A Practice Older Than Rabbinic Judaism, and a Modern Health Dispute

The circumcision the mohel performs is described in the book of Genesis as instituted for Abraham himself, making it one of the very few Jewish practices that predates the giving of the law at Sinai in the tradition's own account of its history, and the eighth-day timing has been kept with enough consistency that it is cited in classical rabbinic sources as one of the most reliably observed commandments even among otherwise non-observant Jews.

One traditional element of the rite, metzitzah b'peh, direct oral suction of the circumcision wound by the mohel, has become the subject of a genuine and ongoing dispute in the last two decades. Public health authorities in New York City, after investigating cases of neonatal herpes infection linked to the practice, introduced consent and reporting requirements specifically targeting it, a move some Orthodox and Hasidic communities that maintain the practice have resisted as an intrusion on religious observance, while other Orthodox authorities have recommended alternative methods, such as suction through a sterile tube, that preserve the ritual gesture without direct oral contact. The dispute remains unresolved between the communities that regard the traditional method as required and the public health position that it carries a real and avoidable infection risk to newborns.