2024-02-16 10:10:05
The letter talked regarding the tireless efforts made by the Catholic Church to lay the foundations of mutual understanding that replaces rivalries, and to strengthen friendship that took the place of hostility, pointing out that this rapprochement changed the two groups and left its mark on our contemporary history. The message praised Pope Francis’ commitment in this regard, which is gaining greater importance in our present time, where instability threatens to undermine efforts and spoil the relations that have been established over the past decades.
The letter addressed to the Pope was signed by Jehoshua Ahrens, Rabbi of Frankfurt and Bern, Yitz Greenberg, Rabbi of Jerusalem and New York, David Meyer, Rabbi of Paris and Rome, as well as Karma Ben Johanan from Jerusalem and Malka Zeiger Simkovich from Chicago, United States. The same group had sent a similar letter to the Supreme Pontiff last November in which it stressed the need to work to strengthen rapprochement between Jews and Christians, in the wake of the October 7 massacre in Israel and the return of anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish phenomena in various parts of the world, although Background of what is happening in the Gaza Strip.
Pope Francis did not delay in responding to them, as he in turn sent a message on February 2nd to “the Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel,” in which he expressed the solidarity of the entire Church with the Jewish people, and called for peace among all residents of the Holy Land, regardless of their ethnic affiliations. And religious. The Supreme Pontiff touched on the ongoing war in Israel and the Gaza Strip, noting that it has generated divisions and conflicting positions that sometimes lead to forms of anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism, recalling that the Catholic Church unequivocally condemns all expressions of hatred towards the Jews as a sin once morest God Himself.
The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano pointed out that the new letter arrived to the Pope on Wednesday, and through it, the signatories wanted to express their great thanks and gratitude to the Supreme Pontiff for his positions and words. They wrote that the Pope wanted to extend his hand to Jews all over the world, especially those in Israel, during this period marked by great pain. The signatories also praised the Pope’s positions once morest anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism, these two phenomena that have recently taken on dimensions that were not known to the majority of people of our time.
The message quoted from the writings of the late Rabbi Moshe Ibn Ezra, who emphasized that “words that come from the heart enter the heart.” The text of the letter stated that we are living today in a historical stage that requires perseverance, hope and courage, and the signatories stressed that the power of change that the Council Declaration “in our time” carries constitutes a source of inspiration for us, because it shows that brotherhood can also be restored in the midst of the most difficult conflicts.
At the conclusion of their letter to Pope Francis, the Jewish rabbis and researchers pointed out that they share the conviction of the Catholic brothers and sisters that religions are capable of being a creative force and capable of opening new paths. The letter was also not without reference to the suffering of the inhabitants of the Holy Land, whether Jews, Muslims or Christians, which affects our lives and our future. The signatories confirmed that they would like to add their prayers to those of the Pope, praying to God for peace and an end to the horrors, asking him to heal the wounds and console the suffering people. And the bereaved.
On this occasion, L’Osservatore Romano newspaper conducted an interview with the researcher in Jewish-Christian relations, Professor Karma Ben Johanan, who is also the coordinator of the group that signed the letter, pointing out that Jewish religious officials saw in Pope Francis’s letter an invitation to delve deeper into the dialogue between the two groups. She recalled that sixty years have passed since the start of a new phase in relations between Jews and Christians, thanks to the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council. She considered it important that we seek today to renew those relations amid the turbulent conditions we are witnessing. Professor Ben Yohanan concluded by saying: Despite the current tensions today, we are confident that our relations are solid enough so that we can overcome these tensions and continue moving forward, although there is still great work ahead of us that we must do.
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