"I'm not sure how true this story is..I've never heard of anything like this... " meaning that 'Orthodox rabbis suck on baby's penis to draw blood in Jewish religious ritual of circumcision...'
Maybe your research skills are not up to the task, so let me give you a hand. I would suggest you begin with googling the word MOHEL.
The Jewish practice of "sucking" the baby's circumcision wound comes from the "sacred" Jewish writings called the Babylonian Talmud or Oral Torah as the Orthodox rabbis call it today. We find the following texts in the Mishnah(section of the Talmud):
Shabbat 133B
II.1.
A. Suck [out the wound]:
B. Said R. Pappa, "A Surgeon who didn't suck out the wound - that is a source of danger, and we throw him out."
C. So what else is new? Obviously, since we are prepared to desecrate the Sabbath on that account, it is certainly dangerous not to do it!
D. What might you have supposed? That this blood is stored up. So we are informed that it is the result of the wound, and in the status of a bandage and cumin: Just as when one doesn't put on a bandage and cumin, there is danger, so here, too, if one doesn't do it, there is danger.
The Talmud of Babylonia: An American Translation
Translated by Jacob Neusner
Number 275. Volume II.E: Shabbat Chapters 18-24.
Program in Judaic Studies Brown University
Atlanta: Scholars Press. 1993. p. 45.
And again in:
Shabbath 19:2
They may perform on the Sabbath all things that are needful for circumcision: excision, tearing, sucking [the wound], and putting thereon a bandage and cumin. If this had not been pounded up on the eve of the Sabbath a man may chew it with his teeth and then apply it.
The Mishnah
Translated by Herbert Danby
Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1933. pp. 116-117.
(It is important to keep in mind, however, that the NY Dept. of Health officials only charged Rabbi Fischer with "sucking", and not "chewing as the Talmud clearly suggests in special instances.)
The Jerusalem Post had an interesting expose of the entire subject with pictures, life testimonies from Jews, and Talmudic citations to confirm the sacredness and authenticiity of this Jewish practice:
sexuallymutilatedchild.org
I hope this gives you a bette understanding of the "sacred" rituals of the Judaism religion. |
