Visit to Greek Orthodox patriarch led by Rabbis for Human Rights head
Last Friday, a group of Jewish public figures and intellectuals paid a
visit to the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem with
one simple goal in mind, asking for forgiveness. The group took the step
following a report in Haaretz about two weeks ago describing the
practice of some ultra-Orthodox Jewish young people of spitting when
passing church clergy on the street.
One member of the delegation, Rabbi Arik
Ascherman, who is general secretary of Rabbis for Human Rights, noted
that on Yom Kippur, Jews traditionally atone for transgressions between
themselves and God, but wrongs committed between people cannot be atoned
for, even by God, until the wrongdoer asks forgiveness. Ascherman added
that in contacts with Christian and Muslim clergy, his group of rabbis
condemns the acts of spitting.
The delegation met in the Old City of Jerusalem with the patriarch of
the Greek Orthodox Church, Theophilos III, who spoke of the spitting
phenomenon that he and his church colleagues have been confronting, but
said in Christianity, it was considered a good deed to show restraint
under such circumstances. In that spirit, he added, he also directed his
colleagues to exercise restraint. He said the spitting was a reflection
of ignorance on the part of people who don't really understand the
significance of religion and faith.
Among the members of the Jewish delegation
were Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Yosef ("Pepe" ) Alalu of the Meretz faction
and Meretz city council members Laura Wharton and Meir Margalit. "Since
we love this city, we felt that anything that happens here affects us,"
Margalit said. "We came to apologize despite the fact that we had no
part in the spitting, because we believe in mutual responsibility."
Margalit noted that almost all of the
members of the delegation who visited the Greek Orthodox patriarch were
born abroad. "We fervently believe that what the ultra-Orthodox Jews are
doing to Christians here, Christians do to Jews in the Diaspora. We
know what they are feeling and we have vowed that in the Jewish state
such things will not reoccur."
Next week, a similar delegation is due to
visit with representatives of the Armenian Orthodox Church, whose clergy
have also experienced the spitting phenomenon.
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