Back Row Of The 'Beis

Yated, Yated

I'm getting to enjoy reading the Yated's letters section these days. Firstly, someone responded to that crazy letter I quoted last week:

SHE SHOULD HAVE SIGNED CLOSE-MINDED
Dear Editor,
This past week, a letter was written to the editor by an
“Open-Minded Mother” (her pen name) claiming to be
“heartbroken” because she couldn’t comprehend how the
Yated recognized the siyum of an 8th grade class of girls on
the completion of Sefer Melochim, and that only boys are
entitled to make siyumim.
Now, I ask my fellow readers to just think of how much
time a person must have on their hands to try to complain
about the most (excuse me for saying it) stupid issue! Does it
really bother anybody if some girls feel good about their
accomplishment on learning about our rich heritage? Why
these complaints are printed is beyond me. But what’s done is
done, and somebody must stand up against this narrow-minded
silliness.
What’s society coming to?
AN

Personally, I'm wondering why this person refused to sign his actual name to this letter. This seems to be the trend in the Yated, and its puzzling.

The Rabbi Tendler issue also gets discussed again this week. See below the jump.

Firstly, Rabbi Tendler responds to the charges levied against him

BRIS KODESH
Dear Editor,
I pray that in the days following your editorial of February 18
you were able to confirm that the actions attributed to me are
total fabrications.
I affirm that:
a) I never contacted the New York City Health Department to
inform them of the tragedy that occurred in October 2004 in
Maimonides Hospital.
b) I never spoke to anyone in the administration of the hospital.
Surely the hospital reported the tragedy as required by city
and state regulations.
By now you surely confirmed the falsity of the malicious tale
which is making the rounds in our community. It goes as follows:
At a bris in Yeshiva of Spring Valley I asked Mohel Fisher to
make metzitzah using a sterile tube. He refused, so I “threatened”
him and reported him to the Health Department.
THE TRUTH:
I told the father and Mohel Fisher to use a tube. The father
asked him to use a tube. He did so! End of story!
I have the highest regard for Rav Fisher shlita. When fortuitously
he was in Eretz Yisroel, I asked him to circumcise my
great-grandson, sheyichye, in preference to the many competent
mohelim in Yerushalyim. His “Avodas Hashem” in Russia is
legendary.
What is my involvement?
I co-authored a research paper (with seven pediatricians) concerning
eight cases of systemic Herpes infection in newly circumcised
infants whose mohelim tested positive for the virus.
This report was submitted to the prestigious journal “Pediatrics”
on November 3, 2003. After careful study by reviewers, it was
published on August 4, 2004. On February 2, 2005 I was interviewed
by several newspaper reporters and I stated that mohelim
are required by Torah law to make every measure to avoid
any risk of health to the infant.
Since 90 percent (or more) of Americans carry the Herpes
virus, I expressed my opinion that a sterile tube should be used
when making metzitzah b’peh. This is in accordance with the
ruling of the Gedolim of the last generation as summed up in the
responsum authored by Hagaon Rav Elyashev shlita, when the
AIDS epidemic began. “If there is the slightest concern, a “sfek
sfaikah” of danger, one is to disregard the custom of our forefathers”
and use a sterile tube when making metzitzah b’peh so as
to protect the mohel, lest he contract AIDS from the infant.
The medical issue that is to be evaluated is: Does Herpes virus
pose a significant risk to the infant as does the AIDS virus to the
mohel? Competent physicians often interpret the same findings differently. A family blessed with a need to circumcise their son,
must consult with their family physician and the mohel to
decide whether oral suction should be used.
The mohel, however, must be attuned to the newest medical
information as it impacts on the practice of milah. Torah knowledge
is immutable but science is in constant flux. The health
import of bilirubin levels, availability of clotting factors to correct
bleeding tendencies, use of newer antibiotics post-milah,
treating anatomical anomalies in the newborn, all have been
updated, corrected, re-evaluated by the medical profession and
a consensus reached. A mohel, to fulfill his obligation to
Hashem, must be conversant with all these evolving issues.
Governmental agencies must not intrude into the domain of
milah practices. To prevent this, self-regulation by mohelim
must be the norm. The church/state barrier established by our
constitution prevents government from interfering in the practice
of milah unless there is “clear and present danger” to the
infant. Yesterday (February 24th) a letter was penned by
Hagaon Yosef Shalom Elyashev shlit”a, expressing his decision
that oral suction does not endanger the child and thus differs
from his previously expressed concern for the health of the
mohel when he recommended the use of the tube to prevent
AIDS infection.
Surely every family in America, where autonomy reigns
supreme, may choose to follow this advice since it is based on
the Rav’s analysis after consultation with competent medical
practitioners in Jerusalem.
Loshon Hora and Rechilus are destructive forces that threaten
the unity of Am Yisroel. The discord and unpleasantness (and
anti-social vandalism) would have been prevented, if discussion
and debate within the confines of our community had been initiated
as soon as the problem arose.
I appreciate the opportunity to clarify my position and refute
the false accusations fabricated by individuals whose motives
were not Leshem Shamayim.
Moshe Dovid Tendler

