Francis’ rabbinical chums drop by the Vatican for a visit

(click images to enlarge)

 Rabbi Isaac Sacca and his fellow Talmudists stop by for some one-way dialogue.

TO CONTRIBUTE TO WORLD PEACE

I’m excited and very grateful to have been received again by Pope Francis, in a meeting in which we agree that dialogue, understanding and respect between cultures and religions is the way forward to achieve world peace. Focused on this great objective, Pope Francis received the Jewish Hispanic Foundation, whose works are guided by this spirit, headed by its president, David Hatchwell and other prominent members, such as Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, who was Minister of Justice of Spain, Alicia Koplowitch, Nacho Cano and Juan Luis Cebrián. 

Also present was an American delegation, represented by Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, Rabbi of the Portuguese Hispanic community of New York, David Sable, senior advisor at WPP and former global CEO of Y&R and Mitchell Presser, referred to environmental sustainability, another core principal of Pope Francis. 

During the meeting, the need to awaken man to act for the common good from the religious perspective of each of the creeds was agreed upon (as well as), accepting the differences and ideas of others.

source: Facebook, Rabino Isaac Sacca, 27 August, 3:52PM

The president of the HispanoJudía Foundation, David Hatchwell giving Francis a facsimile of the Alba Bible.

...the Pope recalled fondly his childhood in Argentina where he had the opportunity to live with children of different religions in especially Jews with whom he shared vital experiences and values ​​that made him grow and become what he is today, a man of peace. David Hatchwell took advantage of his visit to give to the Pontiff a facsimile of the Alba Bible, dating from 1422, which was translated from Hebrew to Spanish by Rabbi Moises Arragel [of Guadalajara], commissioned by the great master of the Order of Calatrava, Don Luis de Guzmán . The goal at the time was to teach the clergy the Jewish heritage of Christianity and the construction of bridges between cultures. That is precisely the objective of the [HispanoJudía] Foundation, which was founded three years ago to build emotional bonds that allow us to rebuild a world of respect, empathy and values ​​where the sanctity of human life is respected.

MAR FLORES Y ALICIA KOPLOWITZ, RECIBIDAS POR EL PAPA FRANCISCO EN ROMA, Hola!, 26 August 2019

 The Alba Bible

“Rabbi Arragel took pains to make the Alba Bible a legacy of the Golden era of Sephardic scholarship, boldly avoiding concessions to Christian thinking. He included in his commentary extracts from rabbinical writings and the Quabbalic Zohar, and illustrations specifically depicting Jewish scriptural interpretations and religious objects.”

The Alba Bible, Digital Exhibits, UWM Libraries Special Collections

“The Alba Bible, with its 513 folios and 334 miniatures, is a powerful work of visual art. But still more significant is the vast commentary it contains. Rabbi Moses showed great independence and courage, and his translation and commentary make few concessions to Christian thinking, although he must have been aware of the dangers awaiting both him and the Jewish community. It is rich in extracts not only from rabbinical writings such as the Targumim, Midrashim and Talmud, but also from later works such as the Zohar - the source book of Jewish mysticism. Rabbi Moses may well have given the artists detailed instructions on the illustrations, furnishing them with specifically Jewish interpretations of biblical scenes. The resulting images are also very important as cultural records, since contemporary weapons, musical instruments, furniture and costumes are all depicted...no other extant manuscript contains so many rabbinically inspired miniatures. For instance, Cain kills Abel by biting his neck like a serpent, exactly as is described in the Zohar. Similarly, religious objects from the Temple are depicted just as in Hebrew Bibles of the same period.”

Historical Background, The Alba Bible: A superb example of manuscript illumination - the very first translation of the Hebrew Bible and glosses into Castilian, Facsimile Editions.

“The Alba Bible contains a series of comments on the writing of both Jewish and Christian theologians, including Abraham ibn Ezra, Maimonides, Nahmanides, R. Joseph Kimhi, R. Asher ben Jehiel, Shlomo ben Aderet, R. Ya'acob and Nissim of Gerona. There is also commentary taken from rabbinic literary sources such as the Talmud and the Midrash.”

Alba Bible, Wikipedia, 7 October 2018.

Francis and Jews share the same “values”.

