Rabbi, "Holocaust Scholar" Kosher Stamps John Paul II Beatification

Rabbi Michael Berenbaum's "Holocaust" fundamentalist absolutism stands to benefit greatly from a JPII beatification.

“As I observe young people in relativistic societies seeking an absolute for morals and values, they now can view the Holocaust as the transcendental move away from the relativistic, and up into the absolute where the Holocaust confronts absolute Evil [=Nazism] and thus find fundamental values.” (Rabbi Michael Berenbaum, speaking at Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, January 26-28, 2000)

As I said at the Mass celebrated in 1979 at Brzezinka near Auschwitz: "I kneel at this Golgotha of the modern world" (Pope John Paul II)

Holocaust scholar pays tribute to Pope John Paul

Catholic World News
January 17, 2011

Michael Berenbaum, a rabbi and Holocaust scholar, has praised the Vatican announcement of Pope John Paul II’s beatification.

“Jews have no right to register an opinion on whom the Roman Catholic Church beautifies [sic] and whom it considers a saint,” he writes. “Nevertheless, this has not stopped us from asserting our disapproval of the efforts to canonize Pope Pius XII, the man who served as Pope during the Holocaust.”

“Though I have no vote,” he concludes, “were I to have [a] vote, I would be honored to consider Pope John Paul II a saint, not a saint without flaws, or human fallibility but a saint nevertheless.”

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=8919

"I learned to be a faithful 'Jew' from Pope John Paul II"

This is a follow-up to In Benedict's Own Words: His Latin Good Friday Prayer and "Papal Ambiguity" has a Clear Trajectory. Recall that Pope Benedict says his theology of "The Jews" is, "in absolute continuity with John Paul II." When John Paul II's conductor, Gilbert Levine says he learned to be a faithful "Jew" from the Pope, he is, of course, referring to faith in Kabbalah/Talmud, Zionism and "Holocaust" sanctification.

... To [Pope John Paul II's Judaic conductor, Gilbert] Levine’s surprise, and to the surprise of his Jewish friends, the pope never suggested that the conductor, “a proud Jew,” consider Catholicism. Not a word about conversion. John Paul II respected Levine’s growing religious observance, once giving him a bronze menorah as a gift.

“I learned to be a faithful Jew from him because of his profound spirituality,” says Levine, who was often accompanied to his papal meeting by his wife, mother-in-law and two sons.

Levine was invested as Knight Commander of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1994, earning him the title of “Sir” and making him the first American Jew so knighted by the Vatican. In 2005, he received another papal honor, the Silver Star of Saint Gregory, the highest rank of pontifical nobility achieved by a Jew. The star was awarded in Washington by Benedict XVI, but the awarding process had begun under John Paul II ... " ("Concerto For Interfaith Dialogue: Conductor Gilbert Levine reflects on his musical and personal relationship with Pope John Paul II," Steve Lipman, December 7, 2010, The Jewish Week)

http://www.thejewishweek.com/arts/books/concerto_interfaith_dialogue

The True 'Spirit of Assisi' Unveiled

'Dialogue' and the 'Spirit of Assisi' under the 'Noahide' rainbow.





http://www.santegidio.org/index.php?&idLng=1064

http://www.santegidio.org/downloads/cracovia_en.pdf

One important event will be a pilgrimage, unprecedented in size and representation, to the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, on September 8. This will serve as a sign of reconciliation and peace and a symbol of a radical rejection of violence and war as a way of solving international conflicts.