Of course, they couldn't leave it at that, and they published the following rejoinder:

Editor’s Note:
We welcome Rabbi Tendler’s letter and his attempt to set the
record straight, but believe that for readers to get a more complete
picture, we should publish the transcripts of public
remarks by Rabbi Tendler on the topic.
The tape is unclear at points. Every effort was made to be as
true to the original as possible.
Excerpts from a transcript of the shiur delivered in YU on
December 8, 2004 follow:
MDT - I had to be up early for a bris this morning. I attended
a bris at Yeshiva of Spring Valley. Ten and a half years after they
were married, just had their first child.
They must have had 300 people show up to a bris… ten and a
half years after their chasuna, gave birth to a nice healthy baby,
and the Mohel was Fischer and I have to call the city (state)
[health] department. That no-goodnik [Fischer] bends down to
make metziza b’peh. I put my hand in front, I stopped him. I
said no, you use a tube. He gave me a dirty look, he used a tube.
The man is under investigation now for infecting several children, children,
two of whom died, with herpes.
I’ve heard a case in Maimonides a few weeks ago, a baby died
and he was the Mohel.
He goes ahead... Hungarian - uch. He’s a carrier of herpes,
you don’t need a cold sore, if you’re a carrier, you’re a carrier.
And if you checked that you’re not a carrier today, you’re a carrier
tomorrow. It makes no difference. Once a carrier, always a
carrier. No way get rid of it, they shed viruses. It’s not a constant
thing, but you check him out one day, they don’t pick up any
viruses, but the following morning, he’ll shed a massive amount
of viruses.
Q. This is Herpes simplex 2?
MDT - Yes. It’s the plain cold sore herpes, but in a baby it goes
cerebral, and…three months ago a baby died, he was the Mohel,
and a few weeks ago he maheled the twins in Maimonides. Both
came down with systemic herpes, and one of them died.
Q. How come the Jewish Community hasn’t banned him yet?
MDT - Who’s going to ban him? The Satmar Rebbe? You’re
talking about the Wild West! There are no rules in Mohalim.
Q. People don’t know that he’s infected children? It’s not public
knowledge that he’s infected children?
MDT - It is not in public yet, but it will be. This case is making
it to the courts now... there will be new regulations. In New
York City there will be legislation on milah, but only in New
York City. The case is in NYC, the city department is taking
over. I’ve had, over the last two weeks, a bunch of women
marching in and out of my office downstairs, the Health commissioner
of New York City, with her assistants Shulsinger and
Bong - various b’kovodike people there, but walking gingerly,
scared stiff to start up with the Chassidic community. They
know about their voting blocs… They’ve made it. They have
political power in NYC.
Q. This couple that had the baby, they’re Chassidish?
MDT - Naturally. No non-chossid would let a Mohel make
metzitzah b’peh. In fact, a mohel won’t make metzitzah b’peh
on a non-chossid. He’s afraid that he’ll get infected from the
baby, for the parents surely had AIDS.
MDT - (continues) They paskened in Eretz Yisroel when
AIDS came out, that you could make metzitzah with a tube.
Why? Because the mohelim complained their life was in danger.
Because they have Americans in Eretz Yisroel who have babies
and who knows, Americans, they can have AIDS. And therefore,
they’re afraid to get infected, so they were matir the mohel,
for the pikuach nefesh of the mohel, to use a tube in Eretz
Yisroel. So everybody in Eretz Yisroel uses a tube there except
by the Chassidishe. Rav Vosner and Rav Elyashiv were matir to
use a tube. They were matir 200 years ago to use a tube. We
need a disciplined Halachic Society. We don’t have it.
Q. How come he followed you today, how come he acceptedwhen
you told him to stop- not to do- not to do it – how come
he accepted it?
MDT - Because the father of the baby was next to me, a
talmid. I told the father, he said okay, I should tell the mohel,
The mohel, he said “In your shul you’re the baal habus, here you’re not the baal habus.” The father told him not to make metzitzah
b’peh. And I had in my pocket a 5cc syringe. I take it along. I gave him the barrel of the syringe and he made metzitzah
with a syringe. Actually, if you make metzitzah with a
piece of gauze over the wound it would also be relatively safe -
if he wraps the milah, right after the milah, wrap the piece of
2x2 gauze - on the d’mei metzitzah - you wouldn’t get anything
from the mouth… a tube.

There you have it.

Posted by Avraham at March 3, 2005 07:28 PM