“I was given the opportunity to meet the Pope—not on or in a line, not in a large group, not in a delegation, but in an intimate setting: his private residence at the Vatican.

Along with me were:

Rabbi Isaac Sacca, the Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic Community in Argentina. As such, he is a friend and colleague of Padre Jorge Mario Bergoglio—Bishop, then Cardinal, and now, Pope Francis. They have remained close as Jorge Mario Bergoglio ascended the Papal ladder (eventually becoming the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church), and they maintain their friendship and discussions from Buenos Aries to the Vatican, where Rabbi Sacca is a regular visitor.

My good friend, Mitchell Presser, a Partner at Freshfields, one of the largest and most prestigious multinational law firms. He is a close friend of Rabbi Sacca’s and has accompanied him to the Vatican before. With him, his son DJ, a computer science student at Columbia.

Rabbi Meir Soloveichik is the Chief Minister of Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States also known as the Spanish Portuguese Synagogue. He is a world-renowned writer and speaker and friend and Rabbi to both Mitchell and myself.

And then there was me. Together, our Fellowship to the Pope was complete. Two Rabbis, a lawyer, his son and an Ad guy.

I have long admired this Pope, and truthfully, meeting him was on my “secret, sure it would never happen, bucket list.” Yet there I was, in a small room in the Pope’s residence, sitting across from one of the most holy, and certainly most humble, people on this earth.

[...]

Pope Francis never lost touch with Rabbi Sacca and they continue to e-mail with one another directly—no intermediaries. Extraordinary. And, as you can see, he encourages his friend to bring more friends and expand the circle…how else can you be on top of what is real and not?”

 Two Rabbis, a Lawyer, his Son, and an Ad Guy Walk into the Vatican..., Linkedin, @David Sable, 26 August 2019.

Francis only uses glass as he “has an eco-aversion to plastic.”

In an act of brotherhood, the Pope and the Great Rabbi Isaac Sacca delivered, in Hebrew and in Spanish, the Aaronic prayer [Birkat Kohanim] to all the participants.

EL PAPA RECIBE A LA FUNDACIÓN HISPANOJUDÍA EN UNA AUDIENCIA PRIVADA, Hola!, 23 August 2019

If and when  Rabbi Isaac Sacca writes more about this encounter, we will update this post.



More on Francis and the Birkat Kohanim:

• How Francis spent his 80th birthday in 2016

• Francis performs Birkat Kohanim blessing at the New Year’s Angelus

More on Rabbi Isaac Sacca & Francis:

• Francis adds more rabbinical books to his library

• Francis’ private guest last Friday was Senior Rabbi of the Sephardic Jews in Argentina, Rabbi Isaac Sacca

• How Francis spent his 80th birthday in 2016

Francis smiling with his revolutionary crony.

Want to know what Francis’ position on abortion is?

Then, just look at his scandalous actions.

Francis had an audience with the members of the Pontifical Academy Of Life on Monday, 25 June 2018, in the Clementine Hall where he gave an address.  Afterwards, Francis met with some of the members of the academy including the two pro-abortion rabbis (Rabbi Avraham Steinberg, M.D. & Rabbi Professor Fernando Szlajen) he appointed to it.  No where in his address did Francis condemn abortion, instead he uttered a bunch of hollow platitudes, talked about his program of gnostic environmentalism (global bioethics), and appealed to the ethics, values, and wisdom of those in attendance.  Let’s see, what are some of the ethics, values, and wisdom of rabbis Steinberg and Szlajen?  A few of the ethics of Rabbi Steinberg are: gentiles should be put to death for committing abortion but Jews shouldn’t be, pedophilia rape is OK, blood has magic abilities, the first man Adam was a hermaphrodite, etc... One of the value$ that Rabbi Szlajen teaches is, the Bible demands abortion in only one case “when the life of the conceptus [the embryo in utero] inexorably threatens that of its mother.”  He then goes on to justify this by citing, “the law of rodef, ‘pursuer’.”  We don’t know about you, but we have yet to read a Bible which sanctions abortion or cites ‘the law of the rodef’.  We have read the Talmud though, which says almost verbatim what Rabbi Szlajen wrote.  This noahidzation of the church is what Francis means when he says he wants a, “deepening of scientific, anthropological and ethical knowledge, and in service to life,” and “there is a real cultural revolution on the horizon of history at this time. The Church must, first and foremost, be part of it.”

