More on the Sucking Rabbi

Authorities are continuing to investigate:

Rockland health officials will review circumcisions performed by a Monsey rabbi suspected of transmitting herpes to three New York City newborns while orally suctioning blood during the religious ritual.

One baby died from the disease in New York City while two others tested positive for herpes.

Rockland Health Department officials said yesterday that they were monitoring New York City's investigation, but plan to independently review Rabbi Yitzchok Fischer's circumcisions in the county. The city wants the rabbi to take a blood test to determine if he has herpes.

What really complicates this situation is that the rite is apparently mandatory for Hasidic Jews:

Fischer, a mohel in Rockland, the metropolitan area and Israel, uses his mouth to suck the blood from the wound caused by cutting the baby's foreskin. The centuries-old ritual, called "metzizah bi peh," is used predominantly on Hasidic Jews, who consider the practice mandatory for newborns. Ritual circumcision, or bris, dates to the prophet Abraham and is said to symbolize God's covenant with the Jewish people.