Thread: Rabbi to pope: Go split Rome Pontiff slammed for comments

Rabbi to pope: Go split Rome
Pontiff slammed for comments in support of Palestinian state

Posted: May 12, 2009
2:24 pm Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2009 WorldNetDaily


Pope Benedict XVI

JERUSALEM – If Pope Benedict XVI so fervently supports a Palestinian state – which would split sections of Israel – he also should divide Rome, charged the leader of a coalition of more than 350 Israeli rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis.

"I was shocked to hear that the first thing the pope had to say when he landed in Israel was that the Holy Land must be divided to make room for a Palestinian state," said Joseph Gerlitzky, rabbi of central Tel Aviv and chairman of the Rabbinical Congress for Peace, which includes some of Israel's most prominent Jewish leaders.

"I suggest that he divide Rome. The Holy Land was promised to the Jewish people and absolutely no human being on this earth has a right to relinquish even one inch of this land," Gerlitzky stated.

Gerlitzky made the remarks at a speech today commemorating the Jewish festive day of Lag Ba'Omer, which is about the mid-way point between Passover and the day on which the Jews were said to have received the Torah.

In his opening comments after disembarking at Israel's international airport yesterday, Benedict called for the creation of a Palestinian state with the hope that Israelis and Palestinians "may live in peace in a homeland of their own within secure and internationally recognized borders."

Gerlitzky's comments were just a taste of the criticism directed at the pope from Israeli lawmakers and religious leaders here, some of whom were disappointed with segments of Benedict's closely scrutinized visit to the Holy Land.

The pontiff's speech yesterday at Jerusalem's famed Holocaust Memorial Museum has been slammed, largely for stopping short of an apology on behalf of the Catholic Church, which historians charge could have done more to save European Jews during the Holocaust. The pope's speech did not once mention "Nazis" or "murder."

Benedict came under fire from the Jewish world earlier this year for lifting the excommunication of a bishop who had denied the Holocaust.

Israeli newspapers today were filled with criticism.

"One would have expected the Vatican's cardinals to prepare a more intelligent text for their boss," one columnist, Tom Segev, wrote.

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said in a radio interview the Vatican and its German-born pope had "a lot to ask forgiveness from our people for."

"And he is also a German, whose country and people have asked forgiveness. But he himself comes and speaks to us like a historian, as an observer, as a man who expresses his opinion about things that should never happen, and he was – what can you do? – a part of them."

"If we let this go, in the end they'll say, 'the Jewish people can manage,'" Rivlin said.

Rivlin said of the speech that "everything that we feared came to fruition."

"I came to the memorial not only to hear historical descriptions or about the established fact of the Holocaust. I came as a Jew, hoping to hear an apology and a request for forgiveness from those who caused our tragedy, and among them, the Germans and the church. But to my sadness, I did not hear any such thing," he said.

"The visit to Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum) does not constitute an expression of regret as such," Rvilin added. "The eyes of Jews across the world, and of the nation in Israel, were directed here, in anticipation of hearing honest communion – personal and determined – regarding the Holocaust of their people. And we heard nothing of the sort."

Holocaust Museum chairman Avner Shalev told the Jerusalem Post there was "certain restraint" in the pontiff's speech, which he labeled a "missed opportunity."

"I did not expect an apology, but we expected more," he said. "This is certainly no historic landmark."

Benedict began his speech stating, "I have come to stand in silence before the monument erected to honor the millions of Jews killed in the horrific tragedy of the Shoah."

He continued: "They lost their lives, but they will never lose their names. These are indelibly etched in the hearts of their loved ones, their surviving fellow prisoners, and all those determined never to allow such an atrocity to disgrace mankind again.

"I reaffirm – like my predecessors – that the church is committed to praying and working tirelessly to ensure that hatred will never reign in the hearts of men again," he said.

"As we stand here in silence, their cry still echoes in our hearts. It is a cry raised against every act of injustice and violence. It is a perpetual reproach against the spilling of innocent blood," he said.

"I am deeply grateful to God and to you for the opportunity to stand here in silence: a silence to remember, a silence to pray, a silence to hope," the pope concluded.

