] City health officials are investigating whether a baby
] boy died after contracting herpes from the rabbi who
] circumcised him, the Daily News has learned.
]
] The probe was launched after city officials realized that
] three infants in the city who tested positive for herpes
] last year all were circumcised by Rabbi Yitzchok Fischer.
] The Rockland County-based Fischer is a prominent mohel -
] someone who performs religious circumcisions.
]
] Under Jewish law, a mohel is supposed to draw blood from
] the circumcision wound to remove impurities. While many
] mohels do it by hand, Fischer uses a practice little
] known outside ultra-Orthodox communities called metzizah
] bi peh, in which the mohel uses his mouth.