Pope fever grabs Israel

May 10, 2009 - 2:05 PM by Nicky · Leave a Comment
Filed under: General, Religion 

The pope arrives in Israel tomorrow, and to put it bluntly, the whole country’s gone pope crazy. Or to be more accurate, all the authorities have gone pope crazy.

Pope Benedict XIV on route to Israel

Pope Benedict XIV on route to Israel

We’ve got conferences, briefings and meetings; press trips to see the places the pope will visit, media tours to explore the Christian holy sites, even an expedition to examine Jerusalem’s ancient olive groves in the Garden of Gethsemane. Well, they do date back centuries.

There’s pope stamps, a new pope website (translated into nine languages and including live footage of his pilgrimage), and pope memorabilia. The Technion is even presenting him with a bible the size of a pinhead, as a welcome present.

The country’s leaders are laying out their welcome mats, from the president of Israel, Shimon Peres, to Stas Misezhnikov, the Tourism Minister, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, the Mayor of Jerusalem, and the Mayor of Nazareth. Everyone is getting in on the action.

At Ben Gurion airport they’re taking the welcome mat seriously, and doing a trial run today of rolling out the red carpet in preparation for Pope Benedict XVI ’s landing there tomorrow. He’s expected in at 11.15am, with an entourage of 40 and a press corps of 70.

Pope Benedict’s schedule is exhausting. He’ll visit 23 sites across the country in just five days. Every minute appears to be accounted for as Israel’s leaders scramble for photo opportunities in what – apart from this visit – has admittedly been a pretty bad year PR wise.

While all this fuss may be passing the average Israeli by – most people here seem more interested in tonight’s Depeche Mode concert, while kids are piling up their bonfires for Lag Ba’Omer – Jerusalemites at least will be only too aware of the visit, as major congestion is expected there on Monday and Tuesday with all the main roads closed in the capital.

I won’t be rushing out to join the cheering crowds, but I’d still like to say welcome from Israelity, and wish the pope a pleasant stay.
If you get tired of the crowds, give us a call.

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Papal baggage

November 27, 2008 - 8:14 PM by Harry · Leave a Comment
Filed under: History and Culture, Politics, Religion, coexistence 

Pope John Paul II at the Western WallOnly two popes have ever visited Israel. In 1964, which was a good 29 years prior to the Vatican’s eventual recognition of Israel as a sovereign state, Pope Paul VI set foot in the Holy Land.

And in 2000, when a pre-intifada Israel seemed poised to position herself as the venue for ushering in a new Millennium of peace and tolerance, Pope John Paul II went on an inspirational whirlwind tour of the land. He held a mass for tens of thousands on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, met with dignitaries and religious leaders from many sectors and even made appearances at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum and the Western Wall (pictured).

The Polish-bred, relatively reconciliatory and dovish pontiff made quite an impression, and many felt that the visit represented a landmark in global healing. As John Paul II said in a statement in Jerusalem,

“We know that real peace in the Middle East will come only as a result of mutual understanding and respect between all the peoples of the region: Jews, Christians and Muslims. In this perspective, my pilgrimage is a journey of hope, the hope that the twenty-first century will lead to a new solidarity among the peoples of the world, in the conviction that development, justice and peace will not be attained unless they are attained for all.”

Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a highly comprehensive mini-site aimed at commemorating the occasion, with resources including an extended streaming commemorative video (link towards the top of the main page).

Ha’aretz recently announced that it had discovered plans for the current pontiff, Benedict XVI, to come to Israel this coming May (just a few weeks prior to Bob Dylan’s expected arrival), thanks to an invitation issued by President Shimon Peres.

Apparently the Vatican has yet to confirm Ha’aretz’s announcement, prompting many to wonder what the full story here may be. It might just be a case of bureaucracy needing to work itself out, but the complex context and baggage surrounding the controversial Benedict and his relationship with the Jews and their homeland are undeniable. In the meantime, news site eFluxMedia has done an impressive job of enumerating some of these factors….

[There's] an ongoing controversy over Vatican moves to elevate to sainthood the World War II-era pontiff Pius, who many Jews accuse of failing to speak out against the Nazi mass-murder of Jews, the Holocaust.

The German-born Benedict defended Pius when commemorating the 50th anniversary of his death this year. However, he has put Pius’ beatification – an important step towards sainthood – on hold.

