No! Swing on!

No! Swing on!

Please let me take exception to your last two editorials (“And the problem is what, exactly?” Sept. 14; “Chickening out,” Sept. 21). While my son had a bris without metzitza b’peh and I practice kaporat with money not a chicken, I feel you as a Conservative do not have the right to trash the rituals of a segment of the Orthodox community any more than I would in criticizing the practices of a Conservative congregation.

In regard to bris in particular, there are far better ways to provide for safe circumcision than banning a practice of a segment of Orthodox Jews (which is highly constitutionally suspect).

The State Department of Health could license mohalim and provide for periodic health inspections to make sure the mohalim do not spread disease to the newly born infants.

In regard to kaparot, if one is opposed to this ritual, the logical position is to ban the eating all of meat. If one is not a vegetarian, that person is being highly selective in criticizing a centuries old ritual.

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