I looked at the Pope and was envious. I envied the Catholics for such a leader. A fragile, sickold man, standing for hours out in the wind and, speaking about the suffering of others andsending a message of justice and the love of man. A message that came from the heart, for this manhas proven himself : Once he carried on his back a worn-out, strange Jewish woman who was on herway back to Krakow from the horrible camps of the Holocaust.
Unlike so many of our rabbis, he did not curse, he did not call for self-isolation, he did notpreach the rejection of the other, the stranger and the different. He opened his arms to theworld.
His is the language of symbols. His words were measured, but his real message was transmittedin symbolic acts, in gestures, in body language and facial expressions. When he kissed theearth in two places, when he went towards the Holocaust survivors (instead the other wayround), when he visited Dheishe refugee camp (which is not a Christian holy place), when hewent to the Rabbinate. This is a language that goes straight to the hearts of hundred ofmillions.
When he was standing in the darkness of the memorial hall of Yad Vashem, his head dropped, hisface tortured, mere words were superfluous. At that moment, the earth devoured theHolocaust-deniers wherever they are. Billions around the globe sense the bottomless evil ofthat awful happening. Even many Palestinians, who tend to perceive the Holocaust as a Zionistpropaganda ploy.
A day before the visit to Yad Vashem, when he visited the Palestinian refugee camp, hetransmitted in his own way that the tragedy of one people does not obliterate the tragedy ofanother, that no scales can weight their respective suffering. He took into his shaking handsthe heart of the Palestinian refugees, the neglected and forgotten people, and put it on thetable of humanity.
When he kissed the Israeli earth, he gave the blessing of the church to the existence andwellbeing of the Israeli state. When he kissed the Palestinian earth, he gave the blessing ofthe church to the State of Palestine. One picture of the pope’s face in Bethlehem, flanked byPalestinian flags, was enough to finalize the world-wide consensus that the Palestinianpeople are entitled to proclaim their state this year, for historical justice and for peacewith Israel.
Every second of this visit was rich in emotions, symbols and gestures. Even the politicalmessages – and they were many – were expressed in this language. Unfortunately, this is aforeign language to Israeli leaders, both political and spiritual. Even when they at longlast started on the way to peace in Oslo, they were unable to make even one single real gesturefrom the heart, that would have entered the hearts and created a spirit of peace. Every”gesture”, such as releasing prisoners and giving back land., was the outcome of endlesshaggling, humiliations, accusations and postponements, so that in the end they were nothingbut dry peelings.
Between the Pope and Yassir Arafat – himself a master of gestures – there was an immediateclick. With Ehud Barak, who suspects and scorns emotions, no such click was possible.
Even before the end of the visit, Israelis started to quarrel about who won and who lost. Theanswer is: Peace won. The enemies of peace on both sides lost. Yassir Arafat gained ground withhis own people, because the visit clearly proves that his peace policy bears fruit, puts thePalestinian cause on the world agenda and achieves, step after step, world-wide recognitionfor Palestinian independence. Israel gained by his ringing statement againstanti-Semitism and his making the world, and especially the young, aware again of the terriblelegacy of the Holocaust.
I am an atheist. I do nor believe in any religion – neither the Jewish one I was born into nor anyother. I strongly reject the ultra-conservative views of this Pope in many fields. But Ideeply admire his personality. How wonderful it would be, if contemporary Jewish religionwere able to produce such a person, instead of so many hate-preachers, amulet-peddlers andGoyim-bashers (whenever such a opportunity arises.)
This visit was not a passing episode, a TV event that will fade away tomorrow. This Polishpriest entered many hearts, aroused admiration and impressed unforgettable pictures in ourmemory. He enriched our spiritual world. Like the Israelite prophets long ago, he motivatedus, even ever so slightly, to listen to the Other, to do justice, to be better human beings.