Amidst a day of meetings with Israel Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger and German officials over how their country’s justice system approaches the issue of ritual infant circumcision, Chabad-Lubavitch of Berlin director Rabbi Yehuda Tiechtel formally accepted the title of “Rabbi of the Community” from Jewish Community of Berlin chairman Dr. Gideon Joffe.
The announcement and Metzger’s visit come two months after a district court in Cologne ruled that infant circumcision constituted bodily harm and thus could not be performed without obtaining a patient’s consent. While the ruling had no bearing on other districts, it sparked a national debate over parental religious rights.
Metzger and Joffe signed a formal document on Monday that grants Tiechtel the same title as Rabbi Yitzhak Ehrenberg.
“The Jews of Berlin are privileged to appoint for themselves a dominant rabbi who has revolutionized Jewish life here in over the past 16 years,” said Jaffe.
During a June interview with CNN, Tiechtel called on the government to uphold religious freedom, and yesterday, Metzger stressed that Jewish law takes the health of a baby boy into account when mandating circumcision on the eighth day of life; circumcisions are routinely postponed when a baby’s health is questioned.
Metzger and Tiechtel met with the Federal Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, who assured them that a bill will be presented to the Bundestag in September that will guarantee governmental protections to Jewish parents choosing to circumcise their children.
The pair then met with Renate Künast, chairwoman of the Alliance ‘90/The Greens political party that occupies 68 seats in the German parliament. On Tuesday, they were scheduled to meet with leaders of the legislative opposion as well as former Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier.
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