel.
But, Gallup notes, Trump has sent mixed messages on Israel — where he has now said to “hold off” on new settlements and the movement of the Embassy to Jerusalem.
Mostly, the pollsters say, the low approval rating just reflects the political affiliations of the Jewish population, which leans 64% democratic.

Three Senators Call On Trump To Investigate Gorka’s Immigration Papers


Three Democratic senators are calling on the administration to investigate whether President Trump’s counter-terrorism adviser Sebastian Gorka broke the law by not disclosing to immigration authorities that he was a member of a Hungarian Nazi-allied group.
Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Ben Cardin from Maryland and Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, asking them to examine Gorka’s immigration papers.
The senators based their letter on the Forward’s report which found that Gorka swore loyalty to Vitezi Rend, an ultra nationalist organization which according to the State Department, its members are presumed to be inadmissible to the United States.
“We are deeply concerned by reports that Dr. Gorka concealed the material fact of his membership in the Vitezi Rend, a far right anti-Semitic Hungarian organization, when he applied for U.S. citizenship,” the three senators wrote.
Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com or on Twitter @nathanguttman
News

Trump Mega-Donor Sheldon Adelson To Honor Trump Troll Mark Cuban


Donald Trump’s No. 1 critic is about to get an award from Trump’s No. 1 donor.
Mark Cuban, the Texas outspoken billionaire who had trolled Donald Trump on Twitter and made a point of sitting in the front row during presidential debates only to get under Trump’s skin, will be awarded later this month the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson’s “In Pursuit of Excellence Award” at a gala dinner the Adelson’s educational campus will hold in Las Vegas.
Sheldon Adelson backed Trump financially throughout the campaign to the tune of tens of millions of dollars and has become one of the president’s closest allies, spending inauguration week with the Trump family and sitting down for a private White House dinner with Trump last month.
The Adelsons established the school a decade ago, building on the already existing Hebrew Academy of Las Vegas and expanding it to include pre-school to 12th grade Jewish education.
Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com or on Twitter @nathanguttman
News

Mennonite Sect Wrestles Publicy With Its Nazi Ties In Paraguay


Decades after officials worried they might be sheltering the infamous Nazi doctor Joseph Mengele, members of the Mennonite sect in Paraguay are coming to terms with their historical ties with the Third Reich.
Mennonites are supposed to embrace non-violence and shun political life. But that was not the case in Fernheim, the Paraguay settlement where a group of Mennonites fleeing the Soviet Union put down roots after the Russian Revolution. Founded in Germany, the Mennonite religion has retained ties to the country, and the Fernheim community received funding from Hitler’s government, which it celebrated.
Following the outbreak of war, Fernheim was severed from much of its contact with the Third Reich, leading to disturbances as settlers argued and eventually came to blows over how to best continue the National Socialist legacy. The unrest became severe enough that American diplomats and Paraguay’s military intervened.
Uwe Friesen, head of the colony’s historical association, spearheaded the drive to talk about that history, sponsoring a conference titled “The Racialist Movement and National Socialism among the Mennonites in Paraguay.”
He told the Religious News Service that it was the right time to re-examine the history, a process that he said was true to Mennonite ways and could lead to healing.
“Making peace means living out and offering reconciliation,” he said at the conference. The effort in Fernheim follows larger initiatives among Mennonites to consider their religion’s ties to National Socialism.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
News

Chuck Schumer Willing To Shut Down Government Over Budget Fight


Following President Trump’s controversial budget proposal boosting the military and slashing Meals on Wheels and other safety net programs, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that his caucus is willing to shut down the government to defeat the White House’s blueprint.
“If they put those poison pill amendments in and try to shove them down the American people’s throats, of course they might be responsible for shutting the government down,” the New York senator said in a Thursday press conference. According to him, proposals to slash domestic spending, defund Planned Parenthood and allot monies to a border wall are non-starters in budget negotiations.
Schumer’s Republican counterpart Mitch McConnell accused his fellow leader of hypocrisy, now that Democrats are in the minority.
“I’m amused by the Democrats apparently warming up to the idea that threatening to shut down the government is a good idea. It seems to me everybody’s got kind of memory loss on the other side,” he told reporters. Republicans briefly shuttered the government four years ago after a budget disagreement with former President Obama.
The two sides have until late April to fund the government and avert a shutdown.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [solomon@forward.com](mailto:solomon@forward.com] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon



