Word: rabbi
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...Jews as "fellow believers" and spoke of the Holocaust as a "ruthless and inhuman" effort to exterminate specifically European Jews. "Never again!" the Pontiff declared, repeating a common Jewish phrase referring to the Nazi era. He also endorsed Catholic-Jewish programs to educate youngsters about the Nazi atrocities. Said Rabbi James Rudin, interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee: "The healing is under...
There was a little less concord on some political issues. Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, speaking for the Jewish attendees, urged once again that "full and formal diplomatic relation relations be established soon between the Vatican and the state of Israel." John Paul replied that the "Jewish people . . . have a right to a homeland, as does any civil nation." But the same principle "also applies to the Palestinian people, so many of whom remain homeless and refugees...
Rome announced that it will establish a "special mechanism" to serve as a line of swift communication to Jewish leadership. New York City Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, chairman of the International Jewish Committee, said the still-to-be- defined mechanism "could assure that there would be no more Waldheim incidents in the future." The Vatican Secretary of State Agostino Cardinal Casaroli offered to maintain continuing contacts with Jewish leaders. Since Casaroli is the Pope's chief political adviser, his offer effectively "brought Catholic-Jewish dialogue to a new level," said Waxman. Willebrands also announced that his commission will prepare an official...
...talks had some light moments. Rabbi Alexander Schindler, leader of Reform Judaism in the U.S., told the Pontiff that in 1979 he had lifted a child above the crowd when John Paul visited New York City, saying, "Remember for the rest of your life that it was a rabbi who helped you see the Pope." But for all the warmth, what some were already calling the historic "Castel Gandolfo meeting" has not healed all the old wounds. To ensure that this visit will be remembered past his lifetime, the Pope who saw the rabbis has merely begun what promises...
Some Jewish leaders would like the Pope to declare more explicitly that he understands why Jews were offended by his meeting with Waldheim. Nonetheless, few doubted that relations between the Vatican and Judaism were getting back on the right track. "Skeptics abound on both sides," says Rabbi Alan Mittleman, who recently published a study of John Paul's attitudes toward Jews. "But realists know that there is genuine improvement under...