Friday, April 29, 2005
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'A Blessing to One Another' offers lessons for all
New exhibit examines pope's role in modern relations between Catholics and Jews
By
Gail Towns
A new exhibit that chronicles Karol Wojtyla's amazing path from growing up in an apartment owned by Polish Jews to becoming one of the world's most adored pontiffs isn't just about history. It's also about the future.
"A Blessing to One Another: John Paul II and the Jewish People" premiers May 19 at Xavier University and is being hailed as a first-of-its-kind, interactive experience that examines the pope's efforts—-from childhood to the Vatican—-to improve Catholic and Jewish relations. "Not only do we want the exhibit to educate and commemorate the pope's legacy, but we want it to inspire as well," said Rabbi Abie Ingber, executive director of the Hillel Jewish Student Center of Cincinnati and one of the three local co-directors. "That's the element in which we've invested the most time."
John Paul II, who would have turned 85 this year, was the first pope to step foot inside a synagogue in 2,000 years and the first pope to establish diplomatic relations with Israel; both steps toward closing the age-old gap between the faiths. But neither event marked the start of his relationship with the Jewish community. In pre-World War II Poland, Wojtyla lived the first 18 years of his life in Wadowice where many of his neighbors, classmates and athlete friends (he played soccer) were Jews. Historians point to his childhood as the foundation for what would become a critical part of his legacy.
The 1,500-square-foot experience, which takes about an hour to see, documents his early life with historically significant papers, photos and other materials, many of them mounted on 8-foot-high replicas of vintage postcards and pictures. Visitors will see important personal documents, including his baptismal certificate and college transcripts. Shoes worn by Jewish prisoners at Auschwitz and the vestments worn by the pope during an inter-religious prayer service in Assisi also are part of the showcase.
The exhibit has been in the making for more than a year and half. It was in 2003 that Holocaust studies expert Yaffa Eliach, director of the Shtetl Foundation in New York, initiated talks about the exhibit when she was a visiting professor at Xavier. She shared her research of the pope's llife-long ties to the Jewish community, hoping others would be enthused. And they were. Rabbi Ingber, along with James Buchanan of Xavier's Edward B. Brueggeman Center for Dialogue, and William Madges, theology department chair, made an October 2004 trip to the Vatican to receive the pope's blessing. "Were it not for the uniqueness of this little town and the unique relationship between Jews and Catholics there, I believe his papacy would have been completely different," said Rabbi Ingber. Already, he knows John Paul II's outreach is making a difference. “When the pope died,” he said, “my phone rang within minutes. It was my daughters calling to see if I was okay. So when the pope dies and the daughters of a Jew—a rabbi—call to check in, then you know the world has changed.”
Gail Towns is a freelance writer who lives in West Chester.
