Eli Yishai
Eli YishaiFlash 90

The Jewish German newspaper Jüdische Allgemeine reported that a complaint has been registered against Rabbi David Goldberg, a congregational rabbi in the city of Hof in South Germany, for performing circumcision.

This is the first time that a rabbi has been charged in Germany for such an offense.

This charge is based on a court ruling handed down in July against a doctor performing circumcision on a Muslim patient, in which the procedure is considered an offense under the category of bodily injuring a minor. This ruling was handed down despite the fact that the circumcision was performed for religious purposes.

Minister of Interior and Shas party head, Eli Yishai, has sent a letter to the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, requesting that she personally intervene to prevent legal action against Jews trying to keep the Biblical commandment of circumcision in Germany.

In his letter, Yishai wrote that “circumcision is one of the most important commandments that the Jewish nation was given, and the first given to Abraham, one of the forefathers of our nation.” Furthermore, he asked that the Jews “not be asked to decide between following the laws ofthe Bible and abiding by the laws of Germany.” Yishai noted that circumcision has been a commandment that the Jews have kept throughout the Diaspora, even in the most difficult of times.