circumcision
Jews and Human Rights In Europe: the Unfulfilled PromiseFriday, December 28, 2012 by Michael Pinto-Duschinsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
While many German war criminals escaped prosecution, the European Court of Human Rights may soon outlaw brit milah across Europe. [Part II of II]
Inheriting AbrahamTuesday, November 27, 2012 by Jon D. Levenson | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
On August 28, Jon D. Levenson, the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard University, spoke with the current class of Tikvah fellows about his latest book, the first volume in the Library of Jewish Ideas: Inheriting Abraham. Here, an edited transcript of the event.
The Portuguese DreyfusWednesday, October 24, 2012 by Kevin Zdiara | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In 1894, the Jewish Captain Alfred Dreyfus was wrongly convicted of treason by an anti-Semitic French military court. The world remembers Dreyfus. It should also remember the Jewish military officer Artur Carlos de Barros Basto, wrongly convicted by an anti-Semitic Portuguese military court in 1937.
Is Judaism a Proselytizing Religion?Friday, October 19, 2012 by Shlomo M. Brody | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
When Mitt Romney became the Republican Presidential candidate, some of the media attention focused on his experience as a Mormon missionary in France and asked, subtly or not so subtly, whether a member of a proselytizing religion could properly lead a pluralistic society.
Lambs to the SlaughterWednesday, August 22, 2012 by Ben Cohen | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Last week, the normally cautious Jewish community of Amsterdam took the unusual step of describing a member of the Dutch parliament as a "serious danger to Jews in the Netherlands and consequently Europe as a whole."
Editors' Picks
The Anti-Semitism of Progressive Scandinavians Liam Hoare, The Tower. Scandinavia was never a hotbed of traditional anti-Semitism. But now its political discourse displays a "failure to distinguish between Israel, Zionism, and local Jewish communities."
Musings on Metzitzah Natan Slifkin, Rationalist Judaism. If the practice of suctioning blood during circumcision was instituted on medical grounds and we now see that it has no medical benefit, why keep doing it? Tradition.
Leading Germany's Jews Charlotte Knobloch, Spiegel. The 80-year-old Holocaust survivor who leads Munich’s Jews says it wasn't until the 2006 inauguration of a synagogue in the city that she finally felt at home in Germany. (Interview by Susanne Beyer)
Bloomberg's Ban? Michael A. Helfand, First Things. While both Germany and San Francisco have seen genuine attempts to ban brit milah, the New York City Board of Health's decision to regulate part of the ritual is nothing of the sort.
Cooling the Circumcision Debate Andreas Michaelis, Jerusalem Post. There has been worry over a German court’s opinion that circumcision is bodily harm. But it has no binding force—and has been repudiated by the German government.
Europe’s New Religion Dov Maimon, Nadia Ellis, Jewish People Policy Institute. As human rights becomes Europe’s reigning code of ethics, Jews across the continent face attacks by the secular establishment on ritual circumcision. (PDF)
Changing Course on Circumcision , Spiegel. As Israeli lawmakers line up to castigate Germany for the recent court ruling outlawing ritual circumcision, the German government is preparing to change the law.
Mohels Without Borders Yair Rosenberg, Tablet. While a German court has provoked outrage by outlawing infant circumcision, it has excepted cases of medical need. Yet the scientific consensus has long held that nothing prevents HIV like circumcision.