The following is a New York Post editorial:
Today New York has a budget of $70 billion a year, twice what it was when Mayor Bloomberg entered office, and some of the highest taxes in the nation. We’ve got big decisions to make on outstanding contracts with public unions. And on issues from school reform to violent crime, we stand a real chance of going backward.
So what are our two main candidates for mayor 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.
{Matzav.com Newscenter}
Kol Hakavod to The NEw York Post for stating the clear truth
Gevaldik!
whats so bad or difficult about signing consent forms? why do we have to fight against everything?
If the government also required an informed consent of the (major) health risks before toeivah marriage I wouldn’t be opposed to this one.But when the government singles out an obscure religious practice for consent forms I see religious persecution.
“The practice involves the mohel using his mouth to remove blood from the infants circumcision wound.”
Most of the non-frum world will be horrified by this. This will cause a backlash.
bloomberg shouldn be put out to pasture
In fact, property tax rates in New York City are among the lowest of any large city in America, even after Bloomberg’s increases.
Joe, there’s nothing difficult about signing consent forms but that’s besides the point. The government has no business interfering in religious life. It’s a very slippery slope. We Jews have been down roads such as this one before and it does not end well. History has taught us to speak up when the interference seems minor to avoid a more major and blatant intrusion.
Joe, that’s precisely the point. If you and I both know that parents will sign the consent form regardless, don’t you think Nanny Bloomberg and his Department of Health know it too?
Nevertheless, his Nanniness is still pushing for something that is not difficult in order to CONTROL our actions. I, for one, refuse to relinquish my control.
#5:
Anyone in the non-frum world who lives in NYC already knows about this, and probably most of those who live outside of NY and read newspapers do, too.
Besides, what kind of backlash? We already have a government body trying to prevent MBP.