Berlin Circumcision Move Not Enough: AJC
The American Jewish Committee condemned a decision earlier this week by the state of Berlin that places restrictions on circumcisions.
The decision affirmed the legality of circumcisions but placed limitations on who could carry them out. It said that only doctors, and not mohels, could perform circumcisions. The state also required that parents be informed of the procedure’s medical risks before consenting, and that doctors do everything possible during the procedure to reduce pain and limit bleeding. Some Jews object to the use of anesthesia during the religious rite.
“We are shocked that the Berlin Justice Ministry ignored the advice of AJC and other Jewish organizations and instead chose to turn a 4,000 year-old religious ritual into a criminal offense,” Deidre Berger, director of AJC Berlin, said in a statement Thursday. “It is illogical that practitioners are legally liable for a procedure recommended by the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics.”
That ruling made Berlin the first of Germany’s 16 states to declare the medical practice legal following a Cologne court ruling in June that nonmedical circumcisions on children amounted to a criminal offense, according to the German news agency DPA.
AJC Berlin, in an expert statement filed Aug. 30 with Berlin authorities, warned that conditions to legalize circumcision were medically unnecessary, an undue burden on parents and a violation of their rights to religious freedom and parental choice.
June’s court ruling has led many doctors to stop performing circumcisions in order to avoid being prosecuted. Two rabbis have had complaints brought against them based on the ruling, though one complaint was dropped last week.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