Read more: http://forward.com/fast-forward/365526/6-more-new-york-babies-get-herpes-after-undergoing-circumcision-rite/

 SIX MORE NEW YORK BABIES GET HERPES AFTER UNDERGOING METZIZA B'PEH:


Six babies are said to have been infected with infant herpes in New York City since Mayor Bill de Blasio cut a deal with the Hasidic community that continues to allow ritual circumcisers mouth-to-genital contact.
The news emerged Thursday after a newborn was rushed to the hospital two weeks after undergoing the procedure, known as metzitzah b’peh, in which the mohel sucks the blood out of the circumcision wound using his mouth.
The Health Department under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg cracked down on the practice due to hygienic concerns, with his administration requiring parents to sign a waiver before the procedure.
De Blasio, who derives a large base of support from the Hasidic community, rolled back that policy, setting instead for a compromise in which the community was supposed to help test circumcisers from herpes and prevent those infect from oral-genital contact with infants.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
News

Sebastian Gorka’s Tough Media Weekend


It’s been a tough media weekend for Sebastian Gorka, the deputy assistant to the president who was the subject of an article in the Forward about his membership of a Nazi-allied group in Hungary.
The Chicago Tribune published a critical review of Gorka’s scholarship by Dan Nexon, an associate professor in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Nixon notes that a scholar of Islam should be able to read Arabic (Gorka can’t), that Gorka uses out-of-date statistics and uses them wrongly, and that Gorka has published little but a dissertation that is no support for his chosen position.
The Huffington Post foreign affairs reporter Jessica Schulberg drew out the relationship between Sebastian Gorka’s mother and the infamous Holocaust denier David Irving. She was, she asserts, one of the main Hungarian translators helping with his book “Uprising!”
CNN noted that a Gorka statement to Breitbart News Daily Radio about Trump’s Muslim policy is false. Gorka told the far-right opinion outlet, “There is not one instance on the campaign trail or after the President took office in which the travel suspension was mentioned without reference to national security — it was never mentioned, ‘we’re doing this because of a certain religious group.’” But six months after Trump declared his candidacy, his campaign’s December 7, 2015, press release states clearly
News

Roman Archaeologists Discover Second Arch Of Titus


Archaeologists in Rome have discovered the remains of a second Arch of Titus commemorating the siege of Jerusalem by Roman emperor Titus in the 1st century C.E.
Like the original Arch of Titus, it was built around 82 C.E. by Domition, the younger brother and successor to Titus as the leader of the Roman empire. The second arch was located less than a mile away from the first one.
According to a Haaretz interview with lead archaeologist Marialetizia Buonfiglio, it was rare for Roman leaders to build two monuments to the same war. Domition may have built the second arch as a way to boast of his power after Rome had just weathered a devastating fire and the destructive eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
The original arch of Titus is one of the most iconic depictions of Jewish history in the world. Located on the Via Sacra in Rome, it includes a detailed relief of the siege of Jerusalem.
A menorah on the arch was used as a model for the official symbol of Israel. Until the founding of Israel in 1948, rabbis prohibited Jews from walking under the arch.
Contact Naomi Zeveloff at zeveloff@forward.com or on Twitter @naomizeveloff
News

Yehuda Glick: Israel Owes Apology For 2009 Gaza Sisters Death


A parliament member of Israel’s ruling Likud party who survived a 2014 assassination attempt by a Palestinian is calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to apologize for the death of three Palestinian sisters in one of the most high profile incidents of Israel’s 2009 war with Gaza.
The father of the sisters, Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Gaza infertility doctor who now lives in Canada, sued Israel in 2010. He asked Israel to apologize, accept responsibility for the killings and for compensation.
Likud Knesset member Yehuda Glick wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday evening that Abuelaish is an “amazing man” who is owed an apology by Netanyahu on behalf of the country. Glick said he was impressed by Abuelaish’s foundation, Daughters for Life, which provides scholarships to young women, including Israelis, to study abroad.
Israel said it bore no responsibility for the deaths of Abuelaish’s daughters because they happened during wartime. At a hearing in March, Israel acknowledged that it fired on the building, but also claimed that the deaths occurred because of a Palestinian weapons cache in the building. Abuelaish has rejected this claim.
Contact Naomi Zeveloff at zeveloff@forward.com or on Twitter @naomizeveloff
News

