COMMUNITY VIEWS
Did The Pope Go Far Enough?
ple of the covenant."
lipir ho was not moved
For all his efforts — which deserve
deeply by seeing Pope
praise
and admiration — segments of
John Paul II pray silent-
the
Jewish
community feel, under-
ly in Yad Vashem or
standably,
still
"unfulfilled," maintain-
stand at the Western Wall, his hand
ing
"something
is missing."
trembling, as he touched the
As
they
listened
to his
sacred stone?
words,
however
welcome,
Who could not but respect
they sounded "too general."
this ailing, fragile and aging
They
did not address the
leader of the Catholic world
essence
of the political
as he tried to rectify some
divide
between
Jews and the
historical sins of the church?
church.
The
"confessions"
Who could not admire
lack specificity, and ironical-
him for his fortitude and
ly, violated Catholic doc-
courage in a world where
trine, which requires a clear
many a world leader avoids
BERL
articulation
of wrongdoing
confrontation with extremely
FAULBAUM
to
permit
meaningful
repen-
sensitive, politically volatile
tance.
Special to
and potentially explosive
Finally, the words did
the
Jewish News
issues?"
not
define institutional cul-
The message that the pope
pability,
in particular the
placed in a crevice of the wall seemed
role
of
the
Vatican
during the Holo-
to summarize his other comments
caust.
during the visit to the Holy Land. It
The pope's historic trip came about
stated:
two
years after the Vatican's statement,
"God of our fathers, you chose
"We
Remember: A Reflection of the
Abraham and his descendants to
Shoah."
bring your name to the nations. We
That paper, like the pope's state-
are deeply saddened by the behavior
ments
during his visit to Israel, did
of those who in the course of history
not
apologize
on behalf of the church
have caused these children of yours
for
any
antisemitism
or its reluctance
to suffer. And asking your forgive-
to
confront
Adolf
Hitler
on the Final
ness, we wish to commit ourselves to
Solution.
genuine brotherhood with the peo-
The statement expressed regret for
"anti-Judaism" on the part of some
Berl Faulbaum of West Bloomfield
"sons and daughters of the church."
runs a public relations firm in Farming-
The tone of the message from the
ton Hills.
pope was similarly general; but, of
course, his presence in Israel and the
terribly moving ceremonies made his
comments much more powerful —
and meaningful.
So what should be the reaction of
the Jewish community as (the pope's
words) influence relationships with the
Pope's visit to
Holy Land
unfulfilling
for some
but still
meaningful.
Catholic Church?
It should be grateful to a pope
who, one senses, understands its
pain and witnessed firsthand evi-
dence of history's worst crime
against humanity.
It should understand that even
this pope — strong in resolve and
philosophy and deep in compassion
— has political boundaries and limi-
tations.
As much as we might want a direct
apology for the Vatican's "silence," it
will not happen — not under this
pope or any other.
It is unrealistic to expect the leader
of the church to point fingers at his
predecessors. Consider the conse-
quences of such an apology to the
structure and internal politics of the
church. In the end, the Vatican is a
political institution despite its reli-
gious foundation.
(On a lesser level, no American
president has ever been able to rein in
the State Department's anti-Israel poli-
tics. Nor could we expect a post-
World War II president to criticize or
apologize for his predecessors creating
immigration quotas, which closed the
gates for escaping Jews and led to
thousands of deaths.)
The pope recognized his limitations
and compromised, although he per-
sonally might have liked to "go fur-
ther."
Thus, it is time to move on. It will
be up to independent historians and
researchers to pursue "the truth." The
evidence they uncover may ultimately
"force" a more direct statement from
the Catholic Church on whether it
met its responsibilities during the
Holocaust.
Meanwhile, let us remember that
the last pope to visit Israel never even
mentioned the name of his host coun-
try.
Let us savor and be grateful then
for images none of us thought we
would ever see. 0
LETTERS
Jerusalem
Is Ours
I can't believe 300 rabbis would call
for the PLO capital to be in east
Jerusalem ("Jerusalem Dilemma,"
March 24). Whose side are these peo-
ple on?
With the whole world challenging
our claim to Jerusalem, why do we
need our own people — rabbis no less
— to help the Palestinians? Rabbi
Joseph Klein claims that "sometimes
we just have to 'do the right thing.'"
Israelis have done the right thing for
52 years, yet the Arabs still want to
drive us into the sea. I'm concerned
with Jerusalem's status as the eternal
capital of Israel forever. There is only
one way to ensure that — never agree
to let any part of Jerusalem be the
3/31
2000
44
capital of any Palestinian entity. Their
capital is Gaza City, far away from
Jerusalem (as it should be).
Need I remind Rabbi Klein that
when the Jordanians and Palestinians
controlled Jerusalem, they destroyed
58 ancient synagogues, prevented Jews
from praying at the Western Wall, and
harassed Land terrorized Jews living in
Jerusalem. We must never go back to
that situation. Amazingly, Rabbi Klein
forgets the past and dreams that this
time the Palestinians can be trusted.
For millions of Jews, Jerusalem is
everything. Without Jerusalem, there is
no Judaism. Please, RabbiPein, the
PLO doesn't need your help. But we
Jews need all the help we can musterto
ensure that Jerusalem will always be the
capital of only one nation — Israel.
Adam J. Baker
Farmington Hills
Yasser Arafat
Is Wrong
It was noted that Yasser Arafat claims
east- Jerusalem belongs to the Arabs
based on the 1967 United Nations
Security Council Resolution 242,
which emphasized "the inadmissibility
of the acquisition of territory by war"
("Across The Divide," March 24).
Arafat is wrong!
After the 1967 war, with American
support, the U.N. Security Council
established, for the very first time in all
of history, that territory acquired by
force had to be returned. But the return
of territory acquired illegally according
to that U.N. 242 resolution has already
taken place. The League of Nations rec-
ognized Palestine belongs to the Jewish
people. When the United Nations
replaced the League of Nations after
World War II, Article 80 in its charter to
protect "existing international instru-
ments" recognized Palestine legally
belongs to Israel, the Jewish state as indi-
cated by the League of Nations.
That means that when Arabs
attacked Israel in 1948, killing 6,200
Jews and ousting all Jews from the east-
ern section of Jerusalem and Judea-
Samaria that they seized and occupied,
the Arabs had violated Resolution 242.
Most unfortunately, the United
States blundered very badly by estab-
lishing as international law that land
"acquired by force has to be returned."
That means that the United States
now has to give Texas back to Mexico.
Hymie Cutler
director,
Michigan Committee for a Safe Israel
Detroit