NEWS “Jewish ritual circumcision is an unquestionable religious right”

By Pagine Ebraiche staff

Jewish ritual circumcision is not and will never be questioned. It is in fact a fundamental religious right, regulated by a clear and solid-based framework.

This emerged during the hearing at the Chamber of Deputies on the initiative of the Parliamentary Committee on Childhood and Youth, presided by MP Licia Ronzulli.

Noemi Di Segni, president of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities, and Riccardo Di Segni, Rome’s Chief Rabbi, attended and spoke at the meeting, while Yahya Sergio Yahe Pallavicini, president of the Islamic Religious Community, was called to represent Italian Muslims.

The hearing was convened with respect to the examination of Act No 216, “on the issues related to ritual circumcision on minors,” which was submitted in the last few months.

The trigger for the examination were some news reports of undercover practices within the Islamic community which led to tragic outcomes.

On this note, some speeches held during the hearing mentioned the joint approach which has been adopted and which combines Jewish ancient norms and the Italian Constitution, balancing religious freedom and absolute protection of minors’ health.

This harmonic approach builds upon a specific operating protocol and a register of circumcisers established by UCEI and Italian Rabbi Assembly.

Translated by Sara Facelli and revised by Claudia Azzalini, students at the Advanced School for Interpreting and Translation of Trieste University and interns at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.