Ruth E. Gruber

Will Successor Tread Pope’s Jewish Path?

Published on April 14, 2005

Much of John Paul's teachings about the Jews have been promulgated as church doctrine, and thus, technically are official church policy. But even before John Paul II died, there were indications that his policies had not been accepted unanimously among church leaders -- or that they had trickled down to the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.

Pope’s Jewish Legacy

Published on April 7, 2005

Though a staunch conservative on most Catholic issues, Pope John Paul II made bettering Jewish-Catholic relations a centerpiece of his policy and took revolutionary strides toward this goal during his more than 26-year reign.

Milestones in Pope’s Relations With Jews

Published on April 7, 2005

During his papacy, Pope John Paul II repeatedly condemned anti-Semitism and met frequently with Jewish religious and lay leaders. He also took certain steps that Jews criticized. Following are some of the milestones in his relations with Jews and Israel:

Heading Toward Normal in Bosnia

Published on October 14, 2004

Jakob Finci, longtime leader of the Bosnian Jewish community, took a swallow of local draft beer and gestured at the mellow crowd enjoying dinner in an upscale new restaurant not far from the city's synagogue.

Church Honors Gibson ‘Inspiration’

Published on October 7, 2004

Mel Gibson's "muse" is on the path to sainthood. Pope John Paul II this week beatified Anna Katharina Emmerick, a 19th-century German nun whose mystic visions inspired Gibson's gory depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ."

Church Honors Gibson ‘Inspiration’

Published on October 7, 2004

Mel Gibson's "muse" is on the path to sainthood. Pope John Paul II this week beatified Anna Katharina Emmerick, a 19th-century German nun whose mystic visions inspired Gibson's gory depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ."

Italy Jewish History Richer Than Gelato

Published on January 1, 2004

Twenty years ago, an Italian television channel hired Annie Sacerdoti, a Jewish writer and editor in Milan, to produce a documentary about Jewish history in Italy's northern Lombardy region.

At the time, Sacerdoti had long been an active member of the 10,000-strong Jewish community in Milan, the Lombard capital.

But what she found while researching the program changed her sense of identity as an Italian Jew and in many ways changed her life. In small provincial towns around the region, she found Jewish cemeteries abandoned to the elements and deserted synagogues standing empty or used as carpenter shops or other places of business.

Commemorating the Warsaw Uprising

Published on April 24, 2003

On April 19, 1943, heavily armed Nazi troops penetrated into the Warsaw Ghetto with a grim goal: the liquidation of the ghetto and the deportation of the last remnants of Warsaw's Jews -- some 40,000 men, women and children.

History Comes Alive

Published on August 29, 2002

Italian scholar Francesco Spagnolo is keenly aware of the long-standing Jewish presence in Italy.

"Never before the creation of the State of Israel did Jews of so many varied origins live together, and in such a stimulating, if at times threatening, environment as in the land they called in Hebrew 'I-Tal-Yah,'" he says.

"I-Tal-Yah" -- Island of Divine Dew in Hebrew -- means Italy in Italian, a land where Jews have lived for more than 2,000 years and which has seen layer after layer of immigration from all over the Jewish Diaspora.

Klezmer in Krakow

Published on July 18, 2002

Henryk Halkowski flops down in an armchair in the Klezmer Hois restaurant and orders a bowl of chicken soup with kreplach.

When in Rome

Published on December 6, 2001

The election of Dr. Riccardo Di Segni as the new chief rabbi of Rome opens the latest chapter in the tumultuous life of a Jewish community that traces its history back to the days of the Maccabees.

White Wedding

Published on August 23, 2001

The Riemer family is something of a rarity in the Jewish world of post-Communist Central Europe.

Not only are Daniel Riemer and his wife Magda both Jewish, but both of their 20-something daughters, Zuzana and Sandra, have found Jewish men to marry.

This is no easy feat in a part of the world where intermarriage is the norm and where tiny, far-flung Jewish communities still suffer the effects of the Holocaust and Communist-era repression.

Poles Remember Massacre

Published on July 12, 2001

Sixty years after hundreds of Jews in a Polish village were slaughtered by their neighbors, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski offered an apology.

