In recent years, Jews in New York had to contend with a new blood libel in a modern guise, in which the New York City Board of Health required parents to sign a legal consent form before their infant could have metzitza b’peh (oral suction) at a bris. * The influential Board of Health was on one side, facing a lone Chabad Chassid, a mohel by profession, on the other side. He was able to galvanize religious Jewry in New York to fight a battle that seemed hopeless. * On September 9 of this year, the NYC Board of Health rescinded that requirement. Beis Moshiach met with mohel, R’ Levi Heber, who told us about the miraculous battle that he fought and won. * A behind the scenes look at the news.
If you’ve paid some attention to the news lately, you’ve heard about the legal battle for the halachic observance of bris mila, one of the most fundamental mitzvos in the Torah. Even those who heard something about the matter are not quite informed about one of the most critical battles for the preservation of Judaism.
No, this did not occur in the Soviet Union or in communist China, but in New York, where over a million Jews live.
What really happened in this fateful battle, only small parts of which were presented in the media? Who was the man who fought the Board of Health which has plenty of money at its disposal? Who managed to achieve the unbelievable and unite, for perhaps the first time in history, Chabad, Satmar, and Agudath Israel of America?
All he had was his (mila) knife and lots of determination to preserve bris mila as it is meant to be done. I am talking about Rabbi Levi Heber of Crown Heights.
In a long and fascinating discussion, he told us the details of the discussions and meetings that took place with government agencies and various Orthodox groups.
“MIVTZA” BRIS MILA
R’ Heber’s awareness of the mitzva and its implications began twenty-five years ago, in 5750, when he went to Russia as a counselor in a camp. There he saw how far Russian Jews had veered from their roots after seventy years of oppression. Nearly all the children (and their parents) were uncircumcised.
“We discovered that in addition to all the other mivtzaim, we had to do ‘mivtza bris mila,’” says R’ Heber.
“When we spoke to the children about the importance of a bris, most of them still did not know about Judaism and what being a Jew means. Even so, they wanted to do this mitzva despite their natural fear. It was real mesirus nefesh.”
At first, the mohel, R’ Avrohom Genin, was brought to the camp along with a doctor who was not experienced in this area. Despite the pain involved, the children all agreed to undergo a bris.
“At the time, I decided that I had to get involved so that the following year I would not have to ask the children for such a level of mesirus nefesh. It isn’t necessary, because it is possible to mitigate the pain. In the US I bought the necessary equipment, anesthesia and other things that helped make the procedure less painful.”
In the meantime, R’ Heber studied mila and acquired the necessary expertise. He bought mila tools and began circumcising adults. Initially, he worked under the supervision and on site oversight of expert mohelim.
“My main teacher was R’ Avrohom Cohen who circumcised adults, from whom I received ordination as an expert mohel. He went through the Holocaust and has no children. Brissin were his life and he did this holy work without remuneration.”
PUBLIC RELATIONS
When R’ Heber began working in this field he also began to observe the deeper soul component.
“I came to feel that this is a mitzva unlike other mitzvos. Each time, it is moving to see the mesirus nefesh of parents, even those who are not religiously observant. When it comes to the mitzva of mila, they do it, even though they are unwilling to do any other mitzva. You cannot help but feel there is something deep in the soul here.”
R’ Heber also notices deep changes that take place in those who are circumcised. Some of them start expanding their relationship with G-d and often, their families do too. For R’ Heber, it has become a mivtza like any of the ten mivtzaim.
“There are brochures for the ten mivtzaim, t’fillin, mezuza, etc. but there is nothing for bris mila. People have many questions about bris mila but they don’t have anybody to ask.”
R’ Heber decided that along with his work as a mohel, he would do some publicity and marketing. He also started connecting mohelim and shluchim across America to have brissin done.
“It often happens that because of performing a bris, a relationship develops with the local shliach or with the local community.”
As a Lubavitcher Chassid, R’ Heber shows up to every bris with a pair of t’fillin and offers to put them on the participants. He also brings mezuzos. If the bris is on Shabbos, he comes with candles (before Shabbos) for the lady of the house. In his experience, when people are in “mitzva mode,” they are willing to accept other mitzvos too. Often, people are performing their first mitzva ever and they are moved. He has seen plenty of tears on the part of those being circumcised or their families who put t’fillin on for the first time.
