Savage’s Debate of MBP Receives Mixed Reviews in Ultra-Orthodox Community

Conservative Talk Show Host Michael Savage dedicated his show Monday night and much of his show Tuesday night to debate and bash the Orthodox Ritual of Metzitzah B’Peh. MBP is when the Mohel sucks away the blood from the wound caused from circumcision.

Members of the Ultra-Orthodox/Hasidic Community have reacted with mixed feeling to this occurrence: Some are concerned that the popular Talk Show host bashes Jewish by-law and without having sufficient facts to form an opinion. Others however are pleased that a person with a mega audience, who bills himself as “the only true friend of the Orthodox Community in major Media” is willing to debate this topic and perhaps ultimately come around on the “positive” side of this issue.

Mr. Savage, a son of a Jewish mother who – according to the Host – observed some Jewish by-laws such as salting the Turkey before Thanksgiving and lighting candles Friday Night, is very popular among Ultra-Orthodox/Hasidic Jews. The Host alluded to this fact over the last two days. Indeed, within minutes of the show opening Monday night, text messages, tweets and calls started circulating within the Community that “savage is bashing Metzitzah” or that “Savage is talking now about MBP; listen in.” The conversation on his show was so epic that after the prayers Tuesday Morning, groups of people were discussing it in mass. By the time Tuesday Night’s show came around, an endless number of people tuned in to the show expecting the battle between Orthodox callers and the Host to go on for a second day.

Indeed it did.

Mr. Savage argued that MBP is dangerous, pointing to thirteen alleged cases of Herpes that the newborns contacted after MBP since the year 2000. However a caller pointed out that MBP is performed at least 2,500 times per year in the New York area amounting to 32,500 MBP’s since 2000 of which 13 allegedly led to Herpes. “Thirteen out of 32K, one every year, is not even a scientific stat,” argued the caller. Besides, none of these thirteen cases were proven to come from the Mohel; the Rabbi performing the Circumcision.

When confronted with these stats, the host countered that the NYC Board of Health requires that parents sign a consent form that they are aware of the alleged dangers of MBP. This “proves” that there is indeed a danger. However the caller shot back that the nine members on the Health board are Bloomberg appointees rubber stamping whatever the Mayor wants.

Despite the above rebuttals, Mr. Savage tried steering the debate to  the ethics of performing MBP and where in the Torah it says that this is how a Bris Milah is supposed to be done. The Host argued that since Talmud was written by mortal Men, they may have been mistaken about how to perform a “Bris” or perhaps may have been correct for their time. But now that “we know” that MBP is dangerous, it needs to be stopped – argued the Host – since Jewish by-law dictates that saving lives is above all in Judaism. Due to his premise, the caller tried debunking Mr. Savage’s argument that it’s dangerous but the host kept turning his focus as to why Jews at all believe in – what he described as – a “disgusting” procedure.