[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 23740]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         RABBI ISRAEL ZOBERMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. OWEN B. PICKETT

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 19, 2000

  Mr. PICKETT. Mr. Speaker, Rabbi Israel Zoberman, spiritual leader of 
Congregation Beth Chaverim located in my congressional district in 
Virginia Beach, made the following statement upon the occasion of the 
historic visit by Cardinal William Keeler, Archbishop of Baltimore, to 
the congregation on October 8, 2000. His words, at this time of 
upheaval in the Middle East, are an important call for rapprochement 
and reconciliation between the religions and peoples of the world.

       What a job and what a blessing to welcome into our grateful 
     midst His Eminence Cardinal William Keeler, Archbishop of 
     Baltimore, accompanied by our long-time friend, Bishop Walter 
     Sullivan of Richmond. Particularly significant is the 
     Cardinal's gracious presence on the eve of Yom Kippur, the 
     Day of Atonement, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, 
     when we view our historical experience through a veil of 
     tears, and our vulnerability and loneliness are so poignantly 
     evident.
       The Cardinal's heartfelt acceptance to join us, at a time 
     Of mounting tension in the Middle East and his prayer for the 
     peace of Jerusalem, are testimony to the great vision of the 
     Roman Catholic Church which he so eminently represents, to 
     offer God's essential gifts of healing and reconciliation to 
     two world faith groups so intimately linked, yet so painfully 
     separated for so long, too long. His friendly, thoughtful and 
     reassuring words will long echo.
       We recall with reverence the revolutionary strides made by 
     the remarkable Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican 
     Council, along with the historic acts of the much beloved 
     Pope John Paul II. New hope has been breathed among those 
     holding Abraham to be their common father, respecting the 
     Jewish covenant with the Divine while honoring its adherents 
     whose suffering on its behalf extended for two millennia, 
     culminating in the Shoah's immense tragedy. The Pope's recent 
     visit to Jerusalem's Yad Vashern Holocaust Memorial and his 
     profound message of compassion and consolation, along with 
     the Holy Father's prayer at the Western Wall, the holiest 
     Jewish shrine, are powerful symbols deeply appreciated and 
     never to be forgotten, following upon the Vatican 
     establishing diplomatic relations with the state of Israel in 
     1994.
       Even as we pray for the well being of the aging and ailing 
     Pope, loving and courageous witness to Poland's vineyard of 
     the Jewish people turned into its graveyard during the Nazi 
     onslaught, so do we appeal for fortifying and safeguarding 
     his vast legacy of embrace with its boundless promise to 
     finally transform the human family. Too much is at stake.
       All religions have a golden opportunity to join forces for 
     infusing a secular world and a materialistic environment, 
     through moral persuasion, and never again through physical 
     coercion, with an aspiring sacred call of the indivisible 
     dignity of all God's children; affirming that indeed each one 
     of us has been created in the Divine's own sacred image, 
     which is the greatest human rights statement we share through 
     the Hebrew Scriptures' eternal gift. Let us faithfully assert 
     together that true freedom is born of spiritual 
     responsibility.

     

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