Pope Pays Homage at Babi Yar

Published on June 28, 2001

In his first visit to a Jewish site since a controversial May appearance in Syria, Pope John Paul II paid tribute this week to thousands of Ukrainian Jews killed by the Nazis in one of the bloodiest slaughters of the Holocaust.

‘Neighbors’

Published on March 15, 2001

Responding to widespread debate over Poles' participation in a 1941 massacre of Jews, Poland's political and religious leaders are calling on Polish citizens to confront their past.

Echoes of Conflict 1

Published on October 19, 2000

Fearing that the crisis in the Middle East could spill over into a wave of terrorism in Europe, Jewish communities and police across Europe are on their highest state of alert in a decade.

Echoes of Conflict 2

Published on October 19, 2000

Fearing that the crisis in the Middle East could spill over into a wave of terrorism in Europe, Jewish communities and police across Europe are on their highest state of alert in a decade.

Restoring Hope

Published on September 21, 2000

A prayer and study center honoring Jewish life has opened near the place that for more than half a century has been the paramount symbol of Jewish death.

Cultural Connection

Published on August 31, 2000

The scope of this year's initiative is a demonstration of a growing interest in European Jewish heritage and Jewish heritage sites that has developed markedly in the past decade.

Rebirth in Wroclaw

Published on July 13, 2000

When Curt Fissel stomped on the glass after his wedding in the southwestern Polish city of Wroclaw, the congregation erupted into loud applause and a resounding chorus of "Mazel tov!"But the joyous response went far beyond heartfelt good wishes to Fissel and his bride, Ellen Friedland, both of Montclair, N.J.

Seeking Forgiveness

Published on March 9, 2000

Pope John Paul II will act this month on two prominent themes that have colored his papacy: seeking forgiveness for past Catholic errors, including the treatment of Jews, and his intense personal dream of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Grand Illusion

Published on March 2, 2000

Joerg Haider's unexpected resignation as head of Austria's far-right Freedom Party is widely seen as a strategic ploy that may ultimately win him more political power -- including the nation's leadership.

Watching and Waiting

Published on February 10, 2000

The rise of Haider and his Freedom Party have triggered deep concern among Austria's 10,000 Jews, not just as Jews per se, but within the broader context of concern for their country as a whole.

Defiant Actions

Published on February 3, 2000

A far-right party has forged an agreement to share power in Austria's government in defiance of an unprecedented European Union threat to penalize the country.

Connecting the Dots

Published on December 23, 1999

A name and date in a yellowing ledger. An inscription on a crumbling tombstone. A birth certificate. A walk along a dusty street in an Eastern European village. A faded family photograph. Sometimes a newly discovered relative.

Ten Years After the Wall

Published on December 16, 1999

Memories of lost family are conjured when walking in footsteps of the past

A Jewish Revival

Published on November 11, 1999

For European leaders, the recent inauguration of three Jewish schools in Central Europe symbolizes far more than a Jewish revival.

Nation/World Briefs

Published on October 7, 1999

Nation and world briefs

A Jewish Renaissance

Published on September 30, 1999

A decade ago, the Jewish communities in communist-dominated Eastern and Central Europe were generally written off as dying remnants of the pre-Holocaust past.

Jewish Open House

Published on September 30, 1999

An unused, 18th-century synagogue in the northern Italian town of Cherasco, whose elegant canopied bimah features gilded carving, painted decoration and slim spiral columns.

Cardinal Repentance

Published on September 23, 1999

In a High Holiday letter to Jewish friends, New York's Roman Catholic cardinal has expressed "abject sorrow" for centuries of anti-Semitism, and called for a new era of respect and love between Christians and Jews.

Security Lapse

Published on August 19, 1999

Last week's attack by a white supremacist on the North Valley Jewish Community Center in Granada Hills has raised concern among American Jews about security at synagogues and other Jewish institutions in the United States.

European Jews Debate Identity

Published on June 3, 1999

Bringing together Jews from communities of all sizes throughout Europe -- with Orthodox, Reform and secular representatives, and age groups ranging from students to senior citizens -- the meeting was unprecedented in size, scope and objective.