News

Baby's penis reattached after botched circumcision

Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, Jerusalem

The penis of an 8 day old Jewish baby that was accidentally amputated below the corona by a mohel (ritual circumciser) has been successfully reattached by microsurgery at a small medical centre in Israel.

Doctors at the Ha'emek Hospital in Afula said that the baby is nownearly two months after surgeryable to urinate normally and that penile blood vessels and nerves are fully functioning.

A hospital spokesman said that the highly unusual incident was reported to the health ministry, but the information did not include the identity of the mohel because the family refused to give his name and has not yet filed a complaint against him.

Rabbi Yosef Weisberg, the national supervisor of ritual circumcisers, said he was unaware of the incident but would investigate if asked. "Such a mishap is extremely rare," he said.

Although virtually every newborn Jewish boy and teenage Muslim boy in Israel is circumcised, the country lacks a circumcision law; Rabbi Weisberg had no estimate how many of those who perform the ritual are unlicensed.

There is nothing to prevent anyone from buying a scalpel and advertising himself as a mohel; moreover, no one has the authority to force into retirement ageing circumcisers whose hands shake or who are visually impaired. Rabbi Weisberg, a Hasidic Orthodox rabbi, maintained that pressure from non-Orthodox Jewish movements in the United States who are afraid their circumcisers would be barred from practising in Israel has prevented such a law from being enacted.

Meanwhile, Rabbi Weisberg reported with concern that a growing number of secular Jewish parents in Tel Aviv were avoiding the ritual and having their babies circumcised in hospital.