European circumcision union announced
Union created by rabbinical group aims to unite approved mohalim across Europe under single banner, 'ensuring all communities can be confident in high level of training and regulation of circumcisers'
VIDEO – A European rabbinical group has created a union of mohalim, or ritual circumcisers, called the Union of Mohalim in Europe.
According to a statement released by the Conference of European Rabbis, the Vienna-based union will compile a list of all fully certified mohalim in the coming weeks, with members offered the chance to review medical and legal issues before receiving full certification.
Video courtesy of jn1.tv
The group is aiming to "unite approved mohalim across Europe under a single banner, ensuring all communities can be confident in the high level of training and regulation of the circumcisers."
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The initiative seems to be in response to a German law passed in December 2012 which guaranteed the right to circumcise boys for religious reasons. The Bundestag bill stipulated that circumcisions must be carried out by medically trained and certified practitioners.
That law followed an earlier court ruling in Cologne, which found that religious circumcision amounted to criminal bodily injury.
The ruling sparked protests over limits to religious freedom and threats to the Jewish way of life, with many fearing the court case could set a precedent for a wider ban.
