There is an old line: what do you say to the Pope on a Jewish Holiday........Gut Yontif Pontiff! What makes this rhyme a bit cute is the absurdity of wishing the Pontiff a Gut Yontif on a Jewish holiday. What could make this joke even more absurd if not funnier would be what do you say to the Pope if you saw him in shul on a Jewish holiday. Why in the world would the head of the Roman Catholic Church be in shul on a Jewish holiday or any day?
Pope Benedict XVI is coming to shul on the eve of Passover. During an upcoming U.S. visit, the Pope is scheduled to visit the Park East synagogue, a modern Orthodox shul in New York City in walking distance of the United Nations. Rabbi Arthur Schneier who has been involved in promoting religious tolerance worldwide and protecting persecuted Catholics will meet with the Pope on the Bimah of the synagogue while psalms we share in common will be sung in Hebrew along with the singing of the children of the Park East Synagogue Day School.
Privately, the Pope and the Rabbi most likely will speak to each other in German, their native language. Rabbi Schneier fled from the Nazis and lost most of his family in Auschwitz. The Pope recounts how he forcibly joined the Nazi Youth Core and enlisted in the German army though deserted before the end of the war. The two have met on a couple of occasions at the Vatican but now for the first time at the Rabbi's home in the synagogue.
This visit is of great historical significance. The symbolism is fantastic. Remember Pope John II's visit to the main synagogue in Rome in 1986. It was the first time a Pope ever stepped foot in a synagogue. It dramatically advanced Catholic-Jewish relations. Hopefully, this visit will do the same.
If you ask what could be more dramatic than a meeting of a Pope and Rabbi in an American synagogue, it may be the Saudi King's call for interfaith dialogue in his country. Here is the report just last week on Yahoo "RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - The Saudi king has made an impassioned plea for dialogue among Muslims, Christians and Jews - the first such proposal from a nation with no diplomatic ties to Israel and a ban on non-Muslim religious services and symbols."
No religion other than Islam is permitted to be practiced in the Saudi Kingdom. It has been home to a very strict and some might say severe form of Islam. To experts, it was no surprise that so many of the 9/11 terrorists were native Saudis. Is it now possible that the King wants to change his country's future? As the home of the two holiest places for Islam, Mecca and Medina, this suggestion by the Saudi Monarch speaks volumes. Should any Jews or Israelis participate in a dialogue with the monarch of a country that has no diplomatic relations with Israel? Indeed we should! Israel had no diplomatic relations with Egypt when President Sadat came to Jerusalem to address the Keneset. The same is true of the early talks with King Hussein of Jordan. It does take courage and hope to speak to those who have been our bitter enemies but shows some opening for improvement in relations.
I had a wonderful conversation this week with the Pastor of the Cavalry Church on Philmont Avenue just off of Bustleton Avenue. He is a neighbor of ours, a resident of Richboro. I had long heard that that Church has a deep love for the State of Israel, and I called him to discuss something regarding Israel's 60th anniversary. It just so happened that this past Sunday I was driving from an unveiling at Shalom Memorial Park to another unveiling at Roosevelt Cemetery and expected to arrive at the second service in plenty of time. That was until I got stuck on Philmont Avenue with hundreds and hundreds of cars leaving the church minutes after one of their Sunday services ended. The Pastor told me that they have 8,000 adult members and 4,000 children in the church. I asked how many come on a given Sunday. He seemed a little surprised by my question. He said they all do. I and we have much to learn from him and them. He did share with me his love of the G-d of Israel and the State of Israel. He has visited Israel 13 times and the Church regularly hosts important Israeli visitors. He quoted to me Genesis 12, G-d's pledge to Abraham. "I will bless those who bless you." He told me he prays for Israel each day. Now that we made initial contact, I hope there is more to come.
I am conscious that today is the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination. I have written nothing regarding race relations but I hope what I have written honors Dr. King's memory and his ministry for civil rights and relations amongst different groups.
A young man recently told me that what he doesn't like about Judaism and religion is that it separates us. We should all be one with no divisions or separations. I was surprised by this comment by an otherwise very smart and accomplished individual. We will never all be the same. We have different color skin. We speak different languages. We have different cultures and we worship G-d differently. It is within human nature to want to belong to a particular group that is smaller than the whole world. We need groups that make us feel separate and special. What we don't need are groups that make us feel superior and others inferior. We don't need groups that believe they are Right and the rest of the world is Wrong. We don't need groups that feel G-d has blessed them and cursed every one else.
Our Parsha opens with the theme of giving birth. "When a woman at childbirth..." An interfaith conference in Saudi Arabia would give birth to something new and potentially wonderful for the world. The Pope's visit to the synagogue gives birth to even more healing and a closer relationship between these two faiths. I trust that my conversation with the Pastor will give birth to new bridges supporting a new relationship within our own community.
Both Rabbi Schneier and the Pope know the meaning of the word Gut. It is Yiddish and so close to the German for good. Yontif the Pope might not know. It is Yiddish and comes from the Hebrew Yom Tov literally meaning a good day and more specifically a holiday. When the head of the Roman Catholic Church visits a synagogue, it is a good day. It is surely a day filled with holy encounter. The day has so much significance for the present and future, it even counts as a Yontif, a holiday.
Shabbat
Shalom
