Peri’ah metsitsah

peri’ah metsitsah or perahia metsitsah is an ancient Hassidic Jewish custom, a variation of male circumcision said to be part of the original covenant with God. The procedure is performed by a mohel, who cuts around the foreskin of the infant’s penis, and completes the procedure by putting the penis in his mouth, sucking off the foreskin, and spitting it out.

This procedure has been abandoned by most Jews, but continues to be practiced by some, and became a point of controversy in New York City in 2005 when it was found that a mohel who performed this procedure spread genital herpes to several boys, at least two of which died as a result.

In his 2007 book god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything journalist Christopher Hitchens criticized this practice, pointing out how the reports of distinguished Jewish physicians who had warned of the danger of the practice were disregarded by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who told his health care administrators to postpone a verdict on the matter, for fear of infringing upon the free exercise of religion. Hitchens criticized prioritizing the practice of religion over the health of infant boys, opining that the fact that it was an election year was a motivating factor for Bloomberg, and criticized the Catholic religion editor of The New York Times for agreeing with Bloomberg's rationale.