 Rabbi Avraham Steinberg, M.D. with Francis.

Rabbi Professor Fernando Szlajen with Francis.

Francis adds a copy of ‘Mystic Tales From the Emek HaMelech’ to his kabbalistic library collection

Mystic Tales From the Emek HaMelech

When Francis had a private audience with Chasidic Jews from Poland the other day, he greeted them in the old papal apartments where heads of state and their bureaucratic lackeys as well as religious delegations are met.  Before Francis got around to swaying and listening to a Yiddish song, he was presented with a gift.  This gift was a book named Mystic Tales From the Emek HaMelech and was written by Rabbi Naftali Hertz and edited by Rabbi DovBer Pinson.  The author claimed to have been a student of the AriZal (Isaac Luria) even though he never met him.  The book,  Emek HaMelech, asserts to flesh out the teachings of the Lurianic Kabbalah.  The introduction to Mystic Tales From the Emek HaMelech explains it thus:

[...]

[...]

So what Lurianic Kabbalah concepts will the stories be instilling in Francis?

• reincarnation of souls into animals and into stones;

• good vibrations;

• summoning dead ancestors;

• all history is encoded in the Torah Shebeal peh;

• all souls have a connection to the Torah Shebeal peh;

• becoming possessed with the soul of a departed pious Hasid;

• the Moshiach ben Joseph — Lurianic kabbalists teach that Moshiach ben Joseph was incarnated as Cain and he was notably reincarnated as Joseph (son of Jacob) and Jeroboam.  According to Abraham Abulafia, building on a 10th century legend, Moshiach ben Joseph is Jesus who is really Satan and Abraham Abulafia saw himself as his adversary, Moshiach ben David.  Hence Abulafia’s unsuccessful attempt to convert the Pope Nicholas III from Catholicism back to the true religion of Talmudism.;

• the power of ten Talmudic Jews praying;

• charitable giving;

• the power of the Psalms;

• the power of lost souls and evil spirits; and

• seeing the shekinah.

Since Francis already knows about good vibrations and loves to mock Our Lord, Jesus the Christ, is it any wonder he was overjoyed at receiving this book?  His inner (chasidic) Jew must be jumping for joy!  We at Call Me Jorge... wonder what Lurianic Kabbalah bilge will be flowing from the mouth of Francis during his homilies, inculcating the unsuspecting people in the pews throughout the upcoming summer months?

Rabbi Chaim Boruch (Edgar) Gluck, the guy in the fuzzy spodik and 
bigdei shabbos finery, has his assistant present the book to Francis.

 The Chasids show the cover of ‘Mystic Tales From the Emek HaMelech’ to Francis.

 Rabbi Chaim Boruch (Edgar) Gluck explains the book to Francis.

Delighted Francis receiving the kabbalistic book.

Francis’ private guest last Friday was Senior Rabbi of the Sephardic Jews in Argentina, Rabbi Isaac Sacca

Francis has his old friend over at the Casa Santa Marta on 16 December 2016.

Sacca met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, with whom he discussed ideas to promote peace between nations.

Isaac also found time to get together with Chief Rabbi of Rome and Francis favorite, Riccardo Di Segni.

Throwback Thursday — 18 January 2005

(from left to right) Rabbi Barry Dov Schwartz, Rabbi Benjamin Blech

and Rabbi Jack Bemporad give John Paul II a rabbinical blessing.

John Paul II received in a private audience 160 Jewish leaders, rabbis, cantors and their relatives.  It was unprecedented in that never before had so many rabbis set foot in the Vatican at once and they were there to meet John Paul II!  It was requested by the Pave The Way Foundation located in New York, United States of America.  John Paul II’s Talmudic Jewish friend, Gary Krupp, proposed the meeting as a way to show thanks to John Paul II for combating anti-semitism.  The Pave The Way Foundation prides itself on working behind the scenes and achieving concrete results in the furtherance of their mission.  One of their previous victories in 2002 was getting papal permission for Talmudic scholars and rabbis to have access to the Vatican Library where they can view and study the original works of Maimonides (aka the RaMBaM).  This mission was aptly named the “Maimonides Project”.  Another success was receiving permission for a loan of manuscripts of Maimonides and others, from the Vatican Library, to the Israel Museum, for its fortieth anniversary exhibit during the upcoming summer of 2005.  Among the items were:

• a magnificently illustrated 15th-century manuscript of the Mishneh Torah, the text which was written in the 12th century by the Rambam (Maimonides),

• a copy of the Arba’ah Turim, Rabbi Jacob ben Asher’s renowned medieval text of Jewish law, 

• a complete Hebrew Bible codex and a book of Psalms, both produced in Rome in the 13th century and greatly prized by Jewish scholars since that time.

At the audience, three rabbis blessed John Paul II as well as a group of cantors who sang a special blessing, the Shehecheyahu.  John Paul II addressed them with these words,

“May this be an occasion for renewed commitment to increased understanding and cooperation in the service of building a world ever more firmly based on respect for the divine image in every human being.  Upon all of you, I invoke the abundant blessings of the Almighty and, in particular, the gift of peace.  Shalom aleichem.”

Gary Krupp’s speech

John Paul II’s remarks

three rabbis bless John Paul II in the Vatican

the historic meet and greet 

Sources:

• HISTORIC MEETING WITH POPE JOHN PAUL II CANTORS GO TO ROME!

• Pave The Way Foundation - Worldwide Jewish Delegation Audience with John Paul II

• ADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II TO THE MEMBERS OF THE "PAVE THE WAY FOUNDATION"

• Pave The Way Foundation - Internet and Print Media Coverage 2004-2009

Related:

• six hands kissed for six million! (Rabbi Blech)

• Rabbi Ehrenkranz predicts Francis (Rabbi Bemporad)

• The fruit of Nostra Aetate and the era of one way Jewish to Catholic 'dialogue'...is the Noahide Laws! (Rabbi Bemporad)

Francis' rabbi sends out his Noahide message

Two peas in a Talmudic pod.

 

Rabbi Abraham Skorka: A Year after the Historic Pilgrimage to the Holy Land with Pope Francis

A Vision of Peace for Jerusalem

ELENA DINI

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the Conciliar Declaration on the Church’s relationship with non-Christian Religions, which marked an important moment in ecumenical and interreligious dialogue and, in particular, with the Jewish world. To celebrate this anniversary, the annual conference of the International Council of Christians and Jews was held in Rome this summer, and had the joyful opportunity of having an audience with Pope Francis, where he stated that “an authentic fraternal dialogue has been made possible since the Second Vatican Council, following the promulgation of the DeclarationNostra Aetate. This document represents a definitive ‘yes’ to the Jewish roots of Christianity and an irrevocable ‘no’ to anti-Semitism. In celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate, we are able to see the rich fruits which it has brought about and to gratefully appraise Jewish-Catholic dialogue.” Among those who participated in the conference was the Argentinean Rabbi Abraham Skorka, who was first in line to greet his friend Jorge Mario Bergoglio, and who later granted us an interview.

More than a year has passed since your historical pilgrimage with Pope Francis to the Holy Land. Would you like to share with us why you chose to join him on that trip, and why it was important?

The Holy Land was one of the topics that we often analyzed together, also in our book. The main question was this: what can we do in order to promote peace in the Middle East, and specifically in the Holy Land? For me the State of Israel is a very important theme: a state which has the challenge of showing the development of Jewish culture in our present day. The Zionist Movement is not merely a movement that claims and proclaims the re-establishment of the Jews in the Land of Israel. It is also a cultural movement, which helped to transform Hebrew into a living language, and that voices concern over the future of the Jewish culture.

With regards to “Rome” and “Jerusalem”, there is an historical antagonism between Rome and Jerusalem which is also mentioned in the Talmud. Rome destroyed the province of Yehuda during the terrible war between 67 and 70 which ended with the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem. In 73 there was the siege of Masada and then, from 132 to 135, there was the terrible war was carried out by Adrianus. What we tried to do through this pilgrimage to the Holy Land was to transmit a message of peace, and to express our hope that the gap produced by over 2,000 years of conflict may be filled with sentiments of pureness, love, thus giving the possibility to see one another as brothers in our human condition.

