This article refers to ancient Jewish texts. If I were to ask what the Vatican is doing with them in the first place, that would be wrong, I suppose. "Jewish community leaders said they are ecstatic to have the opportunity to study the work of Moses Maimonides, and at least three other medieval manuscripts." See? I'm supposed to be ecstatic and not ask uncomfortable questions.
"A delegation of about 160 rabbis and cantors worldwide, including Blech, and American laypeople will meet with Pope John Paul II this month to thank him for years of goodwill, including working out an agreement to display the priceless Jewish artifacts for the first time in Israel." Okay, so having kissed the Pope's
Is this the first time they've been on loan? No. In fact, they've been to GERMANY before, but this will be their first loan to Israel. Germany? Why do I remember that name? Something to do with missing members of my family, as I recall. Well, at least Germany got these Jewish texts first. (That sound you hear is me sputtering.)
I love this line from the article: "There is no known recorded history showing exactly how or when the Vatican acquired the writings, Blech said." Yes, because the Vatican, unlike President Nixon, knew enough to burn the tapes (or whatever incriminating evidence might be lying around, since audio tape probably wasn't big during the Crusades, the Inquisition, etc.).
It's very nice that the Pope is being nice to Jews. It sure beats the fine work of Pius XII. Even so, I feel somewhat underwhelmed by this show of generosity.
Maybe I'm just not sufficiently appreciative. It's possible, I suppose.
3 comments:
Jess, never forget--and I'm certain you're already aware of this--that with the Vatican you're dealing with one of the most arrogant and bigoted religious organizations in the world. I learned that from twelve long, hard years of Catholic education that had the blessed side effect of making me an life-long atheistic humanist.
It's a good thing that they were not GAY Jews, otherwise they wouldn't even be able to look at the documents! Because the only thing more evil than Jews and Fags... LOL.
http://ruggerjohnnyd.blogs.com
as an aside ... i'd like to see ancient texts like that scanned and placed for viewing on the web. google is in the process of scanning several universities libraries for online use including U of Michagan and Oxford.
Post a Comment