The program will begin with an inaugural Mass tomorrow, presided by Cardinal Dziwisz at the Divine Mercy Shrine. In the afternoon, there will be an Inaugural Assembly in the Auditorium 'Maximum' of Krakow. On September 7, there will be 22 round-table discussions in various parts of the city, which will address various themes including: Do Not Forget Auschwitz; the Legacy of John Paul II; Latin America in a Globalized World; Religions and the Challenge of Materialism; Dialogue of Faith and Culture; Faiths in Asia: Building a World Without Violence; Africa, Land of Opportunity; Religions and Global Health of the World: the Rebirth of Africa; The Power of Prayer Over History; Faith and Science.” The final day, September 8, in the morning there will be a Silent March to the gas chambers of the concentration camp at Birkenau and a Memorial Ceremony at the International Monument to the Victims of Nazi-fascism. In the afternoon, following the prayer encounters at various sites, the various religious communities will meet for a Peace Procession that will make its way to Market Square, where the closing ceremony will be held.

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=14765

Auschwitz sanctified again, Sept 8, 2009.

Also see:

Rome Hosts Conference on "The Contribution of Judaism to Our Contemporary World."

Religious Leaders are Playing a Game

The REAL Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow

Rabbis' Wrath

Read of the lying, racism, double-standards, corruption, injustice, violence and mercilessness of the bishops' elder brothers in the faith and the religion of their faith in a recent Jerusalem Post article:

Rabbi's Wrath by Matthew Wagner

Lying Rabbi of the Wailing Wall Insists Pope Remove Pectoral Cross

"The Christians are idolaters, and Sunday is their holiday..." (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Avodah Zorah, 9;4)

“The Christians are worshipers of Avodah Zarah [idolatry]” (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Ma'akhalot Assurot, 11:7)

For the "elder brother" rabbis, maintaining their deception of Christians while remaining true to their traditions of hatred for Jesus Christ and Christian symbols is a thorny matter. The Wailing Wall Rabbi, Shmuel Rabinovitch, who is often seen in photos of world leaders prostrating themselves at the wall in Jerusalem, will ultimately defer to the Chief Rabbinate on how to deal with the Pope's pectoral cross. A story of how Israeli Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger handled a JPII pectoral cross conundrum in 2005 can be read here:

A Heartwarming Elder Brother Tale

In 2000, when JPII made his visit to the Wailing Wall, Judaism was not at its present level of ascendancy. Rabbi Rabinovitch didn't cause a commotion over JPII's pectoral cross as he has during recent visits from bishops and in anticipation of the upcoming Benedict XVI visit. Now, Judaism is much stronger in the Israeli state and around the world and its dispensational component laid out by Maimonides in the Mishneh Torah and in other rabbinic texts is coming into play. Not only is Rabbi Rabinovitch attempting to prevent Benedict XVI from wearing his pectoral cross, he's also brazenly lying in an attempt to blot out the indisputable fact that JPII wore his pectoral cross at the Western Wall in 2000 to make it appear as if there's no change in his current stance which is a move closer towards rabbinic mandates on "idolatry."

When one of Rabbi Rabinovitch's superior rabbis decides for him how this matter should be handled the decision will be based in Maimonides' code of situation ethics: if upholding the true mandates of Judaism pertaining to Christian "idolaters" and their "idols" threatens to cause "The Jews" to be viewed badly or suffer hostility then it's permissible to make an exception. But the fact that the matter is now open for discussion is a clear sign that the momentum is towards the rabbinic ideal.

Jerusalem Rabbi Insists the Pope Must Hide His Cross

March 19,2009

Tim McGirk - Time

... Even though the Vatican says it has received no formal request for the Pope to remove his golden crucifix during his visit to the Wall, Rabbi Rabinovitch's comments are bound to raise tensions on the eve of the trip. Israel's Foreign Ministry tried to smooth the waters by saying in a statement that "in accordance with rules of hospitality and dignity," the State of Israel will not prevent the Pope from wearing his cross when he visits the Western Wall.

But it is the rabbis rather than the government who hold sway at the Western Wall, and Rabbi Rabinovitch has twice previously turned away Christian delegations. In November 2007 he refused to let Austrian bishops near the wall after they would not remove or conceal their crosses, and in May 2008 he refused a request from a group of Irish bishops and prelates to visit the site. "They wanted to wear their crosses openly," Rabinovitch says ...

