Readings/Lectures October-December 2012

Here are some dates for my lectures and readings in Germany. Please come, if you can and please forward to friends who may be interested.

17 October            Basel

19:30 at the Gemeindehaus der Israelitischen Gemeinde Basel, Leimenstrasse 24.

18 October            Baden Baden

19:00 at the Spiegelsaal, Kurhaus.

22 October            Berlin

19:00 at the Akademie der Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung

23 October            Kiel

19:00 at the Literaturhaus, Schwanenweg 13.

25 October            Bonn

18:00 at the Friedrich Ebert-Stiftung, Godesbergerallee 149.

26 October            Mainz

19:30 at the LOMO Buchbar, Am Ballplatz 2.

29 October            Saarbrücken

18:00 at the Rosa Luxemburg-Stiftung, Futterstr. 17-19.

6 November            Berlin

18:00 at the Rosa Luxemburg Salon, Franz-Mehring Platz 1, Berlin

7 November            Kiel

14 November          Magdeburg
19:30 at the Stadtbibliothek Magdeburg

3 December            Dresden

19:00 at the Militärhistorisches Museum, Olbrichtplatz 2.

5 December            Frankenberg (Eder)

19:30 at the Burgwald-Kasino, Marburgerstr. 75.

6 December            Kassel

19:00 at the VHS, Willemshöher Allee 19-21.

Circumcision II

The Cologne court’s ruling that circumcision is tantamount to committing bodily injury continues to cause unrest. German politicians needed this ruling like a hole in the head. If they could, they would probably have the Cologne judge circumcised without anaesthetics. 

Everybody, rabbis, politicians and blog writers like me, are all chewing on the forbidden foreskin. Mrs. Merkel has warned that Germany might become a laughing stock of the world for banning circumcision. Her ministers are searching for ways to pass legislation that will allow such bodily harm (i.e. circumcision) for reasons of “religious freedom”.

Israel’s President Peres has also given it a tug: In a letter to his German counterpart Gauck, Peres explained that circumcision was a “crucial” Jewish custom, “a central aspect of our nation’s Jewish identity.” Now, 79-year-old Charlotte Knobloch, a former chairperson of the Central Council of German Jews, has come out with a bitter howl published by the Süddeutsche Zeitung. For Knobloch, who survived Nazi Germany and life in post-War yet Nazi-ridden Germany, this ruling is more than she can swallow.

This general panic is a shame, as the issue deserves unhurried consideration. Everyone is talking about religious freedom – whatever that is - instead of going for a serious investigation into the fascinating questions of a baby boy’s rights and the extent to which circumcision is indeed harmful and/or traumatic.

Circumcision, Germany, Israel, Merkel, Peres

A Land to Die For?

Theo Press has considered the various suggestions sent in by participants in the title competition and has decided to name my book that is due to be out at the end of October:

A Land to Die For?   Soldier Talk and Moral Reflections of Young Israelis

The prize winner has been notified.