This last question has led to much controversy in recent years. Throughout the ages Meziza was done by suction by the mouth in order, according to Maimonides, to remove the blood from the distant parts of the wound (Maim. Yad, Milah, 2:2). It was the recognized method of disinfection at the time. A mohel (ritual circumciser) who refrained from performing it was considered to be endangering the life of the child, and had to be debarred from practice. Toward the middle of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century cases of syphilis, tuberculosis, and diphtheria occurring in infants were ascribed to infection from mohalim using this method of suction. This has been contested by a few Jewish doctors, and some communities still follow the original practice. The Paris Consistoire abolished mezizah in 1843. The method now authorized by most rabbinical courts is for mezizah to be performed either by a swab or through a glass tube, preferably containing a small piece of absorbent cotton. The rounded end of the tube is placed firmly over the penis, pressed firmly over the area of the pubis, and suction by the mouth is carried out through the flattened end of the tube or through a rubber attachment. This is followed by the application of a sterile dressing, and the readjustment of the diaper.

Emanuel Rosenbaum is also the author of Une conférence contradictoire religieuse et scientifique sur l’anatomie et la physiologie des organes génitaux de la femme; a l’école de Rami, fils de Samuel et de Rabbi Yitshac, fils de Rabbi Yehoudou a la fin du 2me siècle. Extraite du Talmud, traité de la "Menstruation" traduite et expliquée par Emanuel Rosenbaum. (Frankfurt am Main, 1901)