HOF, Germany — This sleepy town not far from the Czech border, in a hilly corner of Catholic Bavaria, is an unlikely place to find an active synagogue, and an even unlikelier focal point for a controversy that some see as a threat to religious tolerance in Europe and even the place of Jews in Germany.
Rabbi David Goldberg, a jovial 64-year-old Israeli who serves a community of about 400 Jews in Hof, has become an international cause célèbre after four German citizens filed criminal complaints against him with the local prosecutor. His alleged crime, which made headlines in Israel and elsewhere, was performing ritual circumcisions.
The dispute reflects the ever deeper secularization of European life that, in the eyes of some religious leaders, has mutated into a form of intolerance. This conflict between secular and religious values has most frequently involved Islam, with bans on minarets in Switzerland and veils that cover women's faces in France, not to speak of the recent anti-Islamic video that touched off violent anti-American demonstrations. And sensitivities were further inflamed on Wednesday with the publication in a French magazine of unflattering caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, several of them showing him naked.
But the debate over ritual circumcision shows that the tensions extend even further.
Rabbi Goldberg seems more bemused than alarmed. Anyone can file a complaint against anyone else in Germany, and he may never face formal charges. Rabbi Goldberg has not hired a lawyer and declined an offer from one who was willing to handle the case for free.
The more serious threat, in the eyes of Rabbi Goldberg and many Jews, Muslims as well as Christians in Europe, comes from what they see as an attack by secular society on religious ritual, on faith itself. A seemingly insignificant decision by a lower court in Cologne, against a doctor who circumcised a Muslim boy, has fed a rapidly spreading drive to criminalize a practice that is core to Jewish and Muslim belief.
The line of demarcation between church and state is different in Germany than in the United States. Chancellor Angela Merkel leads the Christian Democratic party and is the daughter of a Protestant pastor. But, in contrast to the displays of piety expected of American politicians, she rarely mentions religion or is photographed attending church.
Nevertheless, Ms. Merkel is pushing for legislation to allow circumcision to continue, and she wins praise from Jewish leaders. And Rabbi Goldberg says some of the most fervent letters of support he has received have come from religious Christians.
"They know the Bible," he said, speaking in the renovated schoolhouse in a quiet residential neighborhood in Hof that serves as synagogue, community center and residence for him and his family. "They are afraid for their religion as well."
For the more than 100,000 Jews who live in Germany, the tenor of the circumcision debate has come as a shock, undercutting confidence that they had found a secure place in society after the horrors of the Holocaust. Only a few months ago, that confidence had seemed justified when voters in Frankfurt chose their first Jewish mayor since 1933.
But now, some Jewish leaders say, the circumcision debate has exposed how ignorant many Germans are about Jewish beliefs.
"This discussion has shown that we are foreigners in our own country, doing something that Germans are not supposed to do," said Stephan J. Kramer, secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. "We are accused of torturing our own children."
Muslims express similar sentiments. "There are more than a few people who have something against Muslims and Jews and they are taking advantage of this," said Aiman A. Mazyek, chairman of the Central Committee of Muslims in Germany. "They can hide behind this discussion. They can say what they always wanted to say."
In contrast to the United States, baby boys in Germany and other European countries are not routinely circumcised for health reasons. The World Health Organization recommends circumcision as a way to reduce the spread of AIDS, but many doctors in European countries regard the practice as harmful and even barbaric.
A German pediatricians' association, as well as a children's aid group, are helping lead a petition drive calling for a two-year moratorium on circumcision. For religious Jews, such a moratorium would be catastrophic. The Bible tells them to circumcise a baby boy eight days after birth, unless there is a medical reason to wait.
But Jews in Europe, not just in Germany, say that it is difficult to convince people who are not religious that circumcision is regarded as a command from God, and that without it a young man cannot enter Jewish society.
By JACK EWING 20 Sep, 2012
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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/world/europe/circumcision-debate-in-europe-reflects-deeper-tensions.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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