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Beth Goodtree Beth Goodtree is a writer specializing in political commentary, Islamism and the Middle East and also writes the occasional science and humor articles. She has a background in advertising and works as a consultant on Islamism and terrorism to a security firm. Website:
http://goodtree.theraphi.com
She may be reached at
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By Beth Goodtree
May 10, 2005
The media and political pundits have been falling all over themselves since the new Pope came to power to say what a nice guy he is and how he wants to have good relations with the Jews. Never mind that he was in the Hitler Youth Corp., he was forced. But now he wants to make nice to the people who still practice the religion that Jesus did. (And no, Jesus was neither a Christian nor a Catholic; he was a Jew).
You wanna make nice Your Eminence? How about returning our stuff? All of it.
It is an established fact that the Vatican holds in its vaults priceless Jewish artifacts with both religious and historic significance. This includes a manuscript by Maimonides, which was written by a scribe in the 1400s. Maimonides, also known as Rambam, was the 12th-century doctor and sage in Egypt whose works include the first codification of Jewish law. He is considered one of the most influential of all Jewish thinkers.
Recently, Jewish scholars were allowed to view this manuscript, but it has never been returned to the Jewish people. Can you imagine the hue and cry if, say, a work by St. John were being held by the Jews and not returned to the Vatican? Heck, they'd probably start another Crusade.
According to George Krupp, the Vatican has the largest repository of ancient Hebrew and medieval Hebrew manuscripts in the world. Krupp is one of three living Jews to be knighted by a pope and facilitated the loan of the Maimonides manuscript, along with a few others.
Then there is the whole issue of the Temple artifacts being held by the Vatican. The Temple referred to here is the Second Temple of Jerusalem. When the Romans sacked Jerusalem in AD 70, they took Temple treasures with them. Legend has it that religious articles from the Temple, including the menorah, were among them. The Vatican has consistently denied the menorah is there. However, the Arch of Titus in Rome depicts victorious Roman legions marching off with the seven-branch menorah in hand.
A former Israeli Minister of Religion, Shimon Shitreet, had requested the Vatican to return the holy golden Menorah from the Temple as well as vessels and other holy artifacts. He presented that Vatican with the results of historical research that proved that the Menorah and vessels were taken to Rome together with the Israeli captives. The artifacts remained there when Rome became Christian and were then transferred to the Vatican. Shitreet's research was also based on the ornamentation of Titus' triumphal arch in Rome that confirms it in a very clear manner. This request was not merely ignored, it evoked antagonism and denial in the Vatican.
This denial of the return of priceless and theologically imperative Jewish objects raises more than one question. The first one is political. Does the Vatican really want good relations with Jews? If so, it will immediately return those items it retains that are most precious to the Jewish people.
The second question, and perhaps the most important, concerns the entire philosophy of the Vatican as the representative of the Catholic peoples, and may be crucial to its very survival.
Catholics pray for the day that the Messiah comes. Catholics also incorporate into their religious doctrine the Hebrew bible as well as the New Testament. Their savior, Jesus Christ, was a Jew and followed the Hebrew bible in exactly the same form as it is written today.
In the Hebrew bible, it clearly states that the Messiah won't come until the Third Temple is built. It also states that the Jews will build this Temple. And the Jewish people need the holy artifacts and documents held by the Vatican to build this Temple.
So, when the Vatican refuses to return holy items to the Jews, it is, in essence, trying to prevent the Messiah from coming. And isn't that, according to Christian doctrine, the ultimate evil? To quote a cliched bumper sticker, "What would Jesus say?"
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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