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2012-08-30 Europe
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Charges filed against 2nd rabbi for circumcisions
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After appearance on popular TV show, Yitshak Ehrenberg becomes the second German rabbi to be charged for defying controversial Cologne ruling
...current chancellor of Germany.
She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as Mom ...
| is busy keeping Europe from complete financial collapse, but she might want to prioritize a second track for this before all the Juices take their kids and go. |
One of Germany's most prominent rabbis has been charged after publicly vowing to continue to perform circumcisions, The Times of Israel has learned.
The office of Rabbi Yitshak Ehrenberg, who has been serving the Berlin Jewish community since 1997, on Wednesday confirmed in an email that criminal charges had been filed against him. Ehrenberg has received a letter from the prosecutor's office because of comments he made on a nationwide broadcast television show, an aide confirmed. At this point it is not known who filed the complaint and what exactly the letter states.
Ehrenberg could not immediately be reached for comment.
Ehrenberg is the second Jerusalem-born Orthodox rabbi living in Germany who is being investigated amid the current controversy surrounding circumcision. In June, a Cologne court declared the ritual illegal. As a direct consequence of that ruling, a German citizen earlier this month filed a police complaint against Rabbi David Goldberg, from the Bavarian town of Hof, who said he had performed hundreds of circumcisions in recent years.
On July 11, Ehrenberg -- a well-known figure among German Jews and a member of the executive committee of the European Rabbinical Conference -- participated in a debate on "Anne Will," a popular talk show dedicated to the Cologne ruling and its implications [link in German].
| A month and a half to file charges -- is that normal? |
"I don't even want to go into this discussion," Ehrenberg said after a proponent of a ban said that the act was tantamount to causing the child bodily injury without his or her consent. "We're talking about religion," said Ehrenberg. "This ruling will kill Judaism in Germany."
After more than an hour of lively discussion, host Anne Will allowed Ehrenberg the last word. The rabbi first appealed to his congregants not to have their children circumcised in a hospital but in a synagogue or at home. Then he concluded: "Circumcision is a basic law for us Jews. There is no Judaism without circumcision, and therefore -- we will continue."
After meeting with Germanys federal justice minister on Wednesday, leaders of the Simon Wiesenthal Center told The Jerusalem Post that the outlines of a new German law appear to be an encouraging step toward remedying the ongoing criminalization of male circumcision in the Federal Republic.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the centers associate dean, and Dr. Shimon Samuels, the centers director for international relations, held a meeting with Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and her legal task force, which has been charged with drafting a new law to counter the circumcision ban. The minister told the center representatives that Germany is doing its best to remove the uncertainty surrounding the practice.
Cooper told the Post that the legislation as drafted will talk about rights of parents instead of the state granting permission, which he stressed are important because the government should not meddle in religious freedom and parental decision-making. He went on to characterize the Cologne judge who issued the ruling as either ill-informed or a bigot.
Cooper, who wrote an article in the German weekly Die Zeit explaining the importance of the Jewish ritual, told the Post that Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger plans to use the weight of Germanys government to influence the discussion in Europe regarding circumcision.
He said the Cologne ruling has caused a viral effect on the issue of ritual circumcision in Europe. The ruling from one judge affects millions of people, added Cooper.
Some Swiss hospitals have in fact stopped performing the procedure based on the ruling, and a leading Norwegian party in Oslo is slated to introduce legislation to ban it. There have been anti-circumcision cases in Austria, and Denmark is examining whether the practice violates its health code.
Legislation affirming the right to circumcision is needed and as fast as possible, said Cooper. The Federal Ministry of Justices timeframe to implement the law remains unclear, but Cooper said he hoped it would have the legislation completed before the end of the year.
A solid majority of Bundestag deputies passed a July resolution in support of circumcision.
According to participants in a justice ministry meeting, the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg will not enforce the Cologne ruling, while Berlin is also considering opposing it. The Post could not immediately confirm this.
Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger told the Simon Wiesenthal Center that the attack on religious freedom in connection with Germanys post-war Jewish community is the first such case since 1949 citing Article 6 of German law, which guarantees religious freedom.
A German doctor filed a criminal charge in August against a Bavarian-based Rabbi for performing circumcision.
The local prosecutors office is still investigating the complaint against mohel David Goldberg. The mohel, or person trained in the practice of Jewish circumcision, sees the complaint as part of an anti- Semitic campaign spreading throughout the Federal Republic.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle have issued statements reaffirming religious freedom in Germany and the pressing need to resolve the circumcision crisis. Both politicians have noted that the countrys reputation is on the line and the Cologne decision is a great source of embarrassment for post-Holocaust Germany.
Cooper said that totalitarian countries like Stalins Soviet Union invoked circumcision as one of the reasons to persecute Jews. Now it being done by democracies. The impact would be quite devastating for Jewish communities." He noted the ban is an invitation to Jews to leave. 
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