Police in Belgium have raided the homes of several mohelim in Antwerp following a legal complaint lodged by a local Jewish critic of the practice of brit milah [ritual circumcision].
At least one mohel, Rabbi Aharon Eckstein - one of the country’s most experienced practitioners - had his home searched in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with police confiscating his circumcision instruments, according to reports confirmed by JNS.
“They didn’t say much,” Eckstein told the outlet. “They just looked through the place and took my kit.”
Despite the raid, he said he plans to continue performing circumcisions, “because I have not been told not to.”
A mohel is a person trained in performing brit milah, a core Jewish religious practice. The raids follow a complaint filed in 2023 by Rabbi Moshe Aryeh Friedman, a controversial figure who has frequently criticised Charedi customs.
Friedman alleged that six mohelim endangered children by performing metzitzah b’peh – a traditional procedure involving oral suction of blood from the wound following circumcision.
However, Eckstein and several parents whose sons he has circumcised told JNS that he does not perform metzitzah b’peh.
The Charedi community, which constitutes the majority of Antwerp’s 18,000 Jews, has expressed concern over what they see as increasing encroachments on religious freedoms in Belgium.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, head of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association, condemned the police operation.
“This constitutes yet another red line crossed in the intimidation of Jewish religious figures in Belgium,” he said. “Following the ban on shechita [kosher ritual slaughter], the harassment of mohelim represents a further red line and a clear warning sign to Belgian Jews and the Belgian government. Freedom of religion must be upheld.”
Belgium is among several European countries that have banned religious slaughter methods such as shechita and its Islamic equivalent, dhabihah, which require animals to be conscious at the time of killing.
Animal rights advocates have criticised the practices as inhumane, prompting legal prohibitions.
A similar debate is now apparently emerging around the non-medical circumcision of boys, though no European country has yet legislated against the practice.
Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the Conference of European Rabbis, also voiced concern in response to the raids.
“Freedom of religion, in the Jewish case, must include freedom of religious practice,” he said. “Circumcision stands as the critical commandment at the core of Jewish identity. For Jewish communities to continue to exist and survive on the continent, they must be allowed to practise this act, an act which certainly adheres to modern medical standards.
“That the principles of democracy, child rights, law, or modern medicine are sadly being weaponised to assault this ancient Jewish practice is no surprise. Values within our Western society can also be wrapped for hostility.
“The heavy-handed approach of Antwerp’s police force instead of an informed engagement with community leaders and experts is an expression of this damaging weaponisation in a physical way. Freedom of religion must apply to Jews too.”
