Finding the mayoral candidates chewing on the issue of Metzitzah B’peh, a hot delicate issue for candidates seeking the Orthodox Jewish vote, the NY Post has recognized it has given way, too much and for too long, to other issues that are at great concern to voters in the city.

In an editorial, published Monday morning, the NY Post calls the mayor’s attempt to regulate the practice of Metiztzah B’peh, leaving it upon the Orthodox community to set it as an issue in the mayoral election, a distraction of the burning issues. Instead of addressing the big decisions for the next administration – such as union contracts, education reform and balancing the budget – the two main candidates for mayor are talking about: Jewish circumcision.

“Thank Mike Bloomberg’s aggressive nannyism for this absurdity. His Department of Health is going after a particular circumcision practice favored by some Orthodox groups. The practice involves the mohel using his mouth to remove blood from the infant’s circumcision wound. The Health Department says it can cause herpes, and it wants to impose consent forms.
We don’t deny there are health risks to children in this city. In 2012, 10 children were killed while riding bicyles. Are we going to demand consent forms for that, too?

“The basic answer is that parents make these decisions, not an unelected and unaccountable city bureaucracy. That’s especially true when the bureaucracy is treading on something as sensitive as a religious practice that has gone on for centuries. The candidates seem to understand that, with Bill de Blasio and Joe Lhota each having promised to revisit the Health Department’s meddling if he becomes mayor.

“This is a crucial election for New York, with many vital issues at stake. It’s tough enough to know what to do about schools, taxes, spending and crime without having our candidates have to weigh in on a Jewish ritual that never should have become a government issue in the first place.”

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)