Explaining the intensity of feeling over the quintessential symbol of Christianity, Rabbi Ron Kronish, director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, a Jerusalem group promoting religious dialogue, says that there exists among ultra-Orthodox Jews "a certain allergy towards the cross." Asking the Pope to remove his cross, he says, is "part of the ongoing paranoia of Jewish history ..."

Rabinovitch was in charge of the Western Wall during the visit of the late Pope John Paul II in 2000, when the pontiff prayed and twisted a written message into the cracks of the ancient stones, observing the Jewish belief that all prayers made at the Wall are answered. Rabbi Rabinovitch insists that John Paul II did not wear a visible crucifix during his visit to the site, but photographs taken during that visit clearly show the Polish Pope wearing his familiar golden cross as he touched the wall, head bowed ...

It's possible that the fuss over the Pope's cross will blow over before Benedict arrives, since Rabinovitch's edict could be overruled by Israel's two chief rabbis [Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar], who are more politically attuned to the questions of the country's international image ...

full article:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1886525,00.html

also see:

"Elder Brothers in the Faith" Hate the Central Symbol of our Faith

Amalek, Haman, and Christians

Ethnic Ashkenazim Against Zionist Israel: Dr Jim West: Maybe They Would Like to be Spit On Too…

On the Contrary: The John Paul II Theology of Pope Benedict XVI

On the Contrary: The John Paul II Theology of Pope Benedict XVI

ADL's Rabbi Greenberg on Benedict XVI/Cardinal Ratzinger

Some tradidionalist pundits would have people believe that Benedict XVI is reversing John Paul II's work in Catholic-"Jewish" relations. This theory is ridiculous. Benedict is more progressive in this area than JPII and was himself responsible for much of what happened in Catholic-"Jewish" relations during the JPII pontificate as the ADL's director of interfaith policy, Rabbi Eric J. Greenberg explains:

"The papacy of John Paul II was so overwhelmingly positive for Catholic-Jewish relations, but one must always remember that Cardinal Ratzinger was a key player," said Rabbi Eric J. Greenberg, director of interfaith policy for the Anti-Defamation League. "He was a part of all this." ("Jewish relations are at forefront," Gary Stern, Gannett News Service, April 11, 2008)

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NEWS01/804110339/1006

St. Vincent Ferrer

St. Vincent Ferrer's feast day is April 5. As one of the Church's greatest missionaries he converted tens of thousands of Sephardic Judaics from vain Talmudic and Kabbalistic self-worship to salvation in Jesus Christ. He knew nothing of "dialogue" and "reconciliation" with "elder brothers," theological schemes which put off missions to the Khazars and Sephardim instead waiting for an end-times mass conversion, or Cardinal Schönborn's latest--the idea that Christ's great commission to preach to all nations did not apply to Jews:

Judaism’s way to salvation, by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn


I take it that Schönborn would have us believe Christ's great commission to preach to all nations did not apply to the Khazar and Sephardi nations--today's "Jews"--by virtue of their future conversion to the anti-Christ Talmud. How else can these strange theological inventions be understood?

JPII Epitaph

"Somehow, [JPII] always found time in his impossible schedule to meet Jewish leaders and rabbis whether it was Israel’s Chief Rabbi Lau in 1993 or a group of American Jews just a few weeks ago. I had the privilege of meeting with him in New York in October 1995 in an intimate gathering at the residence of the late Cardinal John O’Connor. It was an unforgettably poignant moment." (Director of The National Council of Synagogues, Rabbi Gilbert S. Rosenthal, "Pope John Paul II, Jewish Perspectives")

http://www.ourelderbrothers.org/docs/POPE_JOHN%20PAUL_II_JEWIS_PERSPECTIVES.pdf

Who Says Judaism Isn't a Proselytizing System?

