גייט זיין א פארטעסט וועגן מציצה בפה

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: (December 27, 2005)

''60,000 to 100,000 demonstration at the Inauguration''

NYC, NY – Jews for First Amendment Rights applied today for a protest permit, on
Sunday January 1 at 2:00 PM in the vicinity of city hall. 60,000-100,000 protesters are
expected to assemble, to protest against government interferences in religious issues.
They will demand that the Department of Health should not to mess around with a
millennia-old religious practice of Metzitzah B'pah, a broad spectrum of the Jewish
community looks at the recent action by DOH as religious persecution.

Background

250,000 residents of New York City are threatened by the unprecedented stance and
unacceptable directive of the Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene dated
December 13 2005 for hospitals to disseminate information, recommending that the
Jewish community should refrain from the religious ritual of Metzitzah B'pah,
contradicting the teachings of their religious authorities. For the health Commissioner or
any governmental agency to suggest the method of performing religious rituals is not
only inappropriate it might even be prohibited by the constitution.
JFAR's view is that there no reasonable doubt that the commissioner is influenced by
reform and other Jewish groups and he is trying to impose there views on the orthodox
Jewish community. This is not only an assumption it is vary clearly written in his open
letter to the jewish community which reads that ''others in the Jewish community have
called on the Department to completely ban metzitzah b'peh''.