“The bris ceremony tears down barriers.
“I remember once being in the Carolinas and I put t’fillin on with the grandfather of the one having the bris and he began to cry. He told me that he had not cried since the Yom Kippur War. He was a tough fellow and some of his friends were there, but after putting on the t’fillin he became a different person.”
R’ Heber has many other stories and examples:
“I once went to get a baby ready for a bris and I immediately felt the tension in the room. The father was Israeli and the mother was American. The father said that he heard from his father that you could only give the honor to someone religiously observant, while the mother insisted that her father, who was not yet religious, be the sandek.
“I had to make peace between them before the bris. I said that yes, a sandek needed to be religiously observant, but that I had just put t’fillin on with the grandfather and therefore, he was religiously observant. As to what would be tomorrow and what was yesterday? That did not matter. Now he was religious for he had put on t’fillin.
“I’ve been away from home on Shabbos and Yom Tov in order to perform brissin. Families saw that I was willing to give up spending the holiday with my family so that they could do the mitzva in a timely manner and this made an impact on them. I often experience such stories. Through the bris, you can lead the families to doing other mitzvos.”
When R’ Heber saw how you could leverage a bris into getting a family more involved in mitzva observance, he started an organization which connects the families of those circumcised with shluchim near them. He has produced a brochure which explains the laws and customs of a bris mila and has a website called circumcision.net which covers all aspects of bris mila, customs during pregnancy and birth, the shalom zachor, choosing a name (with a list of names and their significance), prayers and hymns for a bris, insights and stories.
Often, when a bris is needed but the person does not have the funds to pay for it, R’ Heber finds a sandek who is willing to pay for the various expenses.
THE REFORM WAR AGAINST TRADITIONAL JUDAISM
In recent years, certain entities in the US began raising a hue and cry against bris mila. They put forth various reasons, such as “you may not inflict a wound on an infant without his consent.” Then they started attacking bris for health reasons.
“I saw that what was needed was an organized effort to respond to them for I often responded in newspapers and the media and it helped. I remember how they once wanted to ban circumcision in S. Francisco until age 18. They wanted to conduct a referendum on this. It ended up being withdrawn from the ballot when the S. Francisco Superior Court Judge ruled that it would violate a California law that makes regulating medical procedures a state, not a municipal, matter. In any case, it showed that there was opposition and we needed an organized response.”
About five years ago, these organizations began directing their attack on one aspect of bris, the metzitza b’peh (oral suction). A bris consists of three components: mila, peria, metzitza. All three are part of the mitzva and always have been. This is what Jews have done for thousands of years without changes. There are various explanations for metzitza with some saying it is a health matter and others saying it is a halacha l’Moshe m’Sinai; some say it involves physical health and others, spiritual health.
A description of a bris mila is first brought in tractate Shabbos (133) and the Gemara there refers to all three components. The Rambam in the Laws of Mila describes the three steps in detail. Even in the blessings recited after the Birkas HaMazon at a bris, these three mandatory components are mentioned.
About a hundred years ago, the Reform movement began calling for the abolition of metzitza. Over the years, this issue was the basis for one of the biggest battles between the maskilim (so-called enlightened ones) and the traditionalists.
THE LAW: THE MOHEL MUST INFORM PARENTS THAT THIS IS A DANGEROUS PRACTICE
Reform organizations in the US were clever enough not to fight against the bris itself, for they knew that it would not go over well within the Jewish public, as distant as it was from traditional observance. So the strategy was to focus on one detail of bris mila. They maintained that metzitza is dangerous and could transmit germs and diseases, and it should therefore be done away with. In support of their position, they cited cases in which, supposedly, a mohel transmitted a virus to an infant.
At first, these organizations publicized their propaganda material in hospitals. When they saw this was ineffective, they began lobbying for a law to this effect. Their efforts in promoting metzitza as dangerous to babies began to stir things up within the Jewish public.
