There’s a disturbing practice in the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish culture known as metzitzah b’peh in which a rabbi (mohel) sucks the blood from a baby boy who has just been circumcised.

I repeat: The rabbi sucks the baby boy’s penis post-circumcision… because religion.

If that wasn’t disgusting enough, some of the mohels have had herpes simplex, passing the virus on to the children. Since 2006, 19 infants have contracted herpes in this manner. At least two have died.

The NYC Department of Health now says there’s a brand new case in an alert to doctors and scientists in the area.

A child diagnosed with neonatal herpes following ritual Jewish circumcision was reported to the Health Department in early September 2019. This is the first case of neonatal herpes related to [direct orogenital

suction] during ritual Jewish circumcision reported to the Health Department since March 2017. The infant was circumcised on the eighth day of life by a mohel who performed DOS. Ten days later, the infant developed a rash on his genitals, groin, and buttocks… … In this case, the child’s caretakers were not aware of the signs and symptoms of neonatal herpes nor the risk of herpes transmission associated with DOS, resulting in a delay in the child presenting for care.

All of this is an example of religious freedom gone too far. When that phrase becomes an excuse for harming other people — whether it’s refusing to provide comprehensive health insurance to employees, or not taking kids to a doctor because you think prayer will heal them, or denying gay couples a marriage license, or refusing to bake lesbians a cake, or passing along herpes to a newborn baby — it must be stopped. Religious freedom can’t be an excuse to get away with something that would never be tolerated outside of the religious bubble.

(via @CSagoi Image via Shutterstock. Large portions of this article were published earlier)