From another angle, the idea was to go to the place to which I direct my tefilot (prayers) and to the place where Jesus – who is so special to the Christian faith – was born, lived, and spread his message. It is a special common place for us, and when I saw Pope Francis after he was elected, I told him: Let us go to Israel. This is the place in which our religiosity, our vision of God, and our connection with God was established. We are the children, the descendants of the great prophets who elevated their prophecies in Jerusalem.

We had our good friend Omar Abboud with us in order to show that all Abrahamic religions must embrace each other, forming a circle of spiritual power which, according to our Holy Scriptures, will bring peace to our world. This is our challenge and this was the reason for our journey, which was not a trip, but rather a pilgrimage.

You have spoken about the importance of the place in itself, of Jerusalem, and also of the global message one should spread. You, Pope Francis and Omar Abboud you are not originally from the Holy Land, nor are you living there. What do you think that the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which has more than 30,000 members around the world, can do in those places where it is located in order to promote encounter and peace?

One could define our pilgrimage as a proclamation for peace sent out from the very place from which Isaiah said: “For out of Zion shall go forth the Torah [instruction, in the NRSV translation] and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Is 2:3) What does the Torah mean? Peace! This verse comes from the middle of a description of a reality of peace in which one people will not lift up sword against the other, and in which swords will be transformed into plowshares.

We have received this idea, but how can we pragmatise it around the world? Every Christian community and every Jewish community ought to have interreligious programs. The first step for these interreligious programs must be an encounter between Jews and Christians of different denominations, to see and to know each other, and to analyze themes together. Of course there should not be an analysis of very sensitive topics at the very beginning, but instead daily problems should be analyzed from Jewish and Christian points of view, and then studied together, as Pope Francis suggested in Evangelii Gaudium. This should be the beginning: to know each other and to work together in order to solve the problems that affect our common society.

Would you like to conclude by sharing a prayer that you think can be helpful for sustaining peace in the Holy Land?

All our prayers quote different Bible verses. A few passages from the book of Isaiah come to mind. In Isaiah Chapter 2 there is the famous image of a Jerusalem of peace. Peace is what we must ask God for: to bless us (and I mean Jews, Muslims and Christians) in order to help us accept one another with great respect, to see one another as brothers. It is then that we will surely be able to build up a Jerusalem of peace in which all of us will have the possibility to express the best sentiments, ideas and thoughts which are in each one of us.

The other passage in Isaiah, which strikes me  as a tefila, a prayer, is at the end of Chapter 19, where there appears to come a way that connects Egypt and Assyria, and then “Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. God will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.’” (Is 19:24-25) At that time, I understood, I pray, all people will have a deep commitment to worship God and it will be a blessing for the whole world.

The third passage in Isaiah, which is very relevant for me as a prayer, is the one that says “for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Is 56:7). He will bless us, all of us, with greatness to transform all the city of Jerusalem into God’s house. Not because God is living in this house, but in order that each person who comes to Jerusalem, no matter what his or her faith may be, will have the possibility of finding in Jerusalem a real dimension of spirituality. In this way we will really honor the memory of the prophets of Israel, the great masters of Israel, Jesus, and Muhammad.

In collaboration with the Order of the Holy Sepulchre

 

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was a regular at the shul

Rabbi Sergio Bergman, Rabbi Alejandro Avruj and Jorge Mario Bergoglio at the synagogue

“For Pope Francis, this is just part of his life. He was a regular in shul [synagogue]...It’s an intimacy based on experience.”

director of interreligious relations 

for the American Jewish Committee
- Rabbi Noam Marans -

(left to right) Rabbi David Rosen,  Rabbi Noam Marans and David Inlander present 

Francis with a photo of Rabbi Abraham Heschel and Cardinal Augustin Bea.

Pynchas Brener becomes rabbi #89,324 to visit Francis at the Vatican

 Brener said the Vatican needs to change faster to keep him happy 
during his private audience with Francis (16 February 2015)

The day will come when all the religions will come to Jerusalem united under Talmudic Judaism to create the New World Order!

 Brener gave Francis a book on seders which explained 

how the Last Supper was a seder meal.

Francis told Brener, Talmudic Judaism was the root and 

the Noahide Novus Ordo was the trunk of the same tree.