A Orthodox Jewish man is seen in the city of Antwerp, Belgium. Photo: Reuters/Belga Photo Dirk Waem

As pressure mounts across Europe to regulate — and in some countries potentially prohibit— Jewish ritual circumcision, Jewish organizations are launching a new medical training and certification center for mohelim, seeking to strengthen professional standards while safeguarding the practice’s future.

A mohel is a trained practitioner who performs the ritual circumcision in Jewish tradition known as a bris.

Together, the European Jewish Association (EJA) and the Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE) announced on Tuesday the launch of the Center of Excellence for Religious Male Circumcision, which will train and certify mohelim in medical and safety procedures under the supervision of international medical experts.

As the first comprehensive program of its kind outside Israel, the new center will offer mohelim specialized training in the medical and safety standards surrounding circumcision, covering newborn assessments, infection prevention, wound care, emergency response, complication management, and aftercare.

Despite several attempts to ban it across Europe, ritual circumcision remains legal in all European countries – though many, including Belgium, limit the practice to licensed surgeons and often perform it in a synagogue.

Under the new framework, the Brussels-based center will provide mohels with additional medical and safety training, practical examinations, and professional certification, with qualified medical professionals overseeing the assessment process.

“When it comes to the well-being and safety of a child, our aspiration can never be satisfied with meeting the minimum standard,” EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin said in a statement.

“We aspire to excellence, and we want that excellence to be transparent, documented, and demonstrable through independent assessment,” he continued.

Tuesday’s announcement came after Jewish leaders, senior European officials, and medical experts gathered in Brussels earlier this summer to warn against Belgium’s prosecution of Jewish circumcisers.

According to physicians and scientists participating in the conference, decades of clinical data show no evidence that ritual circumcision performed by trained practitioners poses a greater risk to infants, with complication rates remaining lower than those reported in many hospital-based procedures.

Published research presented at the conference indicated that overall complication rates for ritual circumcision remain below 0.4 percent, with infections occurring in fewer than 0.06 percent of cases. Data from 2018 showed that out of more than 70,000 annual procedures, only 35 complications were reported.

This latest initiative comes as Jewish ritual circumcision faces growing legal and political challenges in Belgium and across Europe, raising fears among Jewish leaders that new restrictions could threaten religious freedom and the ability of Jewish communities to maintain their traditions.

Earlier this year, Belgian prosecutors moved to indict three Jewish men for allegedly performing illegal circumcisions, amid a government probe into the Jewish ritual.

The Antwerp Public Prosecutor’s Office formally indicted three local mohels in May for “intentional assault or bodily harm with premeditation against minors, as well as the illegal practice of medicine.”

Prosecutors in the northern Belgian city announced they had concluded their investigation into suspected illegal circumcisions and found sufficient evidence to refer the case to criminal court.

The highly controversial case began a year ago when Belgian police raided the homes of several mohels in Antwerp, seizing their circumcision tools after Rabbi Moshe Aryeh Friedman, an anti-Zionist activist previously accused of Holocaust denial, filed a complaint against members of the local Jewish community.

Among the homes raided by the Belgian police was that of Rabbi Aharon Eckstein, a highly experienced mohel and a prominent leader within the Antwerp Jewish community.

Since 2024, the Belgian government has been investigating illegal circumcisions in the country amid concerns from local authorities that some Jewish circumcisions were being performed by individuals without proper medical training.

In his complaint, Friedman accused six local mohels, whom he identified to the police, of endangering infants by performing the metzitzah b’peh ritual, in which the mohel uses his mouth to suction blood from the circumcision area.

However, the rabbis and parents of children circumcised by them denied such allegations, insisting that they do not perform this practice.

With Jewish leaders warning their way of life was being threatened, the legal proceedings against the mohels sparked fierce backlash, escalating into a public row involving Belgian authorities and Israeli and US officials.

Religious and political leaders warned that the case could become a watershed moment for religious liberty, minority protections, and the ability of faith communities to preserve their traditions across Europe, with some even denouncing the proceedings as an “antisemitic prosecution.”