Fond Memories

Local leaders reflect on Pope John Paul II's
impact on the Detroit Jewish community.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN

Staff Writer

en years ago, Rabbi Irwin Groner had an expe-
rience so profound he described it as "a rare
moment that I will forever preserve in my
memory." It was his meeting with Pope John Paul II.
"I was the only Detroiter on a mission of rabbis
and lay leadership sponsored by the Synagogue
Council of America," recalled Rabbi Groner, rabbi
emeritus at Congregation Shaarey Zedek. "We were
there to encourage the Vatican to be more proactive
in removing anti-Semitic teaching from the educa-
tional system of the Catholic Church.
"When we went to leave, someone told the pope
that I came from Michigan and he looked at me and
said, 'Bless the people of Michigan in my name,"'
Rabbi Groner said. "I've been doing that ever since."
But Rabbi Groner's thoughts of the pope go
beyond his personal encounter. They address the
pope's impact on the world. "In an age when there
are few heroes, he was world-stage as a moral giant,"
Rabbi Groner said. "He was a champion of humani-
ty and had the gift of responding
to human need wherever he
encountered it."
The rabbi sees Pope John Paul
II as having made an enormous
impact on Jews everywhere. "The
Jewish community has many rea-
sons to be grateful for his out-
reach to the Jewish world," he
said. "These include his visits to
the synagogue in Rome and to
Israel, his desire to seek forgive-
Father West
ness for the sins of the
Holocaust, his repudiation of
anti-Semitism and his willing-
ness to meet Jewish representa-
tives on a variety of issues.
"He was a man of great
courage whose vigor and resolve
were a rare gift."

J

Well- Traveled

Pope John Paul II was able to
Rabbi Freedman make an impact on more people
than any other pope.
"He was a thoroughly modern
pope," said Rabbi E.B. "Bunny" Freedman, execu-
tive director of the Jewish Hospice and Chaplaincy
Network in West Bloomfield. "He had tremendous
instinct about the broad community. He traveled
more than anyone, used the Internet and had a nat-
ural, diplomatic talent to reach communities never
reached before by the church."
And that worked well with Jewish communities.
"He was very keyed in to what would make the
Jewish community more comfortable with the

Vatican," Rabbi Freedman said.
"He was a strong traditionalist — orthodox if you
may — a man known for keeping the richness of
the church's tradition alive. Yet he had a very, very
modern style about him. He wasn't afraid of what
was new but was still a traditionalist, keeping the
old intact.
"The Vatican was once feared by the Jewish com-
munity. In his tenure the pope made it approachable
by making amends, by visiting Auschwitz, going to
the [Western] Wall, visiting a synagogue in Italy."
A facet of that reconciliation seen locally was the
Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan
Detroit's Religious Leaders Forum, founded by
Rabbi Groner and Cardinal Adam Maida, the
Catholic archbishop of Detroit.
"Such dialogue was made possible because of the
pope's desire for reconciliation and interaction
between our communities," said Steven G.
Silverman, president of the JCCouncil.
Silverman described the pope as "a tireless advo-
cate for opening an honest dialogue between com-
munities. Under his guidance, Catholics and Jews
have enjoyed a fruitful, harmonious and productive
relationship," he said.

Learning From Life

Cardinal Maida
described the pope as a
man whose "tireless
energy for the gospel of
life has touched almost
every person on this
earth. (He) leaves
behind a legacy of hope
and a path of solidarity
and service for us to fol-
low."
Father John H. West,
ecumenical and inter-
faith advisor for
Cardinal Maida, said, "It
warms my heart to know
the relationship between
Jews and Catholics in
Detroit helped shape
these two electors" —
Cardinal Maida and for-
mer Detroit Archbishop
Edmund Cardinal
Szocka will help elect
the next pope.
"All of the interfaith
efforts over the years had
a great impact on them,"
Fr. West said.
Fr. West, who studied
at the Vatican and met
with the pope on several

occasions, said, "What is so significant about the
pope is that he knew about the Jewish community
long before he became a priest. He grew up in the
area of Krakow in southern Poland where his dad
rented their flat from Jewish people.
"That's where his respect for the Jewish communi-
ty began. He learned it at home. The pope had
Jewish playmates and grew to respect their faith and
traditions. He wasn't trained; he learned from life."
Fr. West added, "By the time he visited Yad
Vashem as a pope on his pilgrimage, he was known
in Israel. Israelis were his friends."
The pope's early life, Fr. West said, put him close
to families who perished in the Holocaust. "He lived
in a place where had he not had a workers' card
when he was young, he too would have been exter-
minated in the camps," the father said.
Fr. West remembers the pope as a man "who did-
n't just preach, he practiced what he preached with
such a unique approach to life."
'And he will continue to have such an impact and
will teach us long after he is gone," Fr. West said.
He said choosing Pope John Paul II's successor
-will not be easy. "It's hard to follow a giant. Cardinal
Maida said he understood being one of the electors
was probably the most important thing he would do
in his life." ❑

"A.

The pope with Rabbi Irwin Groner

4/ 7
2005

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