Contrary to common belief, proselytism is a very important part of Judaism. But the rabbis don't seek new converts to Judaism. Judaism is only for "The Jews." The rabbis have concocted a lower-tier religion for non-"Jews" who they hold to be of a lower-tier species than so-called "Jews".

From Rabbi Shlomo Riskin writing for the Jerusalem Post:

And Maimonides rules that only the Jews must keep the 613 commandments for ultimate "salvation"; it is enough for the gentile world to accept the Seven Noahide Laws of morality (Laws of Kings [Hilchot Melachim] 8,10).

But we certainly must proselytize every human being to keep those seven laws - do not worship an idol, do not misuse God's Name, do not murder, do not commit licentious sexual acts, do not steal, respect all creatures, and create a judicial system to enforce the first six laws. (Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, "Parashat Yitro: Every Knee Shall Bend," Jerusalem Post, Jan 24, 2008)

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1201070786760&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Rabbi Riskin fails to mention how Maimonides provided for the distinctness of the two-tiered Judaic system of law to be enforced:

A gentile who studies Torah is liable to the death penalty. They should be involved in the study of their Seven Mitzvot ["Noahide Laws"] only. (Moses Maimonides, Hilchot Melachim 10:9, Moznaim Publishing edition)

And so you see, rabbinic Judaism compels Judaic people to seek proselytes not to their own religion, but to a lower-tier system which the rabbis fabricted for non-"Jews:" the so-called "Noahide Laws." It is worth mentioning, however, that cajoling proselytism to the "Noahide Laws" would turn to convert-or-die compulsion where Judaic rule is open and fully consolidated.

In 2004 JPII misrepresented his elder brother Maimonides and his murderous system of "proselytizing," praising Maimonides as a figure of benevolence, and rejoicing in his vision of the Judaic Messianic age, which Maimonides wrote would be a time when all Christians would either give up their fundamental beliefs and accept the talmudic "Noahide Laws" or be executed. More on that here:

http://mauricepinay.blogspot.com/2007/02/jpiis-522-jest-at-expense-of-noachides.html

More on the "Noahide Laws" here:

http://mauricepinay.blogspot.com/2007/07/real-hidden-dangers-of-rainbow.html

Also of interest, see this transcript of Rabbi Riskin interviewed on the Larry King Show defending the presidential pardon of his good friend and convicted fraudster Marc Rich from Bill Clinton:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0102/28/lkl.00.html

A Heartwarming Elder Brother Tale

Hatred of the cross and classification of its veneration as idolatry, asinine legalism, mercilessness, ... that's our rabbinic "elder brothers in the faith" all right.

... This reminded [Chief Rabbi of "Israel," Yona Metzger] of one of his last meetings with Pope John Paul II a few years ago and what unfolded as a result of that particular encounter in the Vatican. It was less than a year before the pope passed away and he was rather ill and somewhat infirm. Rabbi Metzger is tall—probably about 6'4"—and he was concerned that he would have to bow his head and lean in to greet the pope and shake his hand. The concern was that as a result of this movement he would be bowing down to the crucifix that hung around the pope’s neck, which would be an act tantamount to bowing to an idol, a halachically prohibited act. He sought the guidance of Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv on this matter, and the elderly posek instructed Rabbi Metzger to stand erect and just extend his hand directly to the pope.

