‘Us vs Them’ Fears in German Debate Over Ritual Jewish, Muslim Circumcisions
After a regional German court recently banned circumcision, Jews and Muslims in Germany have grown worried that there is an “invisible barrier between secular Germans and religious minorities,” David Rising reports for The Associated Press. David Goldberg, a rabbi trained to perform ritual circumcision, has received many emails from non-Jewish Germans, messages which the Rabbi describes as “very anti-Semitic. It’s a bad atmosphere.” Angela Merkel has also expressed great concern over the ruling and its ramifications. “I don’t want Germany to be the only country in the world in which Jews cannot perform their rituals,” the German hancellor said.