The Catholic Church and the Jews
A few weeks ago, Rabbi Moshe Grylak, the esteemed editor-in-chief of Mishpacha, wrote about the Pope’s visit to Israel. He wrote that the Pope undoubtedly had a difficult time on his trip, seeing first-hand the return of the Jewish people to their Land, and all the signs of their sovereignty. This, he claimed, was a huge affront to Catholic teaching, to the point of calling into question his entire foundation of belief.
I almost always agree with Rabbi Grylak, but that particular piece struck me as factually incorrect, even dangerous. The Church officially changed its attitude towards Jews over forty years ago. Believing Christians constitute the largest consistent group of Israel’s supporters today. Even non-Cathoics would be offended by Jewish inability to recognize the positive measures many have taken to extend themselves in the cause of Israel and the Jewish people.
I communicated with Mishpacha, and they readily agreed to publish a piece I would write. Once I turned it in, Rabbi Grylak exercised his right to respond, and Mishpacha a week ago published a four page debate between the two of us. I am grateful to Mishpacha (whose readership now exceeds that of Yated and Hamodia combined) for the extraordinary level of cooperation they showed.
It would have been my preference to publish Rabbi Grylak’s rejoinder to me at the same time. Mishpacha agreed, but was only able to provide me with a pdf of the article, rather than text. I have no place to park a pdf where I can link the url so that readers can get to it. I’ve told that to them, and I will wait a bit longer to see if they will send his piece in a different format. If not, I will paraphrase it – and of course relate why I thoroughly disagree with him.