The Vatican today defended the pope. Spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi told reporters that Benedict had mentioned his German roots previously, specifically when visiting a synagogue in Cologne, Germany, in 2005 and at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland the following year.

"He can't mention everything every time he speaks," Lombardi told reporters in Jerusalem.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php? ... geId=97876

Popey seems to be screwing up all over the place. He managed to get the Muslims really po'd about some 14th century quote he put into a speech, and now he has the Jews mad at the Catholics.

What the Moslems are upset by is Pope Benedict's use of a quote from a 14th century cleric who was offered the opportunity to convert to Islam which claimed that everything positive in Islam comes from a carryover of the practice of those traits from Christianity.

Tactless

If Pope Benedict XVI so fervently supports a Palestinian state – which would split sections of Israel – he also should divide Rome, charged the leader of a coalition of more than 350 Israeli rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis. What would be the reason to split Rome up? Catholics and non-catholics in Rome don't have a problem living together. In addition, the Pope doesn't govern Rome or a country. The rabbi's showed his ignorance by uttering that remark.

The Roman Catholic Church always had its self-interests at heart. Here is a link to the details of the 1929 Concordat that was signed by Pius XI and Mussolini; as well as the Concordat of 1933 between the Roman Catholic Church and Adolf Hitler:
http://liberalslikechrist.org/Catholic/ ... ordat.html

It’s too lengthy to print here, but it should give you an idea of what went on with the Vatican during the rise of the National Socialist Party of Germany and into World War II.

Thanks, Richard. Being bombarded with all kinds of things morning til night, I could not really remember details (senility setting in, I guess, or perhaps I really don't give a patooty what the pope says these days).
While Islam may have adapted from Christianity, Christianity also adapted from Judaism, and while Christians were trying to wipe out pagans, they also adapted from paganism to quell the protests from populations that were not so easily swayed. A small example is the rose, a pagan symbol that was banished until Eleanor of Acquitaine planted rose bushes all around her palaces.
Even the war between good and evil has similarities in ancient India beliefs.
Humans have tromped all over the world since the beginning of time, and have adapted and adopted, so, IMO, there are very few firsts that have not been affected by some subtle influence, even back to the Stone Age.

Thanks, Richard. Being bombarded with all kinds of things morning til night, I could not really remember details (senility setting in, I guess, or perhaps I really don't give a patooty what the pope says these days).
While Islam may have adapted from Christianity, Christianity also adapted from Judaism, and while Christians were trying to wipe out pagans, they also adapted from paganism to quell the protests from populations that were not so easily swayed. A small example is the rose, a pagan symbol that was banished until Eleanor of Acquitaine planted rose bushes all around her palaces.
Even the war between good and evil has similarities in ancient India beliefs.
Humans have tromped all over the world since the beginning of time, and have adapted and adopted, so, IMO, there are very few firsts that have not been affected by some subtle influence, even back to the Stone Age.

Originally Posted by miguelina

If Pope Benedict XVI so fervently supports a Palestinian state – which would split sections of Israel – he also should divide Rome, charged the leader of a coalition of more than 350 Israeli rabbinic leaders and pulpit rabbis. What would be the reason to split Rome up? Catholics and non-catholics in Rome don't have a problem living together. In addition, the Pope doesn't govern Rome or a country. The rabbi's showed his ignorance by uttering that remark.

Darn right! As a youngster, I have a hard time wrapping my brain around the whole situation. The jewish people were murdered during WWII. They went through such hell that it is hard to imagine. Yet what did they do once WWII was over? Start killing Palestinians to reclaim land that belonged at that time to the Palestinians. I would have thought that WWII would have made the jewish people against such things, but it obviously didn't. Once again, religion is causing a situation that puts the rest of us in danger. If this rabbi were a man of God, he would recognize that the Palestinians are equals and deserve to right to exist just as much as the jewish people do.

Rabbi Gerlitzky should learn history before making comments. Rome is already divided between the small Roman Catholic kingdom of Vatican City and the secular Republic of Italy. It happened de facto in the 19th century when Italian nationalists took over the Papal states. It happened de jure in the 20th century.