Rabbi to attend Papal Funeral
While everyone is busy blogging about which jews and rabbis will not be attending the Pope’s Funeral, news has it that that World Jewish Congress Chairman, Rabbi Dr. Israel Singer shall attend the Pope’s Funeral. Singer is also responsible for spearheading IJCIC – International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations responsible for much of the groundbreaking dialogue and goodwill between the Jewish community and the Roman Catholic Church.
sheesh. did the pope show up at kahane’s funeral?
HT, is that really you?
Arthur Schneier is there as well. That really puts Singer in great company.
I like the discussion that’s been happening on:
http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/2…
Jews are forbidden to enter active churches or even watch the idol-worshipper’s ceremonies on tv, but representatives of the people may, uh, represent us.
Josh, thanks for that link.
the torah web messages were very vague, and then increased when ppl pressed for info and is still vague. there is a anarticle in the forward about it as well. Gil at hirhurim was much more informative.
Are we not allowed to watch a presdiential swearing in?
Are we not allowed to watch a catholic wedding?
Are we not allowed to witness the 9/11 event at yankee stadium and the dozens and dozens of prayer services from all religions which took place?
I wish it was clearer what the actual problem is. If it’s that since Catholics perceive watching mass on tv to be equal to attendent participation, then there’s a problem. I’ve mentioned before, I went to Catholic school for 12 years. We were taught specifically that watching mass on tv does not equal attendence. We were taught that under Catholic rules, to be considered attending mass, one must be present for the liturgy of the word (the gospel reading) and the liturgy of the eucharist (the whole communion thing) including taking communion (if one doesn’t receive communion, one is not considered to have attended mass).
Personally, I don’t see a reason to attend events in a church, showing implicit support for something one doesn’t believe in. And multi-faith services always have struck me as pretty religiously meaningless. I’ve made my decisions in the past, some I think were right, and some I think now were wrong (it involved family harmony. I wish I had been smart enough to ask a Rabbi, though I guess I already knew what his answer would be and that it would jeopordize a family relationship, something I didn’t want to deal with)
The real issue is, who get’s to keep that sporty pope-mobile?!
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sorry for the off-topic comment
Yo, attending events in a church does not mean you support the church. One of my best friends, a catholic, had her confirmation, and I went to support her, not to support the church. Whether or not me supporting her is right or wrong, is not the issue, so please do not post about that What I am saying is that some people go to Churches not out of support for churches but for other reasons.
And I think the sporty pope-mobile probebly goes to the next pope.
I live in Rome. The chief rabbi here was forced into attending by the lay members of the Community Council, who love to feel important by attending papal events. The rabbis were able to negotiate an arrival that didn’t require walking through St. Peter’s itself, but this is still “stretching it”, said Riccardo Di Segni, our chief rabbi. Avoda zara. I heard Singer at shul in Rome on Shabbat say some strange things, like “this pope was good for us” and that he doesn’t believe in G.d anyway, “I’m a rabbi by mistake, I actually install toilets”. So who is this guy?