Mohel Madness, Cont’d.
Following up on the story from March (sorry, blog archives lost), the latest developments have some members of the Satmer community (and possibly other sects) taking on New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg over the city’s approach to regulating the general practice of metzitzah b’feh and/or Rabbi Yitzchok Fischer, specifically.
A group of 22 rabbis met with the mayor on Thursday, as The Politicker noted.
The Post and the Daily News had reports on Friday, with the latter providing a clearer vision of what’s going on: the city’s health department isn’t going to try to regulate the practice, but has been trying to put a restraining order on Fischer requiring he use a sterile tube and gloves while removing the blood.
As everyone notes, this has become an election issue for Bloomberg, and I’m seeking comment from his campaign and all the Democratic candidates’ campaigns.
Agudath Israel’s Rabbi David Zwiebel told me Friday that his organization has been in negotiations with the city, and is advocating that Fischer be allowed to view all the evidence against him for a potential challenge before the city makes any final decisions. He said that the city has already issued a temporary restraining order against him, and is hoping to impose a permanent restraining order.
Zwiebel was not at Thursday’s meeting, which is indicative of a split between the Agudah and sectors of the ultra-Orthodox community, such as the Satmer community, who disagree with the organization’s positions on Zionism and Fischer, for starters.
Rabbi Hillel Weinberger of the Satmer community said they’d view any restraining order on Fischer as a ban and protest against it, with potential electoral ramifications (note that Weinberger himself, as with some other of the rabbis involved and present Thursday, lives in Monsey and not New York City).
There are various other claims made by all involved that I’ve got to speak with more people about to gain a clearer version of the facts.
More to come.