At their encounter in Rome, Rabbi Metzger did as instructed, and he related that in fact upon reaching out to the pope, the pope pulled himself up from his chair and bowed forward to welcome Rabbi Metzger ... ("Long Beach Magic," Larry Gordon, November 08, 2007, 5 Towns Jewish Times)

http://www.5tjt.com/news/read.asp?Id=1748

JPII and the "Jewish People" Travelling Exhibit

http://www.blessingexhibit.org/

JPII Supplanted Calvary With Auschwitz and Knelt Before It

"Auschwitz, along with so many other concentration camps, remains the horribly eloquent symbol of the effects of totalitarianism. It is our duty to make a pilgrimage to these places, in mind and heart, on this 50th anniversary. As I said at the Mass celebrated in 1979 at Brzezinka near Auschwitz: 'I kneel at this Golgotha of the modern world.'"
(Message of John Paul II on 50th Anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe, May 8, 1995)

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1995/may/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_08051995_50th-end-war-europe_en.html

JPII's Respect for Talmudic Khazars of ADL of B'nai B'rith Based In Mysterious Spiritual Link

ADDRESS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II
TO THE INTERNATIONAL LEADERS
OF THE «ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE OF B'NAI B'RITH»
(SONS OF THE ALLIANCE)

Thursday, 2 March 1984

Dear friends,

i am very happy to receive you here in the Vatican. You are a group of national and international leaders of the well-known Jewish Association, based in the United States, but active in many parts of the world, including Rome itself, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. You are also closely related with the Commission for Religious Relations with Judaism, founded ten years ago by Paul VI for the purpose of fostering relations, at the level of our respective faith commitment, between the Catholic Church and the Jewish Community.

The mere fact of your visit to me, for which I am grateful, is in itself a proof of the constant development and deepening of such relations. Indeed, when one looks back to the years before the Second Vatican Council and its Declaration "Nostra Aetate" and tries to encompass the work done since, one has the feeling that the Lord has done "great things" for us (cf. Luc 1, 49). Therefore we are called to join in a heartfelt act of thanksgiving to God. The opening verse of Psalm 133 is appropriate: "How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity."

... the respect we speak of is based on the mysterious spiritual link (cf. Nostra Aetate, 4) which brings us close together ...

... We certainly try to know each other better and to understand better our respective distinctive identity and the close spiritual link between us ...



Full address:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1984/march/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19840322_anti-defamation-league_en.html

JPII's 5/22 Rabbinic Jest at Expense of Noahides

During JPII's address to the Chief Rabbi of Rome delivered on 5/22/04 he made the following statement:

-----------------------------------------

"... Maimonides of Cordoba (1138-1204), the eighth centenary of whose death we are commemorating this year, expressed the hope that better relations between Jews and Christians might lead 'the whole world to unanimous adoration of God as has been said: 'I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord' (Zep 3: 9)' (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhòt Melakhim XI, 4, ed. Jerusalem, Mossad Harav Kook)."

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2004/may/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20040523_rabbino-segni_en.html

------------------------------------------

This is cajolery for gullible Noahides at best and likely an inside joke between rabbis, or perhaps a revelation of the method stunt. "We commemorate Maimonides death"? I certainly do not. The rabbis commemorate Maimonides death. He's their "great sage," not mine.

There is nothing anywhere in Maimonides' writing which gives even the faintest indication that he "hoped for better relations between Christians and Jews" for any reason. Quite the contrary. Maimonides believed Christians to be idolaters and called for their execution.

---------------------------------

"The Christians are idolaters, and Sunday is their holiday..." (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Avodah Zorah, 9;4)

"It is a mitzvah [religious duty], however, to eradicate Jewish traitors, minim, and apikorsim, and to cause them to descend to the pit of destruction, since they cause difficulty to the Jews and sway the people away from God, as did Jesus of Nazareth and his students, and Tzadok, Baithos, and their students. May the name of the wicked rot." (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Chapter 10)

--------------------------------

Let's put the half sentence from Maimonides quoted by JPII in it's context:

------------------------------------

"And if a king shall stand up from among the House of David, studying Torah and indulging in commandments like his father David, according to the written and oral Torah, and he will coerce all Israel to follow it and to strengthen its weak points, and will fight Hashem's wars, this one is to be treated as if he were the anointed one. If he succeeded and won all nations surrounding him and built a Holy Temple in its proper place and gathered the strayed ones of Israel together, this is indeed the anointed one for certain, and he will mend the entire world to worship the Lord together, as it is stated: 'For then I shall turn for the nations a clear tongue, to call all in the Name of the Lord and to worship Him with one shoulder' (Zephaniah 3:9)." (Maimonides, Hilchot Melachim XI, Mishneh Torah)

