Apparently, a group of Jews went to visit the pope in 1987. Regarding this event, the Rebbe spoke harsh words. After the current pope's visit to Israel, where he met with chief rabbis David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef, I'm sure the same measure of repugnancy is due.
Here's a rough translation of some paragraphs the Rebbe spoke during a farbrengen, 6 days into the New Year 5748
תורת מנחם התוועדויות תשמ''ח - חלק א
6 Tishrei, page 111
"Last year there occurred an alarming event. Some who purport to speak on behalf of the Jewish public, as they themselves profess, went and behaved shockingly, of issues that relate to idolatry (עבודה זרה), which happens to be one of the 3 prohibitions of which it says 'You cannot pass it off, even should consequences lead to the opposite of life'.
"To make matters worse, they parade this affair in a blaze of publicity ... saying they saved face of Israel's respect, and will have brought eternal kindness towards Israel, as if no words can express the praise related to that famous meeting! Which, by the way, includes kissing of hands and fingers, calling each other in politically correct titles - issues of idolatry ... In addition, they flaunt their behavior as an ultimate achievement for the Jewish public's sake.
"And all this while we do not see Muslims or Buddhists chasing after him so hard. Yet nobody raises even the slightest objection!
"Although some show of protest was observed, it came through as a whisper because it was hushed up, in hope the fuss would be forgotten.
"They continue to hold their hand out, hoping to gain even more exposure, after having gained so much already ... and who is there to tell them to stop!
"Therefore, the only counsel to prevent this happening in the future is for those who can speak in the name of Torah and in the language of Torah to heed the words, 'Before mockers feel no shame' and go out to make an outcry against this.
"They must start with the positive and express, without hysteria, what real Judaism asserts. And even though 'You are a nation of a few', 'we have an Old Man behind us' - our Father in heaven, and even though 'Israel is separated and scattered among the nations', it is 'one nation'. On the contrary, because Jews are 'one nation', they were saved of all the impurities, and this is their importance - that 'their religion is unlike all other religions.'"
1 comment:
Beautifully said; the greatness of our greats! Too bad, we have such an ignorant generation today, who have lost their bearings. What matters is finding favor in the eyes of the nations, r'l, instead of Hashem.
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