31%, That’s Trump’s Job Approval Rating Among Jews, Says Poll


A national poll by Gallup shows that the president’s approval rating among Jews stands at 31%. That’s 11% below the national average.
On the negative side, Gallup suggests, are the lack of mention of Jews in his statement for International Holocaust Remembrance day, his slow and lackluster response to the wave of anti-Semitism in the first two months of his tenure and the appointment of Steve Bannon as his chief strategist. Bannon, the report comments, “has been accused of making anti-Semitic comments.”
On the positive side, Trump did eventually denounce anti-Semitism, has a Jewish daughter and son-in-law closely involved with his administration, and he has mouthed strong support for Israel.
But, Gallup notes, Trump has sent mixed messages on Israel — where he has now said to “hold off” on new settlements and the movement of the Embassy to Jerusalem.
Mostly, the pollsters say, the low approval rating just reflects the political affiliations of the Jewish population, which leans 64% democratic.

Three Senators Call On Trump To Investigate Gorka’s Immigration Papers


Three Democratic senators are calling on the administration to investigate whether President Trump’s counter-terrorism adviser Sebastian Gorka broke the law by not disclosing to immigration authorities that he was a member of a Hungarian Nazi-allied group.
Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois, Ben Cardin from Maryland and Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal wrote a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, asking them to examine Gorka’s immigration papers.
The senators based their letter on the Forward’s report which found that Gorka swore loyalty to Vitezi Rend, an ultra nationalist organization which according to the State Department, its members are presumed to be inadmissible to the United States.
“We are deeply concerned by reports that Dr. Gorka concealed the material fact of his membership in the Vitezi Rend, a far right anti-Semitic Hungarian organization, when he applied for U.S. citizenship,” the three senators wrote.
Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com or on Twitter @nathanguttman


Read more: http://forward.com/fast-forward/365526/6-more-new-york-babies-get-herpes-after-undergoing-circumcision-rite/

Six babies are said to have been infected with infant herpes in New York City since Mayor Bill de Blasio cut a deal with the Hasidic community that continues to allow ritual circumcisers mouth-to-genital contact.
The news emerged Thursday after a newborn was rushed to the hospital two weeks after undergoing the procedure, known as metzitzah b’peh, in which the mohel sucks the blood out of the circumcision wound using his mouth.
The Health Department under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg cracked down on the practice due to hygienic concerns, with his administration requiring parents to sign a waiver before the procedure.
De Blasio, who derives a large base of support from the Hasidic community, rolled back that policy, setting instead for a compromise in which the community was supposed to help test circumcisers from herpes and prevent those infect from oral-genital contact with infants.
Read more: http://forward.com/fast-forward/365526/6-more-new-york-babies-get-herpes-after-undergoing-circumcision-rite/
Six babies are said to have been infected with infant herpes in New York City since Mayor Bill de Blasio cut a deal with the Hasidic community that continues to allow ritual circumcisers mouth-to-genital contact.
The news emerged Thursday after a newborn was rushed to the hospital two weeks after undergoing the procedure, known as metzitzah b’peh, in which the mohel sucks the blood out of the circumcision wound using his mouth.
The Health Department under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg cracked down on the practice due to hygienic concerns, with his administration requiring parents to sign a waiver before the procedure.
De Blasio, who derives a large base of support from the Hasidic community, rolled back that policy, setting instead for a compromise in which the community was supposed to help test circumcisers from herpes and prevent those infect from oral-genital contact with infants.
Read more: http://forward.com/fast-forward/365526/6-more-new-york-babies-get-herpes-after-undergoing-circumcision-rite/