Subscribe to Print Edition | Sun., May 24, 2009 Sivan 1, 5769 | | Israel Time: 18:12 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Focus U.S.A. Travel Week's End Anglo File
Last update - 15:03 13/05/2009
OPINION / Criticizing Pope Benedict's Yad Vashem speech misses the point
By Anna Ekstrom
Tags: israel pope, israel news

These are strange, almost Kafkaesque times in Europe: Many find it more offensive to call someone an anti-Semite than to act like one and the Shoah has been drafted as a tool of anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists. Iranian President Ahmadinejad's latest Hitlerian speech got semi-positive reviews in parts of European mainstream press, some of which said he was "sort of right."

A critical mind is one of the most important assets for moral and physical survival - but there are times when one's verbal battles must be chosen with more than usual care. This is certainly true of the pope, whose words in the Holy Land are being scrutinized under a microscope, much like the one needed to read the nano-Bible presented to him by President Shimon Peres.
Advertisement

The pontiff's speech at Yad Vashem on Monday was philosophical. It is true that he did not make apologies for historic crimes in his speech. But he did something else, something urgent: He reminded the world that anti-Semitism is still rearing its ugly head, and he committed the Catholic Church to combating it worldwide - today and tomorrow.

In his speech, Benedict departed from the notion or concept of the name. In Latin, "nomen" means both 'name' and 'word of substance.' According to the Bible, the word preceded matter. The Book of Genesis describes God as a creative author. And the name was so important that Adam's first task as keeper of Eden was to name the creatures.

Faith aside, this imagery is pertinent. We know what results from the reverse of naming. The boy in Imre Kertesz's novel "Man Without a Fate" was defined by others as a Jew. Before then he had been a human being, an individual with a name.

The drowning of the person within the collective was, and still is, a prerequisite for the reification of the human being. Once that is achieved, one ugly connotation after another can easily be linked to the word that labels a mass of nameless entities. Soon enough, you find yourself incapable of recalling that "number so-and-so" was once your neighbor Miriam.

The late pope John Paul II also understood the importance of the name, and lifted individuals out of anonymity. Among them was Edith Zierer, whom he had helped when his name was still Karol Jozef Wojtyla and he was a young priest in Poland. They reunited when he visited Yad Vashem in 2000.

The young Joseph Ratzinger had quite another wartime youth experience, and he lacks his predecessor?s direct link between heart and speech.

But Benedict made some noteworthy clarifications during his Middle East visit. In Jordan, he said that religion, like science, can be perverted for political purposes. The distinction is interesting. Most certainly those hungry for power are opportunistic in their choice of ideological justification; the fact that Nazism used biological theory neither means that Nazism is right nor that biology is to be condemned.

Knowledge, Benedict said, can broaden the mind and lead to tolerance when it is united with faith. The academic attitude is not uncontroversial and it is certainly no guarantee for moral action. Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel even said that it was not the scholars who tried to help his family - it was their illiterate housekeeper.

The Bishop of Rome does seem to have chosen the road of reason over that of the heart. But it would be hard to claim that he is not making a supreme effort to explore it for heart-felt causes: to promote peace within and between human beings, and to purify the meaning of vital words such as human, freedom and rights
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
Iran presidential vote
Ahmadinejad slams rivals for wanting 'detente' with the West.
Demographic threat
Study finds one in four Israelis would consider leaving country if Iran gets nukes.
  1.   Fantastic article. Bravo! 02:01  |  Andrea 24/05/09
 Haaretz Hot Topics
The Pope in the Holy Land
Durban II conference
Iran: Nuclear and regional ambitions
Israel vs. Hamas
Air strike in Sudan


More Headlines
16:16 Netanyahu: We'll build only in existing settlements
15:40 Israel furious over Russia FM's meeting with Hamas leader
16:25 Israel: Arrest Hezbollah chief over Hariri assassination
10:55 Court: No crime to shout 'Heil Sharon' while giving Nazi salute
12:25 WHO: Life expectancy in Israel among highest in the world
09:48 Hamas claiming IDF troops were 'cowards' during Gaza war
11:40 Arabs like Obama but are still suspicious of U.S.
20:58 WATCH: Daily news round-up from Israel
16:36 Syria denies deal with Russia over advanced aircraft fell through
15:22 Hamas sentences Fatah security men to death over 2007 killings
10:28 U.S. arms firms jockey to sell advanced fighter jets to Israel
13:28 18 U.S. soldiers in Kuwait contract swine flu
13:22 Iran blocks Facebook due to presidential campaigning
Previous Editions
Special Offers
Advertisement
hotel Jerusalem
David Citadel Hotel, come stay at the finest of Jerusalem hotels.
ISRAEL ARMY SURPLUS STORE
IDF insignia,Uniforms, Paladium Boots Watches, Israel Army T-shirts & Collectibles
Dead Sea Skin Care
Quality cosmetics from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 12% off!
Camp Kimama Israel 2009
The best place for your children this summer
Eldan Rent a Car
Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
Jewish Singles Personal Ads
Find the love of your life on JDate.com
Junkyard
Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Site rules |
| Israel 2009 election results | Makom: Engaging on Israel
| Search engine marketing
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved