Schiffer, Sinai. Die Ausuebung der Mezizoh.

(CIRCUMCISION).

Louis Golde

Franfurt a/Main

1906

First Edition. German text with much Hebrew.

The author (1852-1923) was Rabbi of Karlsruhe and published responsa under the title Sithri Umagini. This important lecture was delivered at a Rabbinic conference focusing upon the significance of performing oral Metzitzah (suction) as part of the circumcision rite. Records (p. 12) communication between the eminent German Rabbis Samson Raphael Hirsch and Azriel Hildesheimer with R. Isaac Elchanan Spector who confirmed that a glass tube may be used should government regulations forbid oral suction. However, Rabbi Schiffer emphatically opposes the use of a sponge as it does not draw out the blood. Lists 34 Russian Rabbis who categorically prohibit Metzitzah with a sponge (pp. 18-19). This tract has been characterized as “a most valuable and readily understandable synopsis of opposing views as well as the historical background of the controversy” (see J. David Bleich, Bioethical Dilemmas: A Jewish Viewpoint (1998).