What the Pope Should Do

Shabbat Pinchas - 16 Tammuz 5768

I couldn't help noticing that a local Jewish delegation is to meet the Pope during his visit to Sydney. From the comments of participants, as reported in the AJN, it seems that the delegation is celebrating the rapprochement between the Catholic Church and World Jewry.

Personally, I would see more reason for celebrating if the Vatican backed up its "apologies" - if that is what their rapprochement is meant to be - with some more meaningful actions.

As a suggestion, and in view of the widely publicised prisoner release taking place in the Middle East, perhaps the Vatican could commence with a prisoner release of its own.

It is well-known that the Vatican contains Jewish treasures dating back thousands of years. Amongst them are the vessels of the Temple in Jerusalem including the Menorah and the Tsits (tiara of the High Priest).

Of course, the Vatican has continually denied such claims, but this hasn't prevented Jewish delegations pressing them on every possible occasion. In the last few years these have included former President Moshe Katzav and various Chief Rabbis of Israel, Rabbi Israel Lau amongst them.

But although the Menorah's presence in the Vatican is denied by the Church Fathers, there is no doubt that they hold rare Jewish manuscripts plundered from Jewish communities after murdering their Jewish owners. These 800 manuscripts have been publicly displayed on various occasions. (For more on this, see here)

The return of these stolen Jewish treasures would give some meaning to the notion that after 2,000 years of persecution, expulsions, pogroms and crusades the Catholic Church is finally atoning for its sins against the Jewish People.

Nachmanides points out that our forefather Jacob made a serious error in not demonstrating Jewish pride in the presence of Esau, the forefather of Rome. This mistake cost us dearly during our long history. I only hope that our modern Jewish leaders learn from and rectify his error.

During the Three Weeks, which commence on Sunday, we commemorate the destruction of our Holy Temple by the Romans and the taking of our people and treasures into Roman captivity. The Romans, and their successors, the Church, cannot return the wasted Jewish lives. But what a wonderful gesture it would be if after 2,000 years the Romans would acknowledge their culpability in concrete terms by finally returning our stolen treasures.

On behalf of Rebbetzen Henya and all of us at South Head best wishes for a Good Shabbos.

May these days be transformed into days of gladness and joy with the coming of Moshiach and the rebuilding of our Holy Temple.

Rabbi Benzion Milecki OAM
18 July 2008