Religious circumcision rituals

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

not really sure what area this thread belongs in, but here goes. i took care of a newborn, who was admitted after his bris, for herpetic lesions on his you-know-what. as per the admission, the mohel kissed it after the bris, which kind of tells me where the lesions came from. now here's my question: i heard (from not a really reliable source) that there are some mohels who do more than kiss it, which often also can result in herpes. if there's someone out there who can confirm this, please chime in (to avoid further embarassment). i have a friend who is very jewish (not orthodox, but practices everything), but i feel weird asking her :chair: (she has 3 boys, so she would know). my husbands family is jewish (he's not at all religious), and we went to a relative's bris, and nothing like that went on there.

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I have never heard of "it" being kissed at a bris, at very orthodox or even reformed rituals. Have been to many from both ends of the spectrum and have never seen this.............there is definitely s problem with the person who performed that one............. :o

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Specializes in Pediatrics.
i have never heard of "it" being kissed at a bris, at very orthodox or even reformed rituals. have been to many from both ends of the spectrum and have never seen this.............there is definitely s problem with the person who performed that one............. :o

well i would think . i mean, i'm sure this isn't the first one he's performed (probably w/ similar results). if you know you carry the virus (which many people are latent carriers... i am one of them... the oral type that is- i get cold sores) then maybe that's not the job for you (all kidding aside).

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
I have never heard of "it" being kissed at a bris, at very orthodox or even reformed rituals. Have been to many from both ends of the spectrum and have never seen this.............there is definitely s problem with the person who performed that one............. :o

I have never seen "it" kissed, either and have been to several bris'.

And to my knowledge there is nothing in Jewish law that would require or indicate such as this. Nor any behavior that would be "more" extensive.

Depending on the age of the infant, a more likely culprit is infection at birth

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I have never seen "it" kissed, either and have been to several bris'.

And to my knowledge there is nothing in Jewish law that would require or indicate such as this. Nor any behavior that would be "more" extensive.

Depending on the age of the infant, a more likely culprit is infection at birth

Carol's right . . . the mom probably passed this infection on to her baby.

steph

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I actually read about something similar, about a year ago I think, on CNN.com or similar- I'm sorry my memory is a little vague. Apparently there is a method that some ultra-ultra-orthodox rabbis use, instead of using their hands to draw blood they use thier mouths. I think there was even a death that was being investigated, that was possibly due to herpes exposure due to this method.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.
I actually read about something similar, about a year ago I think, on CNN.com or similar- I'm sorry my memory is a little vague. Apparently there is a method that some ultra-ultra-orthodox rabbis use, instead of using their hands to draw blood they use thier mouths. I think there was even a death that was being investigated, that was possibly due to herpes exposure due to this method.

Okay, so I'm not losing my mind (or, if I am, so are you :chuckle ). That's exactly what I was referring to. I swear this is what they say happened. Of course, with the age of the child, my first thought was that it was passed on by the mom. I'll do a search and see what I come up with.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

http://www.nynews.com/newsroom/021605/b0416rabbi.html

This was one of many results I just found...

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.
Okay, so I'm not losing my mind (or, if I am, so are you :chuckle ). That's exactly what I was referring to. I swear this is what they say happened. Of course, with the age of the child, my first thought was that it was passed on by the mom. I'll do a search and see what I come up with.

I have to say that I believe it to be more likely that the infant contracted genital herpes from the mohel than from his mother. Working in the NICU, I have seen some cases of congenital herpes, and never were there genital lesions. That sounds like a matter of direct contact with a carrier, or a person experiencing an outbreak, not congenital transmission.

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Okay, so I'm not losing my mind (or, if I am, so are you ).

well, that is always a possibilty for me :chuckle

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