“This is a critically important and timely statement by his Holiness, particularly at a time of increased mainstream anti-Semitism worldwide and a very important tool in the fight against Jew-hatred,” declared Rabbi Marvin Hier, Simon
Wiesenthal Center Founder and Dean who has led numerous delegations to Vatican City and had audiences with Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor Pope John Paul II. “As I told his Holiness during our November 2005 meeting at the Vatican, “Prior to (The Nostra Aetate), Jews were often held in contempt and derided as an accursed people. Millions suffered through the ages because there were none to defend them.” Photo: Rabbi Hier and SWC delegation meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, 2005
“The Second Vatican Council’s Nostra Aetate declared that this was a false teaching, and absolved the Jewish people as a collective from the crime of deicide. The Pope’s new book goes beyond this declaration and shows why the earlier popular reading is not supported by the Gospel texts,” he noted.
“With this statement, His Holiness has added a powerful voice to help stem the tide of Jewish hatred,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Center’s Associate Dean. “Some faithful are most impressed by authority. Others want to be convinced,” added Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, the Center’s director of Interfaith Affairs. “Pope Benedict took his signature strength – the power of his intellect – and trained it on the Gospels to provide Catholics and other Christians with the Scriptural evidence to back up the position the Church took against the charge of deicide in Nostra Aetate.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center applauds Pope Benedict XVI’s forceful arguments against collective Jewish responsibility for the Crucifixion in his new book, Jesus of Nazareth-Part II, released today.
“This is a critically important and timely statement by his Holiness, particularly at a time of increased mainstream anti-Semitism,” declared Rabbi Marvin Hier, Simon Wiesenthal Center Founder and Dean who has led numerous delegations to Vatican City and had audiences with Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor Pope John Paul II. “As I told his Holiness during our November 2005 meeting at the Vatican, “Prior to (The Nostra Aetate), Jews were often held in contempt and derided as an accursed people. Millions suffered through the ages because there were none to defend them.”
“The Second Vatican Council’s Nostra Aetate declared that this was a false teaching, and absolved the Jewish people as a collective from the crime of deicide. The Pope’s new book goes beyond this declaration and shows why the earlier popular reading is not supported by the Gospel texts,” he noted.
“With this statement, His Holiness has added a powerful voice to help stem the tide of Jewish hatred,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Center’s Associate Dean. “Some faithful are most impressed by authority. Others want to be convinced,” added Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, the Center’s director of Interfaith Affairs. “Pope Benedict took his signature strength – the power of his intellect – and trained it on the Gospels to provide Catholics and other Christians with the Scriptural evidence to back up the position the Church took against the charge of deicide in Nostra Aetate.”
-----
Remarks by Rabbi Marvin Hier on the occasion of Private Audience with his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
Remarks by Rabbi Marvin Hier Founder and Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center on the occasion of a Simon Wiesenthal Center Leadership Delegation Private Audience with his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Monday, November 14, 2005 Your Holiness, we appreciate very much your kind invitation to dialogue and exchange views, particularly in these critical times in a world desperate for moral clarity and civility. It is very appropriate that this our third visit to the Vatican coincides with the 40th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the historic Declaration of the Second Vatican Council which condemned “antisemitism directed against the Jews at whatever time and by whomsoever.” It is really a result of that Declaration that such meetings such as ours could take place. Prior to that, Jews were often held in contempt and derided as an accursed people. Millions suffered through the ages because they were none to defend them. Only in our life time, did a handful of great leaders led by Pope John XXIII muster the courage to speak out against these fragrant violations of G-d’s law; none with greater conviction and determination then Pope John Paul II, whose message of friendship and inclusion of the Jewish people touched the heart of millions around the world. A policy, your Holiness affirmed during your visit to the Synagogue in Cologne when you declared, “I wish to re-affirm that I intend to continue on the path to improve relations and friendship with the Jewish people, following the decisive lead given by Pope John Paul II.” A few months ago, humanity lost another great man of conviction, Simon Wiesenthal, often referred to as the conscience of the Holocaust - who lost 89 members of his family and came out of the inferno of the death camps, not to seek vengeance, but in search of justice on behalf of those who could no longer speak for themselves. His message was to the point, freedom is not a gift from heaven, it is something we must fight for each and every day, for if we do not speak out against the murderers of today, then we will force our children and grandchildren to contend with the murderers of tomorrow.” That message has never been more important, today a mere sixty years after Auschwitz, antisemitism has again found a fertile home in Europe, threatening the stability of Jews and Jewish institutions. Today the greatest threat to mankind comes not from secularists and atheists, but from religious fanatics and zealots. Today those who help recruit and inspire terrorists to murder innocent civilians by promising them a place in heaven are not ungodly political leaders, but fundamentalists Immans and Mullahs who claim obedience to their creator. Today, the President of Iran, a religious man who prays five times a day has reenacted the words of Adolf Hitler, and openly called for the obliteration of the State of Israel in violation of the United Nations Charter without any General Assembly Condemnation - showing the determination of these fanatics and the failure of the civilized world to deal with them. Allowing such a regime to acquire nuclear weapons would be like entrusting an addict to stand guard over his drugs. The future of civilization depends on our ability to reach out and find that coalition of the good; those who still believe that nothing enduring was ever created by hate, no future made brighter by tyranny, no faith strengthened by fanaticism. We must do everything in our power to unite those tents of the righteous and the just, so that we can restore the balance and return to our creator, the magnificent world he intended. It is with these goals in mind, your Holiness, that the Simon Wiesenthal Center in a few weeks will commence construction in the heart of Jerusalem of the Center of Human Dignity, an Institution that will promote mutual respect and social responsibility between Jews and their non-Jewish neighbors throughout the region. In honor of our visit here today, I would like to ask our Chairman of our Board of Trustees, Larry Mizel from Denver, to present two gifts, one, the priestly benediction and the other, a picture of our new project in Jerusalem signed by the late Simon Wiesenthal, the Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Shimon Peres, and the project’s architect Frank O. Gehry. |
