Following the recent ruling by a German regional court to outlaw circumcision, a new report by the Jewish People Policy Institute concludes that the recent trend of legislation across Europe seeking to mitigate certain religious practices requires a strong, comprehensive response from Jewish leadership, including from Israeli officials. According to the report, titled, "The Circumcision Crisis: Challenges for European and World Jewry," the German court's decision against circumcision was a "historic ruling" that might threaten the future of Jewish communities across the continent, and reached the conclusion that "a timid response to the current crisis" must be avoided. "In a world that is becoming juridically globalized, and in which every legal precedent counts, we must consider whether Jewish and Israeli policy makers should begin to coordinate a comprehensive professional response," posed the report's authors, Nadia Ellis and Dov Maimon. The report goes on to point out that while recent measures to restrict religious practices have been directed primarily against Muslims, "the new and vigorous opposition to particularistic religious rituals also affects the religious practices and, hence, the status of Judaism." The authors contend that "It is not an appropriate time for Jews to stay idle and wait for developments. We need to shape our own presence in the future European landscape." Meanwhile, JPPI President Avinoam Bar Yosef encouraged high-ranking Jewish leaders to join forces and focus their attention on addressing this crisis before it gets out of hand. This is a case in which Jewish solidarity should be at peak performance." Ellis and Maimon conclude that "Even if each discrete restriction on traditional Jewish life appears to be anchored in universal values and in interests of general societal concern, their cumulative effect does not bode well for the future of organized European Jewries." The "restrictions" listed in the report include the aforementioned ban on circumcision by a German court (supported by 45 percent of Germans and resting on human rights and medical claims); the ban on Jewish ritual slaughter (already effective in Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland resting on animal rights claims); the proposed abolition of "eternal" cemeteries (in Switzerland, resting on a claim of environmental interest), which refer to cemeteries in which there is permanent burial - a religious obligation for Jews and Muslims (most Swiss choose cremation, and those who choose burial are dug up after 30, 50 or 100 years and removed, in order to clear room for the next ones; the rejection of requests for accommodation of public examinations in light of the Jewish calendar (in France and Switzerland, resting on a claim of separation between Church and State); the rejection of requests for non-electric entry access in private condominiums (in France, resting on security claims); the reconsideration of the traditional massive public funding of Jewish cultural institutions (in France and other countries, resting on equity claims); the increasing pressure on Jewish day schools (all over Europe, resting on ethnic non-discrimination claims); and more, according to the report.
The full report is available online here.
Report: Jews must not sit by and wait for developments in Europe
New report by Jewish People Policy Institute concludes that an immediate, coordinated Jewish and Israeli response is required to thwart possible implications of recent attempts to ban circumcision and limit other Jewish practices in Western Europe.
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