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| Europe |
| Life is an iron, German version, cont'd |
| 2012-08-26 |
| [Jerusalem Post] German Jewish group to begin training mohels amid fears of ritual circumcision ban; German postal service to release stamp marking brit mila of Jesus. Germany's main Jewish body has announced its intention to institutionalize the training of mohels or ritual circumcisors. Amid concerns among Jews and Moslems that their religious practice of circumcision may be outlawed, the Central Council of Jews in Germany is organizing meetings with Rabbi Josh Spinner of the Orthodox rabbinical seminary of Berlin and Rabbi Walter Homolka of the Reform Abraham Geiger College in Potsdam, both of which train rabbis. The intention is to "institutionalize the training of mohels in Germany as part of their rabbinical training programs," Josef Schuster, vice president and head of religious affairs for the Council, announced Friday. In a separate, and bizarrely coincidental development, Germany's postal service has announced it will release a special stamp dedicated to the brit mila of Jesus. According to a report in the German daily Tagespiegel, the 85 cent stamp marks the 200th anniversary of the German Bible Society and features a line from the Christian Bible: "And as eight days had passed, the child was circumcised, and he was called Jesus" (Luke 2, verse 21). Ralf Thomas Müller, chairman of the Bible Society, told the Tagesspiegel the design was done prior to the current controversy, triggered by a court ruling in Cologne last May that non-medical circumcisions of minors were criminal. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #7 I had no problems living as an American Jew in Germany two decades ago. But the world has changed since then, I'm afraid. When I visited with my mother two years ago, we spent some time talking with the head of the Jewish community in Hildesheim, where Mama was born, and with the single Jew in the Wesermarsch village my grandmother had grown up in, who drove to Bremen once a month to go to synagoge, and it was just sad. But there also seemed to be issues with the young people deserting the countryside for the big cities overall, so perhaps that is the connection. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2012-08-26 17:09 |
| #6 I can't think of many other better places for a Jew to live. |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2012-08-26 13:09 |
| #5 Dr. Steve - The most gripping foretelling I have read lately is Ilana Mercer's book entitled "Into the Cannibal's Pot". |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2012-08-26 11:17 |
| #4 I hear Sodom was a pretty fun place. Right up until the end. Fundamentally, this seems like yet another case of the All-Knowing Government deciding what is best and not a German/Jewish issue. We are starting to get a taste of that here. Nice of the Germans to point out where we are headed! |
| Posted by: SteveS 2012-08-26 11:13 |
| #3 An stunningly beautiful county inhabited by an interesting people. I'll leave it at that. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2012-08-26 11:05 |
| #2 Sort of like being Lot in Sodom. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2012-08-26 10:08 |
| #1 Personally, I can't quite understand a Jew living in Germany. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-08-26 06:21 |