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New Book Chronicles Friendship of North Dade Rabbi and Argentine Bishop

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By FJN Admin

What began ten years ago as a friendly challenge between a rabbi and a bishop in Argentina, will result next month in the release of a book telling of the pair’s travels together to Jewish and Christian holy sites and the frank discussions their visits inspired. The book, All Roads Lead to Jerusalem…and also to Rome, will be the focal point on Monday, October 8th, as the pair appears together at Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus, 20350 NE 26th Avenue, to discuss their travels and views, and to answer questions regarding interfaith beliefs and relations.

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Beth Torah Rabbi Mario Rojzman and Monsignor Justo Laguna, Bishop Emeritus of Morón (a province of Buenos Aires, Argentina) met when they co-led a March 1998 interfaith memorial service for those killed in the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires. At the time of the memorial, Rojzman was serving as rabbi of Bet El, a Conservative congregation in Buenos Aires.

It was also the same week in which Pope John Paul II expressed remorse for the Catholic Church’s silence during the Holocaust.

In a television interview after the service, a reporter asked how the relationship would continue. "At that moment, Bishop Laguna invited me to the Vatican. I said that I would gladly go with him, but that we would first have to visit Jerusalem together," Rojzman recalls. "Our common heritage started there. It was the natural place for us to begin this exploration of our faiths’ similarities and differences."

Weeks later, Rojzman and Laguna were in Jerusalem. "It was Israel’s 50th anniversary. We walked together through a Holocaust memorial, and he cried like a child," Rojzman recalls of his friend, Bishop Laguna. For Rojzman, it was a stark contrast to feelings of only a few decades earlier. "When I was a child, my father told us that when he was a child, he had to stay home on Christmas. His parents feared that the anti-Semitic sermons bishops were delivering would incite pogroms."

Immediately following their visit to Jerusalem, Rojzman and Laguna made their visit to Rome. "We went to the Vatican to meet with Pope John Paul II, and I was greeted with tremendous respect by the Swiss Guard. And honestly, it gave me mixed feelings. I was pleased that we as Jewish people have recovered, but saddened by the silence that once existed in that building when we most needed a voice."

At another point in their first visit to Rome, Rojzman recalls, "A Jewish family recognized us and wanted to take photos with us. Bishop Laguna reacted strongly, saying, ‘What do you mean you want to take a picture? It’s Shabbat!’"

"It is amazing the level of hatred that used to exist between our faiths, and the beauty of learning we’ve seen," Rojzman says. "There are so many messages of hope. One thing our relationship has taught me is that I don’t need to believe in another’s ideal to know that it’s a great one."

This event is free and open to the public. Rojzman and Laguna will sign books with all proceeds benefiting children’s educational programs at Beth Torah. For information, call Pablo Levi at 305-932-2829.


Posted by FJN Admin on 09/21 at 03:54 PM • Hits: 81



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