Germany Drops Charges against Mohel

A German prosecutor has dropped all charges against Rabbi David Goldberg , who faced a criminal trial last year after a Cologne court ruled that circumcision was illegal in Germany. The ruling followed a case of a four-year-old Muslim boy who was hospitalized for excessive bleeding after being circumcised

The German parliament has since passed a new law allowing circumcision, with some restrictions.

A statement by the prosecutor noted that the circumcision he performed satisfied child welfare laws, Jewish German publication Jüdische Allgemeine reported. “Circumcisions which are applied with the consent of parents or custodians are not subject to criminal liability,” the prosecutor added.

Rabbi Goldberg has been working as a mohel in Germany since 1997, and said after the prosecutor’s statement, “I never had any doubts; I still performed circumcisions. But I think this is very good news for parents who did have doubts, and for the entire Jewish community.”