-----------------------------------

So we see that what JPII has quoted is actually Maimonides' statement on the Judaic messianic age which is the definitive, halachic, Judaic view on the topic. It is the warmongering, Gentile smashing, Zionist, Judaic King Messiah that Maimonides stated, "will mend the entire world to worship the Lord together." JPII completely misrepresented the text. I wonder why. Could it be due to the 2000 year old Christian tradition that the Judaic "Messiah" would be the Antichrist spoken of in the New Testament Book of Apocalypse?

Maimonides also states in Hilchot Melachim that Jesus Christ is not the Messiah because He's dead. He then goes on to opine that Christianity and Islam are good only so far as they help to usher in the Judaic King Messiah and the messianic age to come when Christian "idolaters" would be forced to abandon their religion and accept the Noahide laws* or be punished by decapitation.

This is all clearly laid out by Maimonides in Hilchot Melachim which JPII references as support for his message of fostering better relations between Christians and Jews?

------------------------------

"... a gentile who worships false gods is liable, [for the death penalty] provided he worships them in the accepted manner. A gentile is executed for every type of foreign worship which a Jewish court would consider worthy of capital punishment." (Maimonides, Hilchot Melachim XI, Mishneh Torah)

------------------------------

The rabbis whom JPII addresses here know his interpretation of Maimonides is nonsense, so what is the point of JPII's statement? Is it a joke between rabbis? Is it a signal to adepts that the Vatican now serves as a means of Noahide conversion and ushering in the Judaic messianic age as Maimonides states in the Mishneh Torah which JPII quoted?
Occultists usually leave themselves a way out when they pull an audacious stunt such as this one, but in this case I see no alternative explanation.

*The uncensored Mishneh Torah states: “All these matters relating to Jesus of Nazareth and the Ishmaelite ( Mohammed ) who came after him, only served to clear the way for King Messiah, to prepare the whole world to worship God with one accord….Thus the messianic hope, the Torah, and the commandments have become familiar topics….[People from faraway lands] are discussing these matters…But when the true King Messiah will appear and succeed…they will forthwith recant and realize that they have inherited naught but lies from their fathers, that their prophets and forbears led them astray.”

Judaic Lawyer/Banker "Altering Curriculum of Catholic Schools"

Building bridges: Program seeks to forge ties between Catholics and Jews

Sat, Jan. 03, 2007

BY ALEXANDRA ALTER

Miami Herald

More than 20 years after Pope John Paul II became the first Roman Catholic pontiff to visit a synagogue, South Florida Catholic and Jewish leaders are working to bridge a lingering divide between the two communities.

The ambitious pilot program -- which kicked off with an interfaith service at St. Mary's Cathedral in Miami last fall and continues this month with a program at Temple Emanu-El on Miami Beach -- involves gestures that range from distributing brochures to altering the curriculum of Catholic schools ...

... The pilot program has gained support from the Anti Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, the Archdiocese of Miami and the Miami Coalition of Christians and Jews and others, Howe said. Rabbis from places as far flung as Poland and Venezuela have expressed interest in launching similar interfaith efforts, said organizer Bernardo Benes, president of the Our Elder Brothers and Sisters Foundation, a Miami-based organization dedicated to fostering ties between Catholics and Jews.

Benes, a Cuban exile who co-founded the Cuban Hebrew Congregation on Miami Beach, said he learned of John Paul II's interfaith work 12 years ago, when he read the book A Letter to a Jewish Friend: The Simple and Extraordinary Story of Pope John Paul II and his Jewish School Friend.

Benes said he was surprised to learn the pope held strong views on ties beween Judaism and Christianity.

