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The Circumcision Crisis: Challenges for European and World Jewry
Author(s): Maimon, Dov; Ellis, Nadia
Date: 2012
Topics: Circumcision / Brit Milah, Main Topic: Other, Law
Abstract: A new report by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) concludes that an immediate, coordinated Jewish – including Israeli – response is needed to thwart the possible implications of recent attempts to ban circumcision and limit other Jewish practices in Western Europe. JPPI characterizes the German court’s decision against circumcision as a “historic ruling” that might threaten the future thriving of Jewish communities across the continent. JPPI recommends that Jewish leaders and communities avoid a timid response to the current crisis. “In a world that is becoming juridically globalized, and in which every legal precedent counts,” the authors of the new report write, “we must consider whether Jewish and Israeli policy makers should begin to coordinate a comprehensive professional response.” The report explains the drivers and trends likely to affect the lives of the 1.3 million Jews living in Europe today. While recent moves against religious practices have apparently been directed mainly against Muslims, the new and vigorous opposition to particularist religious rituals also affects the religious practices and, hence, the status of Judaism. The authors urge Jewish leaders around the world to promptly attend to the dilemmas presented in the report, and devise a coherent, coordinated policy on this pressing matter.