They finally were able to get the NYC Board of Health to pass a law in 5772 which mandates a mohel to declare in writing to prospective parents that metzitza b’peh is dangerous for a baby, and parents had to agree to proceed with something that might cause the transmission of germs and in some cases might even cause death to an infant. In addition, the form stated that the Board of Health recommends not doing metzitza b’peh. Parents had to sign this form. Obviously, this caused many Jewish parents to want to forego this part of the bris and sometimes, the entire bris.
A MODERN BLOOD LIBEL
At first, religious Jewry was asleep on the watch. They did not realize the danger involved. R’ Heber began sensing that there were people who were afraid of mohelim. These people read in the newspapers that there was something associated with mohelim that made babies die.
He started doing research and spoke with doctors about contagious diseases like herpes. They said that large percentages of the population had herpes in one form or another and it wasn’t a problem for adults. For babies it could be dangerous, but 90% of herpes in babies was transmitted during birth through the mother and the other 10% through other means.
“There was no compelling evidence that the babies with the virus received it from the mohel at a bris. This was researched thoroughly and included children who did not undergo a bris as well as female babies that had herpes. But for those organizations it was convenient to present it as though it all came from the mohelim.”
The defamation reached its heights in a case in which a child was said to have died as a result of herpes. What the authorities did not say was that at the same time, twenty gentile children died from the virus too, and these children did not have a bris. They deliberately sought to associate this child’s death with a bris, despite the absolute lack of evidence.
“I myself spoke to the mother and interrogated the rest of the family and found out that they all had the virus,” said R’ Heber. “Furthermore, at that time, one of the younger children had the active herpes virus in his mouth and he took his pacifier and put it in the circumcised infant’s mouth. But the Board of Health chose to ignore that angle and instead blamed the parents for endangering their child [with a bris].”
There was another case in Monsey in which a child was diagnosed with herpes. The local Board of Health did a DNA test on the mohel along with a few comparative samples from other donors with each one identified by number in order to prevent corruption of the test results. The two times they tried this, the DNA test conclusively showed that the virus could not have come from the mohel. There was no connection between doing the bris and the infant’s infection.
“We asked for a similar test in New York but the Board of Health refused, saying they had enough evidence to establish linkage. Despite all this, even before it was proven, mohelim were denounced and by extension the mitzva of bris mila, and were held up to public ridicule and incrimination. It was a modern day blood libel.”
NEW YORK LAW ADVERSELY AFFECTS THE LEGAL BATTLES IN EUROPE
“The NYC Board of Health convened a meeting and asked doctors to send a report about every child that showed signs of having herpes. Much to their chagrin, they got the opposite result of what they were looking for.
“We showed them all the professional data from Eretz Yisroel and proved that the average infection rate in Eretz Yisroel, as compared to the average in the US, is much lower, even though in Eretz Yisroel the majority of babies undergo bris mila with metzitza. Nevertheless, they stuck to their position that parents must sign the consent form before having a bris done.”
R’ Heber, who felt the opposition was growing, personally went to the Board of Health to attend one of the meetings on the subject. He proudly told them that he represents the Jewish people, the rabbis of Orthodox Judaism, “and they are all looking to us. This is not just a private matter in New York, but a mitzva that pertains to all Jews.” R’ Heber begged them not to promulgate a law that limits this. He even threatened – “You should know that we are ready to fight for this and we won’t spare any amount of money to get the proposed law rescinded.”
R’ Avrohom Cohen also attended the meeting and spoke from his heart. He told the officials that he went through the Holocaust and came to America because he heard there was freedom of religion here and now he feels that America is persecuting religious people.
When the law was passed in New York, European countries also began passing laws against bris mila. In one instance, the local shliach in Europe went to the government and asked, “Why are you doing things that look anti-Semitic?” In response, they used the New York legislation to support their position.
New York Mayor (at that time) Michael Bloomberg, a Jew, led the opposition against metzitza b’peh. At one of the meetings he spoke very harsh words against the mitzva. He even said, “I myself am Jewish and I am the only one who can fight against this. I am not afraid of 10,000 guys in black hats demonstrating against it.”