"He called us Jews `Our elder brothers,'" said Benes, a retired attorney and banker, and renowned Cuban activist.

After the pope's death in 2005, Benes decided to dedicate his life to promoting the pope's vision. When he traveled to Rome to attend the pope's funeral, Benes asked the Vatican's newspaper to send him archival photos of John Paul II's meetings with Jewish leaders and used the images to create a brochure outlining the pope's teachings on Judaism. He has printed pamphlets in English, Spanish and Creole to distribute at schools, churches and synagogues across Miami.

The brochure is just a first step: Eventually, Benes and other community leaders hope churches and synagogues will observe April 13, the day the pope visited a synagogue in Rome in 1986, as an interfaith holiday. And later this month, Benes will meet with Catholic educators at St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Boynton Beach to discuss changing the curriculum to include the late pope's writings on Judaism.

Full Article:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/religion/16388707.htm

The Vatican's Knight Defenders of the Talmud

These are two of the Vatican's seven Judaic Papal Knights


Pope Knights Jewish Man

Jewish Telegraph Agency

The head of Pave the Way, a non-sectarian group in New York, became the first Jewish man to be knighted by two popes.

Gary Krupp was promoted to the highest Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great, receiving the Silver Star in a Jan. 15 ceremony in Rome, after Pave the Way presented important Christian documents to the Vatican Library. Krupp “has encouraged, promoted and achieved high levels of cultural cooperation between Catholic and Jewish institutions,” said Father David Jaeger, the Vatican’s representative to Israel.

Pave the Way says religion should not be a tool for violence, but can help bridge cultural gaps between Israel and the Vatican and between Jews and Christians through education, tolerance and goodwill. Krupp “has never lost his optimism, never allowed anyone else to lose their optimism, and we need that in the world at this time,” Jaeger said.

http://jta.org/page_view_breaking_story.asp?intid=6764


Rabbi Rosen Invested as Papal Knight

Nov. 3, 2005

Jerusalem Post

Rabbi David Rosen, the American Jewish Committee's international director of interreligious affairs on Thursday became the first Israeli citizen, the first Orthodox rabbi and the fifth living Jew to be invested with a papal knighthood.

Rosen received the decoration and citation attesting to his new status as a Knight Commander of the Pontifical Order of St Gregory the Great at a ceremony hosted at the Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center by the Apostolic Delegate in Jerusalem and Palestine and the Apostolic Nuncio in Israel Archbishop Pietro Sambi.

The investiture was conducted by Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Holy See's Commission for Religious Relations with Jewry. The ceremony coincided with the 40th anniversary celebrations in Israel of Nostra Aetate, the ground-breaking Vatican II document that paved the way for mutual respect and dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Jews.

Kasper credited Rosen with being a moving force in the realization and implementation of the spirit of Nostra Aetate.

Noting that Rosen is active in many fields, Kasper who has known him and worked with him for several years said: "One meets him everywhere that this dialogue is going on - and he keeps the dialogue going on."

He first met Rosen, Kasper recalled, as a Jewish partner in dialogue. He found Rosen to be frank, free and outspoken, saying what pleased him about the Christians and also what didn't
please him.

Kasper characterized Rosen as "a fair partner who wants to understand Christianity" and struggles to overcome misunderstandings and slander. He described Rosen as a man of peace and dialogue who builds bridges.

One of the most positive developments of the last half century said Kasper is that Jews and Christians have found a way to gather. "It is a sign of hope and reconciliation, friendship and mutual understanding."

Kasper made a point of emphasizing that in his work for reconciliation and peace, Rosen is not a man of compromise, but acts from the depth of his Jewish faith ...

... Rosen who was on the team that negotiated diplomatic relations between Israel and the Vatican was pleased to see among the witnesses to his honor Shmuel Hadass, who was Israel's first ambassador to the Vatican.

Full Article:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1131035504811