Circumcision may have caused death
new york (jta) | New York City health officials are investigating whether a baby died after contracting herpes during a ritual circumcision.
The city officials believe at least three babies may have contracted herpes, and one died, after Rabbi Yitzchok Fischer performed a process known as metzizah bi peh, in which the mohel puts his lips to the wound on the penis and then sucks blood into his mouth to stop the bleeding.
Fischer is a well-known mohel in suburban Rockland County, N.Y., and city officials filed a legal complaint against him after he refused to stop the practice. According to a recent report in the journal Pediatrics, the process has led to herpes cases in Israel and Canada during the past few years.
Cheney slammed for parka at Auschwitz
washington (jta) | A fashion critic slammed Vice President Dick Cheney for “dressing down” at an Auschwitz ceremony.
At the death camp Jan. 27 to mark the 60th anniversary of its liberation, Cheney stood out among black-coated world leaders in his green parka emblazoned with his name, a wool hat and hiking boots, which Washington Post fashion critic Robin Givhan said was more appropriate for operating a snow blower than attending a somber memorial ceremony with world leaders.
“Sometimes, out of respect for the occasion, one must endure a little discomfort,” Givhan wrote. She noted that Cheney dressed appropriately for his inauguration in Washington, though that ceremony also took place in chilly weather. “Would he have dared take the oath of office with a ski cap on?” Givhan asked.
Uproar over Nazi road cleaning
portland (jta) | A move by a Nazi party in Oregon to clean up a stretch of road is causing an uproar.
Local officials say they can’t do anything about the American Nazi Party’s participation in the road-cleaning program, which features the party’s name on a sign by the side of the road.
The Supreme Court recently refused to hear a challenge to the Ku Klux Klan adopting a stretch of road in Missouri.
Orthodox back Ten Commandments display in suit
new york (jta) | In a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, Orthodox groups backed the public display of the Ten Commandments.
The brief, from the Orthodox Union and Agudath Israel of America, suggests the Ten Commandments possess secular and religious meaning, and the secular themes inherent in the Ten Commandments are the historic foundation for a society based on the rule of law.
Several Jewish organizations have written briefs opposing public display of the Ten Commandments. The Supreme Court is expected to hear two cases on the issue March 2.