page_title: Religious views on female genital mutilation
section_title: Judaism
hierarchical_section_title: Religious views on female genital mutilation / Judaism
caption_attribution_description: ETHIOPIAN IMMIGRANTS COMING OFF A BOEING JET AT AN AIR FORCE BASE AFTER ARRIVING ON OPERATION SOLOMON, FROM ADDIS ABABA. עולים חדשים מאתיופיה יורדים ממטוס לאחר הגעתם במסגרת מבצע שלמה מאדיס אבבה
context_page_description: There is a widespread view among practitioners of female genital mutilation that it is a religious requirement, although prevalence rates often vary according to geography and ethnic group. There is an ongoing debate about the extent to which the practice's continuation is influenced by custom, social pressure, lack of health-care information, and the position of women in society. The procedures confer no health benefits and can lead to serious health problems.
  FGM is practised predominantly within certain Muslim societies, but it also exists within some adjacent Christian and animist groups. The practice isn't required by most forms of Islam, and fatwas have been issued forbidding FGM, favouring it, or leaving the decision to parents but advising against it. However, FGM was introduced in Southeast Asia by the spread of Shafi'i version of Islamic jurisprudence, which considers the practice obligatory. There is mention of it on a Greek papyrus from 163 BCE and a possible indirect reference to it on a coffin from Egypt's Middle Kingdom. It has been found among Coptic Christians in Egypt, Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia, and Protestants and Catholics in Sudan and Kenya.
context_section_description: Judaism requires male circumcision, but it does not allow FGM and the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) does not mention it. The only Jewish group known to have practised FGM are the Beta Israel of Ethiopia. The Beta Israel were not familiar with the Talmud, the Mishnah, and other religious scripture, and read and spoke little or no Hebrew. Most were flown to Israel between 1984 and 1991, where they converted to Orthodox Judaism. Once in Israel, the women abandoned FGM. A study in 1997 found that one third of the 113 Beta Israel women examined had experienced it; 27 percent had undergone partial or total clitoridectomy.
caption: Ethiopian Jews arriving in Israel, 1991
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