NEW YORK - New York city health officials are investigating whether a baby boy died after contracting herpes from the rabbi who circumcised him, the New York Daily News has learned.
The probe was launched after city officials realized that three infants in the city who tested positive for herpes last year all were circumcised by Rabbi Yitzchok Fischer. The Rockland County-based Fischer is a prominent mohel - someone who performs religious circumcisions.
Under Jewish law, a mohel is supposed to draw blood from the circumcision wound to remove impurities. While many mohels do it by hand, Fischer uses a practice little known outside Orthodox communities called "metzizah bi peh," in which the mohel uses his mouth.
