Rabbinical Assembly Statement on European Efforts to Ban Circumcision

RA Concerned by Charges Against German Mohel, Efforts Throughout Europe to Ban Circumcision

NEW YORK – Efforts by groups opposed to circumcision, at both the local and national level in Germany, as well as in several other European countries, have called circumcision, a rite sacred to both Jews and Muslims, harmful.  This week, reports that a court in Bavaria initiated an investigation against Rabbi David Goldberg, a mohel in the Bavarian town of Hof Saale, struck the Rabbinical Assembly as distressing.

Julie Schonfeld, the RA’s executive vice president, released the following statement today expressing concern with the growing wave opposing circumcision in Europe:

On behalf of the 1,600 Conservative rabbis who comprise the Rabbinical Assembly, we were shocked to learn of an investigation into a mohel in Germany for conducting circumcisions.  Circumcision is a sacred rite of both Jews and Muslims, and unfortunately, such antagonism toward the practice is not limited to Germany.  Recent efforts to outlaw circumcision in Germany, replace it with a merely “symbolic” version in Norway, and bar it from certain hospitals in Switzerland, as well as recent statements by politicians in Denmark, Norway and Finland voicing support for outlawing circumcision, fly in the face of religious freedom and expression. 

Haven’t we moved past the dark days where the government dictates how people can express their religious beliefs?  Must we fear a return to a time where Jews must pray in private, judged for our holy customs, and prohibited from practicing Judaism freely?

The German Parliament, along with Chancellor Angela Merkel, must not hesitate to protect the rights of religious minorities.  We commend the Bundestag for its parliamentary resolution urging the government to take up a bill this fall ensuring circumcision remains uninhibited.  We join with Masorti Olami, Masorti Europe, the Rabbinical Assembly of Europe and the Central Council of Jews in Germany in reiterating the importance of a law enshrining the sacred rite of circumcision and ensuring protection for religious minorities in Germany.  As we said in a joint statement with these groups in July, it is a “dangerous practice of trying to legislate belief and curtail freedom of religion.”