LEGAL BATTLE
“We began thinking about what to do,” says R’ Heber. “We had to fight through legal means in the courts.” R’ Heber knew he had to bring out the “heavy guns.” Upon the advice of lawyer, Yerachmiel Simon, he made contact with one of the largest law firms in New York so they could handle the legal battle.
Unfortunately, the opposing side enlisted hundreds of Reform “rabbis” (many of them women) who claimed metzitza is unnecessary.
R’ Heber saw that he couldn’t do this alone and that he had to enlist public opinion which had been quiet until then. He contacted the Hisachdus HaRabbanim of Satmar in New York and they agreed to join the fray. “We felt it wasn’t enough, for we were only two groups of Chassidim.” So he then contacted the leaders of Agudath Israel in the US and got them on board too. Agudath Israel represents many k’hillos including groups to whom this issue is not that important. The very fact that such a large organization was standing up for religious liberty in Jewish matters sent a powerful message. There was unprecedented achdus and collaboration. “With achdus like this we felt we had strength, public opinion, as well as moral support with which to carry on the fight. We also had a stronger financial base with which to finance the legal and media battle.”
The religious groups sued the City of New York with their main claim being that the city has no authority to mix into religious matters. “We added that if we did something that harmed people, there are laws against harming people even with no religious connection, but in this case, the government is claiming we are doing something dangerous. We maintained that it is not dangerous. Furthermore, we said that this issue could not be decided based on feelings and unsubstantiated statements but solely on meticulously researched data and the Board of Health had clearly refused to do this.
“They knew that they couldn’t fight bris mila directly, so they began with something easier to attack, metzitza, which had public support. According to their plan, every so often they would increase the pressure against the mitzvah until they would get the mitzvah prohibited altogether.
“There was an enormous danger that the result could be that the city would directly forbid it, but we knew that the law was simply an anti-religious law presented as a health issue. We knew that if we remained silent now, they would come with additional limitations, like it being illegal to perform a bris any place that isn’t sterile (like a shul, private home, etc.). And from there, they would outlaw bris mila and it would be much harder to fight that.
“We felt that we had no choice because this was an attack on the Jewish people of New York and it would affect Jews in other states and in countries around the world. For Lubavitchers and Satmar and other religious people, it wouldn’t matter because we would continue doing the mitzva regardless, but as Lubavitchers, we feel responsible for all the Jewish people! Also, I had seen a letter that the Rebbe sent to Dr. Grutzendler who had written about metzitza and recommended that the government get involved and prohibit it. The Rebbe wrote him, “From government intervention in prohibitions and coercion in the lives of Jews, nothing good ever resulted for Jews, not for their souls nor their bodies, as many examples in Jewish history demonstrate.” The Rebbe’s resolute position motivated me to continue.
“Many political friends advised us not to fight the city because we won’t win. Some friends said that we didn’t stand a chance in the legal battle, but there was no choice.
“The first legal hearing took place in federal court and we lost. The judge said that the Board of Health certainly has the right to make a law like this, for it isn’t anti-religious. They only wanted to prevent something that spreads disease.
“With the advice of all those involved, the askanim decided to appeal to the New York State Supreme Court. Three judges were unanimous that the claim against the Board of Health was justified. Not only that, but they warned the government that it cannot do anything anti-religious, even under the guise of health measures, without absolute, direct proof.
“This ruling was given a year ago. Although we won, it wasn’t final because we had to go back to the first judge and she had to rule on whether the danger to the infant is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt or not. The Board of Health had to bring evidence, and so did we.
“It was impossible to know how things would turn out. We knew that they could say that indeed, in this form, there is no problem but that way is problematic, and they could make a law that would limit a bris k’halacha. It all depended on the goodwill and mood of the judge. We were afraid that she would not be convinced by our arguments. It was very likely that she would say the Board of Health’s findings were more authoritative when it comes to health matters than anything we could show.”
THE BOARD OF HEALTH ASKS FOR A COMPROMISE
At this tense stage, elections were held in New York. Bloomberg was out and even the composition of the Board of Health changed. Those who replaced them came to us to conclude matters with a compromise in which we would have to give in on something. It was a big question whether to accept this or not. If we did not accept the compromise, we could lose everything.
