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CELEBRATION OF APRIL 13
The following are the 3 speeches edited
by Rabbi Mayer Abramowitz, Rabbi
Emeritus of Temple Menorah, Miami
Beach.. These 3 speeches were made by
the 3 individuals who spoke on April 13,
1986 at the Synagogue of Rome when the
historical visit of John Paul II. Rabbi
Abramowitz edited these 3 speeches to be
delivered by 3 young individuals at the
20th Anniversary of the visit celebrated
at Temple Emanu-El, Miami Beach on
January 17, 2007.
CHIEF RABBI ELIO TOAFF
Your Holiness
As the chief rabbi of this community,
whose history goes back thousands of
years, I express to you my intense
satisfaction at the gesture you carry
out today, visiting a synagogue for the
first time in the history of the Church.
This gesture is destined to be
remembered throughout history.
We thus find ourselves before a true
turning point in Church policy. The
Church now looks upon the Jews with
esteem and appreciation, abandoning that
teaching of disdain. The condemnation
that the Church pronounced against
anti-Semitism should be rigorously
applied as well as condemnation of all
violence in order to keep all mankind
from drowning in corruption, immorality
and injustice.
It now becomes our common task to teach our fellow man the
evils afflicting the world; such as
terrorism and racial hatred which has
reaped so many innocent victims – men,
women, and children – as happened not
long ago even at the threshold of this
temple.
We cannot forget the past, but today we
wish to begin, with faith and hope, so
as to bring about order, morality,
goodness, harmony, and peace to flourish
in the world.
Those who escaped from the Nazi death
camps have found, in the land of Israel,
a refuge and a new life. The return of
the Jewish people to its land must be
recognized as a good and an
inalienable gain for the world.
The redemption that God has promised us
cannot be denied.
Your Holiness, at this very important
moment in the history of relations
between our two religions, our hearts
open to the hope that the misfortunes of
the past might be replaced by a fruitful
dialogue – even while respecting our
existing differences. May this dialogue
lead us to sincere and honest
cooperation in order to achieve the
universal ends that are found in our
common roots as the Prophet Isaiah
pronounced: The Lord will cause
righteousness and praise to spring forth
for all nations.”
Prof Giacomo Saban
Your Holiness,
I have the honor of being the first to
welcome you to this major temple on the
banks of the Tiber. I greet you on
behalf of the most ancient Jewish
community of the Diaspora, a community
that I have been given the privilege of
serving
With the Second Vatican Council, Pope
John XXXIII wished to see the
development of a spirituality suited to
the tormented world that was finally
experiencing the healing of the
atrocious wounds of war.
Through the Nostra Aetate document which
most relates to us, the Church
introduced to us a different
relationship between the faith of Israel
and that of the surrounding world. It
restored to us not only what, for
centuries, we had been denied but also
dignity that it had always been our
right to see recognized.
That work must continue.
It is in this context that I feel I must
regretfully react to the reticence
regarding the State of Israel. The land
of Israel has a role that is central,
emotionally and spiritually, to the
heart of every Jew and a change of
attitude in its regard would gratify not
only those present here but Judaism
worldwide.
This would he a further step in the
“fraternal dialogue” about which the
Church speaks.
Today’s visit, Your Holiness, that you
have held to be opportune is a lively
testimony to the spirit of the Church.
It fills us with joy, because it would
be a sign which foreshadows better days,
days in which all those who believe in
the One God – will be able to contribute
to the creation of a better world.
Address by the Pope John Paul II
Dear Chief Rabbi, Dear President, Dear
Jewish and Christian Friends and
Brethren taking part in this historic
celebration:
First of all, I would like, together
with you, to give thanks and praise to
the Lord that this evening there is a
meeting between the Jewish
community which has been living in this
city since the times of the ancient
Romans. I likewise feel it is my
duty to thank Rabbi Ellio Toaff who from
the first moment accepted with joy
the idea that I should make this visit.
Many thanks. Toda Rabba.
This gathering in a way brings us to
recognize the legitimate plurality on
the social, civil and religious levels
at which we now arrived. We recognize
that, over the centuries, acts of
discrimination, unjustified limitation
of religious freedom were
perpetrated against the Jews. We must
also recognize that, in the words of the
Nostra Aetate declaration, we called
out: “…our faith deplores the hatred,
persecution, and displays of
anti-Semitism directed against the Jews
at any time and by anyone” I repeat “by
anyone.”
I would like, once more, to express a
word of abhorrence for he genocide
decreed against the Jewish people
during the last war, which led to the
Holocaust of millions of innocent
victims.
Today’s visit is meant to make a
decisive contribution to the
consolidation of good relations between
our two communities and to secure ever
wider and fuller recognition of that
bond and that common spiritual patrimony
that exists between Jews and Christians.
And, this visit will repeat the Church’s
statement:
“With Judaism, therefore, we have a
relationship which we do not have with
any other religion.”
You are our dearly beloved brothers and, in a certain way, it could be
said that you are our elder brothers
Indeed the Church had already said in
this same text that the Jews are beloved
of God, who has called them with an
irrevocable calling.
This leads me to restate: No blame can
be imputed for what happened to Christ –
not indiscriminately to the Jews of that
time, nor to the Jews of today.
Any alleged theological justification
for acts of persecution is unfounded.
The ways are now opened for our
collaboration, in light of our common
heritage, is drawn from the Law and the
Prophets. We wish to recall first of all
a collaboration in favor of man, his
life from conception until natural
death, his dignity, his freedom, his
self-development in a society which is
not hostile but friendly where justice
reigns … and throughout the world it is
peace that rules, the SHALOM hoped for
by the lawmakers, the Prophets and the
wise men of Israel.
I now turn my eyes and my mind to the
Lord to thank him and praise him for
this joyful meeting and the good things
which are already flowing from it, for
the rediscovered brotherhood and for the
new and more profound understanding
between us, between the Church and
Judaism everywhere, in every
country, for the benefit of all.
Therefore I close with the Psalmist, in
his original language which is also
your inheritance: Hodu L”adonai Ki Tov
Ki Le’olam Chasdo
Yomar na Yisrael
Ki le’olm chasdo
Yomru na yire-eh adonai
Ki le’olam chasdo
O give thanks to the Lord for He is
good.
His steadfast love endures forever
Let Israel say
His steadfast love endures forever
Let those who fear the Lord say
His Love endures forever.
Amen.
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