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By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ<\/p>\n
(JTA) — Untrained rabbis mutilating hysterical babies while black-clad men stand around praying:\u00a0The description of a Jewish circumcision in the mainstream Danish media indicates the xenophobia creeping through Scandinavia, some Jewish leaders fear. \u201cAround the baby stand ten black-clad men \u2013 a must in every Jewish circumcision,” the text declares. “As usual in Judaism, women aren\u2019t allowed to be present. An untrained rabbi mutilates the baby, who cries and bleeds profusely as the men pray.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words typify \u201cthe level of the current debate on circumcision in Denmark,\u201d said Finn Schwarz, president of the Jewish Congregation of Copenhagen. Schwarz says the false account of a Jewish circumcision indicates the increasing intolerance toward the ritual, couched in xenophobia. Buttressed in recent bans elsewhere in Europe, Schwarz worries that a Danish push could turn into parliamentary action on circumcision in Denmark as early as this year.<\/p>\n
The false description belongs to Kjeld Koplev, a well-known Danish journalist who converted from Judaism to Christianity. He began telling the story to the media after a court in Cologne, Germany, ruled in June that the non-medical circumcision of a minor amounted to a criminal act. Koplev\u2019s account of how ritual circumcision is child torture and abuse appeared on television and in an Op-Ed in the newspaper Politikien. \u201cWhen a former Jew says this, people listen,\u201d a frustrated Schwarz told JTA.<\/p>\n
His community has published a 20-page defense of circumcision as it prepares for a protracted rearguard battle. Beyond medical aspects, it attempts to explain why circumcision — the first biblical covenant between man and God — is central to Jewish life. Although Scandinavian societies and governments have led opposition to circumcision long before June\u2019s ruling in Cologne, the debate has taken \u201ca nasty turn\u201d since the German court\u2019s ruling, Schwarz says.<\/p>\n
Several politicians in Denmark, Norway and Finland said this summer that they were in favor of banning circumcision. Yet no party has submitted a bill to restrict the ritual. Hostile media are the least of the concerns of Scandinavian circumcision advocates. In 2003, Denmark\u2019s Children\u2019s Ombudsman, a government body, classified circumcision as a children\u2019s rights violation. Its Norwegian counterpart concurs. And Finland\u2019s Child Welfare Union lists circumcision as \u201cviolence.\u201d Schwarz worries that Copenhagen may set a precedent.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I think we will see a bill to ban circumcision from one of Denmark\u2019s radical left parties,\u201d he said, adding that the outcome of such a vote is anyone\u2019s guess. Sophie Lohde, speaker of Venstre, Denmark\u2019s largest party, supports a ban, as do speakers of other parties, according to the newspaper Kristeligt Dagbold. Yet JTA contacted all of Denmark\u2019s parties in the legislature and not one indicated that they were ready to support a ban.<\/p>\n
Laura Glavind, a spokeswoman for the liberal party Venstre, told JTA that the party did \u201cnot have enough knowledge\u201d and would take a stand after consulting the Health Ministry. Detractors of circumcision rely on a survey published in 2008 by the Danish Health Ministry\u2019s research institute, SSI. The study, conducted by Dr. Morten Frisch, indicated that circumcisions caused sexual performance problems.<\/p>\n
The research, which resurfaced last month in media debates about circumcision, included 125 circumcised men. Two were Jewish, five were Muslim and the rest were circumcised for reasons beyond their religious community\u2019s beliefs.\u00a0 Dr. Ilan Raymond, a physician from Copenhagen and a member of the Jewish community\u2019s board, hopes that talk of parliamentary action is a byproduct of what\u2019s known as \u201cthe silly season.\u201d During the slow summer months, journalists and backbench politicians often resort to statements about circumcision to stay relevant, says Raymond.<\/p>\n
If a ban does come to pass, Danish Jews would \u201cpack up [their] suitcases right away and end 400 years of Jewish life in Denmark,\u201d Bent Lexner, Denmark\u2019s chief rabbi, said in a recent filmed interview for a local news station.<\/p>\n
Regardless, merely following the acrimonious debate on circumcision is painful for Danish Jews, a community of roughly 8,500. \u201cIt deeply saddens me,\u201d Schwarz said. \u201cFor centuries we\u2019ve been a very important factor and have done a lot for this society. Yet now we hear our customs are barbaric and that we need to evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some anti-immigration campaigners are using the circumcision issue to prevent what they call Denmark\u2019s \u201cIslamization,\u201d Schwarz adds. A nation of 5.5 million, Denmark has approximately 210,000 Muslims, according to the U.S. State Department. He believes that some right-wing Danish politicians do not raise the subject to avoid being seen as targeting Jews. \u201cIf not for the Jewish community, circumcision would\u2019ve already been banned here,\u201d Schwarz said.<\/p>\n
Danish Muslims, Schwarz says, are happy to let Jews lead the defense. Whereas Jews circumcise boys when they are eight days old, many Muslims are circumcised much older in childhood — some as late as puberty, and most before the age of 10.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Jewish circumcision looks much more peaceful,\u201d Schwarz said. \u201cThe Muslims have a bigger problem in the debate than us Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Sweden, the debate on circumcision is in clear reaction to the arrival of Muslim immigrants, says Lena Posner-Korosi, president of the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities.<\/p>\n
The debate, however, is of little concern to Sweden\u2019s approximately 20,000 Jews. In 2001, the community lobbied successfully for special legislation on circumcision of male babies younger than two months.<\/p>\n
The law says that circumcision of newborns may be performed by a \u201clicensed professional.\u201d The country\u2019s Jewish ritual circumcisers, or mohelim, receive their license from the country\u2019s health board, but a nurse or doctor must still be present when they perform the procedure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a bad compromise and we had to fight hard to get it,\u201d Posner-Korosi said.<\/p>\n
Children older than two months, however, must be circumcised in a hospital and by a doctor. In February, the Swedish Paediatric Society called for a ban on circumcision, but government officials clarified that the law would remain.<\/p>\n
Norwegian Jews, who number around 700, last year formulated a similar compromise with their government, but it has not yet been enacted. Ervin Kohn, president of the Jewish Community in Oslo, expects no ban there in the near future.<\/p>\n
Finland\u2019s Jewish community of approximately 1,400 has little to fear either, according to Gideon Bolotowsky, president of the country\u2019s Central Council of Jewish Communities. This summer, some lawmakers from the Green Party failed to secure support within their own faction for a draft bill on circumcision.<\/p>\n
Bolotowsky and Kohn of Norway both say that the German government\u2019s actions after the June 25 ruling in Cologne have \u201cdiscouraged\u201d those seeking a ban in Scandinavia. Less than a month after the ruling, the German parliament passed a resolution in favor of allowing circumcision. The government is expected to draft legislation this year to protect the custom.<\/p>\n
Backpedaling can be observed elsewhere in Europe. A Swiss hospital that had imposed a moratorium on circumcisions ended it this month. Last month, an Austrian court ruled in favor of allowing circumcisions, ending a brief ban in some state-run hospitals.<\/p>\n
Raymond, the physician from Copenhagen, believes that even if attempts to ban \u201cforeign\u201d religious rituals persist, they are a passing phase.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrying to resist change is natural but futile,\u201d he said. \u201cScandinavia will eventually come to terms with its different populations simply because the world has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n