Burka ban in Switzerland provokes criticism among Muslim and Jewish communities in Europe • Concern: Initiatives against religious traditions • Interpretation
A poster supporting the ban on the burqa
Photo:
IPI
The "ban on burqas," which was approved yesterday by a fairly narrow majority in a referendum in Switzerland, raises much criticism and deep concern among both Muslim and Jewish communities across Europe.
More and more initiatives against the religious traditions of these two minority groups - slaughter, circumcision, carrying religious symbols in public spaces, erecting mosques, playing prayer calls or placing huge menorahs - are being discussed in public, parliament and legal and approved in various countries.
Here, just a few weeks ago, the European Court of Justice upheld a decision by Belgian authorities to ban kosher slaughter.
These initiatives are generally interpreted as strengthening the "extreme right" in Europe, although their support also comes from various left-wing groups, which believe that the rights of the child (in the case of circumcision of boys), women's rights (in relation to face covering) or animal rights (in the context of slaughter) precede the principle of religious freedom .
There is no doubt that a focus on banning religious traditions from Jews and Muslims may indicate feelings of racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
But not everyone who supports these bans is a racist, antisemitic or Islamophobic.
There is a big difference between religious traditions that take place in the personal-family space and traditions that affect the public space.
There is no law of circumcision performed in hygienic medical conditions in closed halls, as there are mass prayers in the streets, loud readings of muezzins, and also - public face covering.
The father of Jewish reform, Moshe Mendelssohn, is credited with saying, "Be a Jew in your home and a person when you leave."
That is, do not impose your Judaism on your environment.
This should also be the perception of Muslims in Europe.
Mass Muslim immigration to Europe is a relatively new historical phenomenon.
Many Europeans are uncomfortable with the accelerated formation of a large immigrant community that imports religious drivers, who are perceived as a threat to the cultural character of Europe.
They do not want to find themselves in public pools where women cannot bathe with men or encounter in their workplaces masked women who are not at all recognizable.
Anyone who has emigrated to Europe, or anywhere else, needs to adapt to the new environment.
Not the environment has to adapt to it.