Some Israeli rabbis to boycott Pope's visit

Chief Rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yona Metzger of Israel have been invited to four meetings with visiting Pope Benedict XVI. While they will attend one, and will not attend another, they are considering the others. The pontiff will arrive on the morning of May 11 at Ben Gurion International Airport and will be received by representatives of Israel’s government. A spokesman for the rabbis said “The Pope is wearing two hats,” “Head of a state, and head of a religion. The airport ceremony is more of a political one, and therefore the rabbis will not be attending.”

Also on the itinerary for May 11 is an interfaith meeting at the Notre Dame Guest House just outside Jerusalem’s Old City. The rabbis have not announced whether they will attend, as is the case for the Pope’s visit to the Western Wall – following his visit with the Grand Mufti on the Temple Mount – on May 12. The Chief Rabbis will host the visiting pontiff at Heichal Shlomo, the Chief Rabbinate’s former headquarters in Jerusalem on May 12.

One group has called on the rabbis not to meet with Pope Benedict. The Task Force to Save the Nation and Land, headed by Rabbis Yaakov Yosef and Shalom Dov Wolpe, sent a telegram to the Chief Rabbinate, reading in part:

“This involves a desecration of God’s Name… The very meeting and recognition of him is related to idol worship, if not outright idol worship, and involves a sin that one must die for and not violate. Not to mention that the memories still linger of the persecution of the Inquisition, as well as the Church’s role in the Holocaust. In addition, this pope is known for his personal membership in the Hitler Youth, as well as his statements in favor of a Holocaust-denier.”

“All the above is many times worse,” the message states, “given that the visit is accompanied by pressures and agreements to give over to the Church parts of Mount Zion and other parts of the Holy Land. A welcome by the Chief Rabbis encourages this trend.”

The Task Force reminds the Chief Rabbis that one of their predecessors, Rabbi Yitzchak Nissim, refused to meet with Pope Paul VI in 1964. They do not note, however, that Rabbi Nissim only did so after the pope refused to meet him in Jerusalem. In 2000, when Pope John Paul II visited Israel, Chief Rabbi Lau met him in Heichal Shlomo, and the visit was more cordial. Rabbi Lau still expressed disappointment that John Paul II made no mention of Pope Pius XII’s silence during the Holocaust.