“Each of the plaintiffs went to consult with his rabbis about compromising. I spoke with rabbanim and many of them were afraid to take the responsibility on such a grave matter. It was something for which only the Rebbe could take responsibility.
“In the end, there were Chabad rabbanim who told me decisively that we had no right to make a compromise on a mitzva and we had to do all we could to protect it, and as we saw with the court case regarding the s’farim that even when there was an opportunity to compromise, the Rebbe was not willing to do so.
“I went back and told the others that Chabad’s position is not to agree to any compromise. The Satmar representatives also came back with the answer not to compromise. Consequently, all those who comprised the side of the plaintiff agreed to follow through to the end.”
HEAVENLY MESSAGES
R’ Heber gets emotional when he talks about this critical stage and he sums it up from his perspective:
“When you see the total picture of the fight, the court cases, the hearings and the rulings that were on Chanuka or Hei Teves, we saw heavenly messages throughout.
“One day, there was a meeting of Satmar rabbanim on this matter and I was invited to speak. I told them that there was a woman who asked me to perform a bris on her son. She said she was Reform and she wanted me to do a Reform bris. I didn’t know what she meant and I asked her to tell me what that means. She said she didn’t know and that she just wanted me to know that she is Reform and I should do their kind of bris.
“I told her that the baby is not Reform, Conservative, or Orthodox but a Jewish child and a bris is performed on the eighth day for all Jewish children as it was always done throughout the generations. She accepted this and I did the bris k’halacha.
“When I finished speaking, the Satmar representative said he really didn’t understand how, on this issue, there was such a rare achdus between us. ‘Now I understand it. It’s because this mitzva pertains to everyone equally and there is no difference between Satmar and Lubavitch and Reform. All are Jews.’
“At one of the annual Agudah conventions, they had me speak, which is a chiddush. I presented our position and the reason we were fighting with all the means at our disposal.”
DIDAN NATZACH
“After numerous and lengthy court sessions, the heads of the Board of Health decided to repeal the consent form regulation. This was the best scenario we could have asked for. Their decision was made two months ago, on 25 Elul. They even conceded on the request for a compromise and completely repealed the law. Our feeling was that the topic was over and done with.
“I know that it wasn’t easy for them to do this. In a small meeting that we had with the deputy mayor, she explained that she was on our side and that she had spoken with the Board of Health and told them that she had never understood why they were investing millions in order to explain the dangers of contagion when in their churches they all drank from the same cup and the Board of Health never warned about it or issued explanatory material about that. It was rather suspicious that just bris mila they are concerned about.
“The people at the Board of Health told her that with the Christians there is no one who will complain and try to change the situation, while with bris mila, there are many Jews who are pushing for this law.
“She apologized to us and said America is built on a foundation of freedom of religion. She even asked us not to publicize the matter so as not to embarrass the current administration.
“Now that the law was repealed I can say that one of the officials at the Board of Health came to me privately and told me that he was there when the whole thing started up. He said that the officials there were hysterical over this. ‘The way they worked to limit bris mila they never did on any other issue.’”
THANKS TO ACHDUS
There were many dramatic moments in this story. There were days when everything stood on a hair. Professionals were skeptical and politicians sympathetic to religious Jews advised R’ Heber and his colleagues to drop the matter and try and cut corners, but R’ Heber knew how great the responsibility was that rested on his shoulders.
“I remember once standing in the offices of the Board of Health and I told their representatives, ‘Here, in this room, are representatives of most religious-traditional Jewry in America. This is most unusual for us but now, in this case, we are in complete unity. So I would like to tell you that if you work with us, you will benefit from this relationship that you will have with all of us. I do not recommend that you fight the beautiful unity that we have among us.’
“One of them heard this and was moved. He got up and said, ‘You’re right. We usually don’t see this kind of unity.’
“With open siyata d’Shmaya (heavenly assistance), Lubavitch led the way and was able to unite all of religious Jewry until we won and it was a great kiddush sheim Lubavitch.”