A Cardinal sermonizes on Kippur
Another tragic account of Jews, Christianizing Judaism's holiest day.
By "RABBI" LEIGH LERNER in the Canadian Jewish News :
On Yom Kippur day, a failed Hydro transformer cut the electricity to Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom. As rabbi of the congregation, I had to change the line-up and substitute a cardinal Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, Archbishop of Montreal.
Heres how a member of the College of Cardinals came by a strange twist of fortune, or was it the hand of God? to give a sermon to a Jewish congregation on Yom Kippur, Judaisms holiest day.
Cardinal Turcotte had agreed to speak at the temples afternoon study hour, for those who stay at the shul between the morning and afternoon services. He was to discuss the impact of the...
...He also agreed to attend Yom Kippur morning services the first time for him.
As those in the anteroom donned their tallit, the cardinal released all tension when he took out his traditional red biretta and said, I have to put on my kippah.
The cardinal sat between me and Dr. Victor Goldbloom, whose leadership in interreligious amity led to Cardinal Turcottes visit. Occasionally I explained prayers sotto voce to our guest: These are from the time of Je--s, this from the era of the Crusades, these public confessions unique to Yom Kippur.
It was all new to Cardinal Turcotte.... (Y.O.: and to Judaisim)
Dressed in the white of Yom Kippur, standing at the platforms edge, with profound silence filling the synagogue, more a linking of souls than a mere lack of sound, I explained the situation, delayed the sermon to later, and introduced Cardinal Turcotte, who brought the same Hebrew greeting that Pope Benedict XVI used at the synagogue in Cologne: Shalom aleichem, peace be upon you. Unfamiliar with our custom, he was taken aback by the open-hearted warmth of an entire congregation responding, Aleichem shalom....
Cardinal Turcotte stressed key points of Nostra Aetate for Catholic-Jewish relations, like the Churchs spiritual bond and origins in Judaism. He referred to the first covenant, a term acknowledging the continuity of the Jews covenant with God. He said mutual respect will arise from study and dialogue, and noted that Jes*s death cannot be charged against all the Jews, then or now. The Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by G-d. The Church decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.
Then Cardinal Turcotte repeated the moving prayer for forgiveness placed in Jerusalems Western Wall by Pope John Paul II....
For a moment, all was silence, and then unimaginable on Yom Kippur a spontaneous and sustained outburst of applause, evincing honour, acceptance, and thanks to have witnessed tshuvah, return, repentance, the essence of the Day of Atonement. And if a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church could stand humbly before 1,200 Jews on Yom Kippur and speak of his Churchs faults and desire for forgiveness and reconciliation, how could they not offer the same themselves?
At service intermission, the blackout at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom ended, but the spiritual power in those electric moments of a cardinal Yom Kippur would never be forgotten.
They sure won't be forgotten!
By "RABBI" LEIGH LERNER in the Canadian Jewish News :
On Yom Kippur day, a failed Hydro transformer cut the electricity to Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom. As rabbi of the congregation, I had to change the line-up and substitute a cardinal Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, Archbishop of Montreal.
Heres how a member of the College of Cardinals came by a strange twist of fortune, or was it the hand of God? to give a sermon to a Jewish congregation on Yom Kippur, Judaisms holiest day.
Cardinal Turcotte had agreed to speak at the temples afternoon study hour, for those who stay at the shul between the morning and afternoon services. He was to discuss the impact of the...
...He also agreed to attend Yom Kippur morning services the first time for him.
As those in the anteroom donned their tallit, the cardinal released all tension when he took out his traditional red biretta and said, I have to put on my kippah.
The cardinal sat between me and Dr. Victor Goldbloom, whose leadership in interreligious amity led to Cardinal Turcottes visit. Occasionally I explained prayers sotto voce to our guest: These are from the time of Je--s, this from the era of the Crusades, these public confessions unique to Yom Kippur.
It was all new to Cardinal Turcotte.... (Y.O.: and to Judaisim)
Dressed in the white of Yom Kippur, standing at the platforms edge, with profound silence filling the synagogue, more a linking of souls than a mere lack of sound, I explained the situation, delayed the sermon to later, and introduced Cardinal Turcotte, who brought the same Hebrew greeting that Pope Benedict XVI used at the synagogue in Cologne: Shalom aleichem, peace be upon you. Unfamiliar with our custom, he was taken aback by the open-hearted warmth of an entire congregation responding, Aleichem shalom....
Cardinal Turcotte stressed key points of Nostra Aetate for Catholic-Jewish relations, like the Churchs spiritual bond and origins in Judaism. He referred to the first covenant, a term acknowledging the continuity of the Jews covenant with God. He said mutual respect will arise from study and dialogue, and noted that Jes*s death cannot be charged against all the Jews, then or now. The Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by G-d. The Church decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.
Then Cardinal Turcotte repeated the moving prayer for forgiveness placed in Jerusalems Western Wall by Pope John Paul II....
For a moment, all was silence, and then unimaginable on Yom Kippur a spontaneous and sustained outburst of applause, evincing honour, acceptance, and thanks to have witnessed tshuvah, return, repentance, the essence of the Day of Atonement. And if a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church could stand humbly before 1,200 Jews on Yom Kippur and speak of his Churchs faults and desire for forgiveness and reconciliation, how could they not offer the same themselves?
At service intermission, the blackout at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom ended, but the spiritual power in those electric moments of a cardinal Yom Kippur would never be forgotten.
They sure won't be forgotten!
posted by Yeshiva Orthodoxy
at 11:46 PM
3 Comments:
That's sick.
You're telling me!
I'm assuming this took place in a reform temple. It's sad, sure, but the tragedy of the Reform movement is not new. The real problem is when Orthodox establishments invite cardinals in. Like Yeshiva University did, when they invited a delegation of Cardinlas into the Beth Medrash not too long ago. THAT'S sick.
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