A person answering the phone at the Bukharian Community Center in Forest Hills denied having any knowledge of the existence of a lawsuit reportedly filed by a father whose son's circumcision led to corrective surgery.
In Judaism, ritual male circumcision or brit milah, where some or all the foreskin is removed from the penis, has been practiced for thousands of years to symbolize a child’s unbreakable bond with God.
When performed by qualified medical personnel in a hospital or doctor’s office, circumcision is considered by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) as generally safe, hygienic and even helpful in preventing certain sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV.
But, ritual circumcision, practiced most often by religious Jews whereby the Rabbi or Mohel uses his mouth to suck blood from the incision, has come under scrutiny in recent years with questions of safety drawing local and national headlines. In September of last year, the CDC called ritual circumcisions “not safe.”
In Queens, a recent lawsuit charged that a rabbi botched a bris or circumcision performed at the Bukharian Jewish Center of Forest Hills, resulting in disfigurement of the infant which required several corrective surgeries. The lawsuit was first reported in a story from DNAinfo.com on March 5.
The lawsuit, reportedly filed last month in Queens Civil Supreme Court, charges that Gavriel Barukh’s son had part of his corona glandis sliced off by Rabbi Mordechai Rachminov during a religious ceremony on October 16, 2011 at the Bukharian Jewish Community Center in Forest Hills. Both Rachminov and the Bukharian Jewish center are named as defendants in the suit.
The suit also alleged that Rachminov, 69, misled Barukh by telling him the circumcision was done “properly” and that no medical help was needed.
Rachminov nor his attorney could be reached for comment. A secretary who answered the phone at the Bukharian Jewish center said she didn’t know anything about the lawsuit.
Surprisingly enough, details of the lawsuit could not be verified by clerks at Queens Civil Supreme Court.
Last September, the city’s Board of Health passed a regulation requiring written parental permission before a ritual circumcision can be performed. Public health officials have said that the oral contact of a rabbi during a ritual circumcision could be dangerous due to the possibility of spreading STDs such as Herpes.
Further, the city’s health department said that from 2000 to 2011, 11 babies contracted herpes with two deaths. It is believed the procedure was a likely cause.
Moreover, several Jewish organizations, including the International Bris Association and Agudath Israel of America went to court last year to argue both that ritual circumcisions have been used safely for thousands of years and also to challenge the Board of Health’s permission regulation on the grounds that it impinges on religious freedoms.
Rabbi Mordechai Hecht, of Chabad in Forest Hills, called the practice of ritual circumcision both a “spiritual and a medical” procedure.
“I have hundreds of cousins who’ve had ritual circumcisions with no problems whatsoever,” Hecht said.
The rabbi also railed against the litigiousness of American society but he also admitted that sometimes mistakes are made, noting that there’s no prohibition to doing the circumcision in a medical setting.
“The whole issue of possible mistakes being made during the procedure is absolutely a real issue.”
Further, those people doing the procedures, said Hecht, need to be well-trained.
Asked about the health department’s recent regulation requiring written permission for a circumcision, he said “it’s a delicate line to cross for the government to try and regulate the procedure.”
“Circumcision is an Ancient ritual and deep part of Jewish tradition.”
By Alan Krawitz
