Storobin Ties Simcha to Bloomy's Attack on Metzitzah (Circumcision Rite)

In a press release issued today, State Senator David Storobin (R-Brooklyn) decried Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to regulate and discourage metzitzah b’peh, a circumcision rite practiced among Orthodox Jews. Storobin also called out his opponent, Simch Felder, for his past closeness to the mayor and his current silence on the issue.

“It is insulting that the Mayor would suggest Jewish parents don’t care about their own kids. The Mayor should stop worrying about other people’s children and let us raise our families in the manner we choose.” Storobin said. 

“This is a Jewish tradition that dates back thousands of years,” Storobin said. “First, we see a proposed regulation by the Health Department. What next? We cannot allow the government to stop people from peacefully practicing their faiths."

Taking a shot at Simcha, he added: “My Democratic challenger was the mayor’s closest ally when he was on the City Council. Now that the mayor is treading on fundamental Jewish tenets, my opponent is eerily silent... I will not be silent when the cultural traditions of my faith are called barbaric."

The "barbaric" word is an apparent reference to Mayor Bloomberg's statement last month about Metitzah that: “You don’t have a right to put any child’s life in danger, and this clearly does.” Although Bloomberg haven't said that it is barbaric, Dov Hikind also attacked  the Mayor using the same term. "Orthodox Judaism isn't barbaric," Hikind said. "Who cares more about children than their own parents? There's no call for Mayor Bloomberg to speak disrespectfully to our community, to speak condescendingly about our cultural traditions."

Malcolm Smith, who is floating a possible campaign for Mayor on the republican line, also criticized the Bloomberg's action in a recent interview, and reiterated it again tonight on the Zev Brenner show.

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