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Bloomberg Boasts about Bris Restrictions

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Mayor Bloomberg is proud that he has defied the wishes of New York City’s Orthodox community by imposing a legal restriction on the practice of metzitzah b’peh.Belittles ‘Black Hats’

Mayor Bloomberg angered the Orthodox Jewish community this past week when a new interview with The Atlantic magazine quoted him as speaking with pride about his efforts to restrict the controversial metzitzah b’peh procedure during ritual circumcision, and derisively referring to the religious opposition as ‘black hats.’

In one part of the interview, the mayor discusses his willingness to risk public disapproval during his third term by advocating for measures he strongly believes in. “I said one time that if I finish my term in office—at that time, we were talking about eight years, or four years—and have high approval ratings, then I wasted my last years in office,” the mayor tells the magazine writer. “That high approval rating means you don’t upset anybody. High approval rating means you’re skiing down the slope and you never fall. Well, you’re skiing the baby slope, for goodness’ sakes. Go to a steeper slope. You always want to press, and you want to tackle the issues that are unpopular, that nobody else will go after.”

Citing one key example of his relentlessly independent style, Bloomberg mentions his recent success in implementing the citywide legal requirement for mohelim to receive express written permission from a newborn’s parents before performing the procedure of metzitzeh b’peh (oral suction of the wound).  “I think it’s fair to say that nobody else would take that on,” the mayor states proudly. “I mean, come on! Forget about the fact that—“They do what!?”—Who wants to have 10,000 guys in black hats outside your office screaming?”

He goes on to relate, “And yet, I said to the rabbis: The science is not perfect, and it is to some extent an art—medicine—but there is a reasonable chance that this is dangerous to kids’ health. There have been some kids who we believe die or have brain damage from the practice. My obligation is to protect the citizens. I understand freedom of religion. Nobody stood up for it more than me — go back to the [Ground Zero] mosque, where I got beaten up for doing what was right.”

Epitomizing the inevitable communal outrage to Bloomberg’s comments, Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind sharply criticized him for his dismissive attitude toward Orthodox sensibilities. “When Mayor Bloomberg decided to run for a third term, he came to our community seeking favor with the Chareidi community — he asked Orthodox, Torah-observant Jews to support his candidacy,” Hikind noted. “Now when he finds those same people unanimously frightened by his personal agenda and aggressive stance against metzitzah b’peh, he quips, ‘Who wants to have 10,000 guys in black hats outside your office screaming?’ But we weren’t Black Hats when he needed us.”

The outspoken Assemblyman went on to score Bloomberg for his “demeaning” manner of speech on the contentious matter. “The mayor is certainly at liberty to take on unpopular issues, but describing his constituents in a demeaning and derogatory way is unbecoming of the mayor’s office,” Hikind said. “It’s insensitive and it’s offensive.”

Brooklyn Councilman David Greenfield echoed Hikind’s umbrage at Bloomberg’s remarks. “For the mayor to identify an entire religious group by the clothes they proudly wear is the basest of insults,” Greenfield declared. “It is even more offensive coming from a secular Jewish mayor. I don’t judge the mayor or his religious practice; surely he has no right to judge me or other members of the Orthodox Jewish community.”

New York City Deputy Comptroller Simcha Felder, who is running for State Senate in Brooklyn, called on Bloomberg to apologize for his “insensitive” comments. “I am also requesting that he end his attack on metzitzah b’peh and on religious freedom,” Felder said. Felder’s opponent in the race for the new State Senate seat, current State Senator (in a district about to be phased out) David Storobin, also had strong words for Bloomberg. “The mayor’s utter ignorance doesn’t stop by raising taxes and hurting small businesses in our community,” Storobin stated, “but now by insulting an entire community for standing up for their rights of religious freedom. This is the same ‘Black Hat’ Jewish community that supported Mike Bloomberg for three terms.” Storobin said that if the mayor does not apologize to the Orthodox community, he should “be held responsible and resign from his post.”

The latest brouhaha over the issue comes in the wake of a lawsuit that seeks an injunction against the city’s efforts to implement the metzitzah b’peh consent form requirement. The legal action was brought by a coalition of entities representing major portions of the Orthodox community, including Agudath Israel of America, the Central Rabbinical Congress (Satmar) and the “International Bris Association” (a Lubavitcher group), as well as three individual mohelim.

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