Late last year the Vatican turned down an invitation by Peres to visit the Holy Land in 2008, citing a stall in long-standing negotiations with Israel.

The talks focus on taxation of church property and visas for Catholic clergy – issues that have marred Israel’s relations with the Holy See for decades.

Image courtesy escapedtowisconsin from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

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Report From the Nave

August 31, 2008 - 11:16 AM by Rachel Neiman · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, General, Israeliness, Religion 

NOTE: This was written on Friday but I was only able to post it today:

I am sitting in the center of the world, sort of. Where I am is a booth whose design is inspired by the walls of Jerusalem, located right smack in the center, the nave of the Rimini Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples 2008, the annual pow-wow of Communion & Liberation.

CL, as it is popularly known here in Italy, is a Catholic faith-based movement founded by Father Luigi Giussani that came to the fore both in response to the student riots of 1968 and in reaction to the ossified Catholic establishment, to affirm that “the Christian event, lived in communion, is the foundation of the authentic liberation of man.” Since then, the movement has grown in size and scope, with communities all over the world.

Work and self-sufficiency is essential to being, according to CL. Over the years, as the movement grew and students became professionals, they established CdO, a network representing the small and medium-sized enterprises that wield enormous economic clout here in Italy where SMEs – particularly family-owned ones – comprise a large part of all businesses.

Some people stop by this booth because they want to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Others want to do that, but would like to do business as well – and there’s no contradiction in terms, as far as CL is concerned. Because the Holy Land as a living, breathing modern entity is also integral to CL’s belief, it established CdO Jerusalem, headed by my significant other, Jonathan Sierra. Which is how I got to this desk and WiFi hookup here in the middle of everything.

And there is quite a lot to see. The Rimini Fiera exhibition center comprises six halls, hundreds of booths and pavilions on 460,000 square meters of grounds that include an on-site railway station and a helicopter landing pad – the better to serve the numerous leaders from across the political and religious spectrum arriving on a daily basis to make pronouncements at the Meeting. I am telling you, this event is a very big deal.

CL Meeting 2008 logo
The theme of this year’s Meeting is “O Protagonisti, O Nessuno” – this unfortunately translates literally as “Either Protagonists or Nobodies” – which I am assured is as opaque in Italian as it is in English. In any case, the intention is to have visitors reflect on the concept of the person. (Click here for a better explanation).

You wouldn’t think that a heavy topic like this could be made fun for the masses, but CL has done it in a sort of mass city-cum-country-fair. There are lectures, literary cafes, kiddie shows, sing-a-longs, shows, and numerous didactic exhibitions — one I liked in particular was about finding spiritual redemption while in the bonds of physical imprisonment, sponsored by a prison baking collective.

Plus, there are also important visitors to the Meeting, ranging from then Pope John Paul II to author Chaim Potok, Polish union leader turned President Lech Walesa to modern dance pioneer Martha Graham, inspirations such as Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama to literary lights like Eugene Ionesco. Each year, Israel’s Ambassador to the Vatican – yes, we have one and his name is Motti Levi — pays his respects, and several important Israeli encounters with the Arab world have taken place at the Meeting.

On Tuesday night, prizewinning Israeli author Aharon Appelfeld spoke — gave his testimony, as they call it here — to the Meeting about The Beauty and Positivity of Life.

It is quite interesting to observe a Catholic audience in the 21st century listening to a Jew speak about his near escape from destruction. Appelfeld, known for works such as Badenheim 1939 and Story of A Life, told the listening audience – numbering in the hundreds — he would “present a series of sensations, images and emotions which molded me and my generation” — referring to the time “when Jewish children were condemned to death”, himself included.

Coming to pre-State Israel at the age of 13 where, he said, “the Jewish past was regarded as a curse from which one had to escape” had no healing effect. What ultimately reconstituted his soul was his discovery of the Biblical narrative that informs his writing, and the resurrection of Hebrew, “the language that bound me to my grandparents… I, who came from Hell, needed a primordial language like that to speak for me. The Hebrew language not only opened my heart, it also connected me to my ancestors and their ancestors.” There is a full video recording of Appelfeld’s speech online and someone has kindly posted a transcript as well.

Whew! I didn’t mean to get all heavy just there. But that is the nature of this event – it moves from the material to the spiritual and back again – the sort of discourse that we are so accustomed to in Israel as well.

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