At the April 17 meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and representatives of other religions, five young adults will present the Holy Father with symbols of peace from their faith traditions.
David J. Michaels will present a gift on behalf of the Jewish community. He is Director for Intercommunal Affairs at B’nai B’rith International, the world’s oldest Jewish humanitarian, advocacy, and social action organization. A graduate of Yeshiva University, he has written and traveled extensively and trained at the Foreign Ministry of Germany, the Embassy of Israel in Washington, Ha’aretz–International Herald Tribune, the Office of William Jefferson Clinton, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, the United Nations, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
Mr. Michaels will present Pope Benedict with a silver menorah. The silver menorah with its seven lights represents the tradition of Temple worship within Judaism. It is also a symbol of the perennial validity of the covenant between God and Israel, the purpose of which is to establish peace rooted in creation itself. Silver is the metal preferred for liturgical use in Eastern European Jewish tradition.
Mr. Michaels says that:
It is a remarkable privilege to be able to meet the Pope, and to welcome him to this country that is home to such significant Catholic and Jewish communities. And I write this as an Orthodox Jew, for whom an encounter with the head of the Roman Catholic Church is a very different kind of experience than might be had by Catholics.
This happens to be the second time in just over a year that I, as a young professional at a major Jewish organization, have had the opportunity to encounter Pope Benedict XVI. I participated in a private audience of B’nai B’rith International leaders with the Pope at the
Vatican during Chanukah, just before Christmas, in 2006. On that occasion, we presented Pope Benedict with an artistic depiction of a menorah (the symbol of B’nai B’rith itself); this month, we will share an actual candelabrum, commemorating the one that stood in the Holy Temple of Jerusalem, center of Jewish faith, history and civilization. On Passover, which begins during the Pope’s visit, our families around the world will gather and symbolically proclaim, as in every year prior, “Next year in Jerusalem!”Catholic friends might understandably be amazed that some Jews do regularly have the experience of interacting with the spiritual leader of worldwide Roman Catholicism. In fact, part of what is newsworthy about these meetings is that, while clearly very important and appreciated, they’re no longer all that newsworthy.
B’nai B’rith – which, celebrating its 165th anniversary this year, is the oldest Jewish humanitarian, advocacy and community action agency, with supporters in over 50 countries – has met with the last four successive popes. At least as meaningfully, through disaster relief projects, tolerance education and housing for low-income seniors, we’ve
served Christians along with Jews and people of many other backgrounds.Over the course of only about four decades, we have witnessed an utter transformation of the Catholic-Jewish engagement. The friendship enjoyed by the new generation of which I am a member can in very large part be credited to the bold introspection and noble overtures of key Catholics at all levels. It is humbling and moving to observe, and in small ways contribute to, this new era after nearly two millennia of estrangement
and often persecution. At a time when religion is still used as a force for violent extremism, our positive, and in many ways special, relationship can serve as a vital model for constructive dialogue between faith communities.No doubt, differences and difficulties do and likely will remain in our relationship. Some of these are avoidable, and should be overcome; each of us bears special, indeed sacred, responsibilities in this regard. Believers of both faiths would be wise to avoid “relativizing” theological beliefs – but we must also be vigilant not to return to
hazardous past patterns of “triumphalism,” of insensitivity or provocation. For American Jews and our many committed friends, this is especially critical today as we see the perseverance of antisemitism – including the form, formally recognized in recent years by our Catholic partners, of denying the right of the sole Jewish state, Israel, to life and to peace.During the Holocaust, my own grandfather was heroically rescued in Poland by a very brave and virtuous Catholic couple. It is the great things that we share in common, and those things for which we Jews are profoundly grateful to our friends and to God, that I will have in mind as I join in greeting Pope Benedict XVI.
