22,221
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m
wikify bleeding
[[Image:Metzitzah_b_peh.gif|right|thumb|A mohel performing metzitzah b'peh on a newly circumcised infant.]]
''Metzitzah b'peh'' (a word that means "sucking" in Hebrew) is a third stage of a traditional Jewish circumcision, although nowadays it is perfomed by only a few rigorously Orthodox mohels. In this stage, the mohel sucks on the [[bleeding ]] [[penis]] of the infant with his mouth; this is claimed to reduce [[bleeding]], though the origin and initial significance of this practice is unclear.
In the recent past (1913), it was realized that some mohels were transmitting tuberculosis and syphilis by oral contact with freshly wounded penises,<ref>{{REFjournal