Before leaving the synagogue, the pope shook hands with members of the children’s choir. Photos by Robert Wiener
April 24, 2008
NEW YORK — Pope Benedict XVI made history by becoming the first leader of the Roman Catholic Church to ever set foot in an American synagogue.
It happened just three hours before Shabbat on April 18, when Benedict visited the Park East Synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side during his six-day tour of New York and Washington, DC, entitled “Christ Our Hope.”
But even as he brought a greeting of peace to the Jewish community, the pontiff made no mention of anti-Semitism or his church’s role in the Holocaust.
His host was Chief Rabbi Arthur Schneier, a survivor of the Shoa. Schneier thanked the pope for “a reaffirmation of your outreach, goodwill, and commitment to enhancing Jewish-Catholic relations” in a land “which has allowed all religious communities to flourish.”
After greetings at the door, the two men walked slowly down the center aisle together, with the rabbi gently using an arm to guide the pontiff to the bima of the Modern Orthodox synagogue.
To their right, the combined voices from Park East’s adult and children’s choirs welcomed the Catholic guest with a familiar Jewish melody, “Hevenu Sholom Aleichem.”
A delegation of Catholic clergy from the United States and the Vatican sat behind them.
Across the aisle were leaders of New York’s Jewish community, including World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder, former mayor Edward Koch, and former World Bank chair James Wolfensohn.
In a brief address, Schneier spoke of Nostre Aetate, a 43-year-old declaration by Pope Paul VI that the crucifixion of Jesus “cannot be charged against all the Jews.”
“Your presence here gives us hope and courage for the road we still have to travel together,” the rabbi told Pope Benedict. “At a time when religion is misused and abused by some, we must intensify together our commitment to repair our fractured world, tikkun olam. Our presence together is a message that inter-religious dialogue is viable and vital to the resolution of conflict.”
Moments later, the pontiff approached the podium and greeted guests with the word “Shalom.”
“It is with joy that I come here to express my respect and esteem for the Jewish community in New York City,” he continued. “I find it moving to recall that Jesus as a young boy heard the words of Scripture and prayed in a place such as this,” he said.
“I know that the Jewish community makes a valuable contribution to the life of the city and I encourage all of you to continue building bridges of friendship with all the many different ethnic and religious groups present in your neighborhood,” the pope said.
The two men reinforced their own personal bridge with an exchange of gifts. Schneier, joined by Park East president Herman Hochberg, presented the pope with a sterling silver Seder plate made in Jerusalem.
Two of the rabbi’s grandchildren, Lindsey Dresbach and Russell Rutter, stepped forward to give Benedict a bouquet of flowers, a Haggada, and a box of matza.
Aware that the first night of Passover was some 24 hours away, the pontiff smiled and said, “I’ll eat them tomorrow night.”
In turn, he gave the rabbi a replica of a Hebrew manuscript that has been stored in the Vatican Library since the 15th century.
As he descended from the bima, the pope wandered to the side of the sanctuary and extended his hand to children in the choir.
“It was a very amazing speech and a once-in-a-lifetime chance, “said Jonathan Karten, 11. “I got to shake his hand and everything. You see the pope on TV and finally he was a real person.”
A throwback?
Later, at a news conference in the synagogue vestibule, Schneier brushed off criticism that the pope failed to address issues of anti-Semitism or the Holocaust before his largely Jewish audience.
The papal visit came “on the eve of the Shabbat, and it was not the opportunity for a lengthy discourse,” said the rabbi.” But I can tell you Pope Benedict has consistently spoken out against anti-Semitism. I want to emphasize the leader of the Catholic world standing in a synagogue in New York the first time in American history and Jewish history.”
Commenting on another controversy, Schneier spoke about a Good Friday prayer in Latin the pontiff reinstituted last July.
A teary Rabbi Schneier speaks of his family lost in the Holocaust.
It asks Catholics to “pray also for the Jews that the Lord our God may take the veil from their hearts and that they also may acknowledge Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
To some observers in and outside the Jewish community, the prayer seemed to be a throwback to less tolerant times toward Judaism before Nostre Aetate.
“Obviously it was a concern to the Jewish community because the Latin prayer was not that Jew-friendly. This is an understatement,” Schneier said. “So we sought clarification. Basically, one should looks at this prayer as not for today but for the end of days, and therefore, I wish the prayer would not be. However, we have to look at the major issues facing us today and I could tell you that in the spirit of Nostre Aetate this kind of prayer would never have been written.”
The rabbi grew teary as he launched into a personal reflection beginning with his boyhood in Vienna.
“I saw my synagogue burned on Kristallnacht,” he said. “The reason I’m a rabbi today is because my grandfather was a very famous rabbi…. He never returned from Auschwitz.
“In his memory I made a promise to myself after the war. I am going to study and be ordained as a rabbi. I kept my promise and I’m not sorry for it.”
--TOP--
- Comment: comments@njjewishnews.com