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COMMUNITY VIEWS

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Bridges Of Understanding

birth to a declaration Nostra Aetate on
n late January, Adam Cardinal
the church and the Jews that ushered
Maida shared 90 minutes of
in a revolution. The document con-
dialogue with the Michigan
demned as wholly false the ancient
Board of Rabbis. His visit with
pernicious charge of deicide, the
the board was preceded by a visit by
vicious accusation that Jews were col-
another cardinal to the rabbis attend-
lectively to blame for the murder of
ing last year's Rabbinical Assembly
their God. In the eyes of the Catholic
convention in Baltimore, Md.
Church, the Jews were no
William Cardinal Keeler
longer doomed to eternal
participated in the 1999 Rab-
exile.
binical Assembly convention.
In 1993, the Holy See
He left me with the feeling
established full diplomatic
that there has been a remark-
relations with the State of
able positive change in
Israel, which included an
Catholic-Jewish relations in
exchange of ambassadors. It
this post-Holocaust era. Sim-
put an end to the church's
ilarly, during Cardinal Maida's
degradation of the Jewish
dialogue with the Michigan
people. Instead, the
Board of Rabbis, there was a
RABBI
Catholic Church recog-
tone of openness that reflects
HERBERT A.
nized the Jewish people as
the verse in Leviticus, "Love
YOSKOWITZ
an important participant in
your neighbor as yourself."
Special to
present and future world
Catholics and Jews do not
the Jewish News
history.
share the same theology, the
Seven and a half years
same dogmas or the same
earlier, on April 13, 1986,
doctrines, but we hope that
Pope John Paul II, clad in white robe
we share some of the same fears and
and wearing a white zucchetto (skull-
some of the same hopes.
cap), embraced Chief Rabbi of Rome
One of the main contributors to
Elio Toaff and prayed in a synagogue
the sensitization of Catholics to Jewish
-- an unprecedented act for a pope.
concerns was. Pope John XXIII. In
In the synagogue, the pope
1965, he helped reshape the world of
expressed
deep sorrow for the failure
the church by calling for an internal
of the church. He said, "With
reconstruction of Catholic doctrine,
Judaism, we have a relationship which
Catholic liturgy and Catholic policy.
we do not have with any other reli-
He convened Vatican II, which gave
gion. You are our dearly beloved
Herbert Yoskowitz is a rabbi at Adat
brother and in a certain way, you are
Shalom Synagogue.
our elderly brother." He concluded in

I

ItY v v o cff.ti

Hebrew, quoting the psalm that is said
in the synagogue and at home as part
of our celebration of the beginning of
each new Jewish month. He prayed,

Hodu L'Adonai ki tov ki folam chasdo
("Give thanks to the Lord for He is
good; His mercy endures forever") and
he continued with the other prayers of
thanksgiving that are included in the
Hodu section of the Hallei prayer.
God teaches us that situations
change. People change. We learn that

Inner struggles
of the
Catholic Church
to purge itself of
its toxic past
deserve praise.

institutions change. We must be open
to going forward and not always to be
fixed on that which halts us from
making progress.
We are entering a new era. We are
confronting different situations, differ-
ent events and different persons. Car-
dinal Maida said time and again that
this current pope is a very holy man.

fitql

He spoke about him with great
respect. So, too, did he speak about . .
Judaism and about the Jewish people
and about the holiness inherent in
each.
The philosopher George Santayana
told us that "those who do not
remember the past are doomed to
repeat it." On the other hand, if we
remember only the dark past, we may
contribute to a continuation of our
sad yesterday.
The mea culpa of the church is
important. Inner struggles of the
Catholic Church to purge itself of its
toxic past deserve praise. The future
conduct of the church, however, is a
more important focus.
Filtered down to the masses must
be the positive change in Catholic-
Jewish relations.
"All real life is meeting," philoso-
pher Martin Buber wrote. The Michi-
gan Board of Rabbis and Cardinal
Maida had a real moment of light that
I found uplifting.
We can band together against
those who would deny people their
freedom. We can show courage as we
face the uncertain tomorrow, certain
only that we must walk on the road
of life with the allies who will stand
alongside us. Cardinal Maida gave
me the impression that he stands •
with us. His good will and ours can
be translated into continued improv-
ing relations between Catholic and
Jew and one day between all peoples
of the earth.

❑

LETTERS

Jews, Guns,
Self-Defense

I

3/17

2000

38

Regarding your article on guns ("Guns
and Jews," March 10), although horri-
fied at the slaughter at Columbine
High School in Littleton, Colo., the
North Valley Jewish Community Cen-
ter in suburban Los Angeles and now
at Buell Elementary School in Mt.
Morris Township, we Jews still have
the duty to recall that murder by guns
is but a minor part of the total murder
and mayhem that goes on around us
constantly.
Indeed, these episodes demonstrate
that madmen can outwit and defeat
any law or regulation. No law or
statute will defend our children. It
takes the ever-present adult with arms
to delay and defend his/her children

until police arrive to subdue and per-
haps kill an intruder.
Thus, when the American Jewish
Congress joined 44 other anti-gun
organizations to further its cause, we
Jews must remember that AJC et al
hires guns for protection. Yet it con-
demns those living in fear of the crim-
inal murderer simply because the Jews
are armed, unlike the AJC.
Further, to summarize the Torah by
quoting, "You may not create some-
thing with blood," governs the use of
bloody egg yolks, not guns. But there
was, and is, a Torah obligation to pro-
tect Jewish life. Contrary to Rabbi
Steven Weirs poskin (decision), one
should learn to distinguish between
what one cannot eat and defend one-
self and offspring from assault.

Michael Drissman
Farmington Hills

Who Wants To Be
A Purim Character?

As Purim is fast approaching, I can't
help but be drawn to the parallels of
the story of Queen Esther and the lat-
est television extravaganza of Who

Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?

("Inside Inside Edition," Feb. 25)
The entire nation was stunned sev-
eral weeks ago when a pretty young
woman, and there were 50 of them,
competed in a beauty contest so that
one could be selected by a multimil-
lionaire to be his wife. It was a specta-
cle of television land that drew us in
even though we watched in disbelief.
Viewers were captivated to see who
would be the fairy tale prince and
princess: husband and wife. We
watched in anticipation to see the

mysterious millionaire, whose back
was turned to the camera, as he select-
ed his bride from a lineup of willing,
beautiful women.
Then, for days afterward, we were
revolted by the participants, who had
allowed themselves to be part of this
outrageous television programming.
We kept asking . each other, who could
do this? And why?
Perhaps, as Jewish parents, we should
not be so critical, so cavalier. After all,
don't we teach our children the story of
Purim — the story of a pretty Jewish
girl chosen by a wealthy king to be his
bride? Didn't Esther parade in a lineup
of other willing contestants to marry a
man of wealth? Isn't this identical to the
more modern version of Who Wants to

Many a Multimillionaire?

LETTERS

on page 40