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Ilan Youngster, Ben Z. Katz, Tradition … Tradition …, Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, Volume 4, Issue 2, June 2015, Pages 132–133, https://doi.org/10.1093/jpids/piu082
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(See the Original Article by Leas and Umscheid on pages 126–31.)
Ritual male circumcision (brit milah), performed on 8-day-old infants, has been an essential component of Jewish practice across the generations in every Jewish community worldwide. The ritual circumcision includes 3 steps: first, the mohel (the ritual circumcisor) amputates the foreskin; he then folds back the membrane that lays beneath it; finally there is metzitza, suction of the surgical site, traditionally performed by oral contact. Whereas male circumcision is generally accepted and widely practiced in Jewish populations, with estimated circumcision rates exceeding 98% among Israeli Jews, it is this final step that has been the subject of extensive controversy since the middle of the 19th century, when it was recognized that cases of syphilis, tuberculosis, and diphtheria were being transmitted by this procedure. Efforts to abolish direct oral suctioning (eg, to use a tube or absorbent gauze) date to 1843 [1]. However, religion is inherently conservative, and several groups have refused to give up the ancient practice, despite Judaism's almost universally lenient approach to ritual (eg, Sabbath observance) when life is at stake.
