The Visit of Pope John Paul II
Address by Prime Minister Ehud Barak
at Yad Vashem
Jerusalem, 23 March 2000
Your Holiness, Pope John Paul II,
Allow me to open with a few words in our language, the language
of Abraham, Moses and the Covenant, which has once again become
the native language of the land of Israel.
[In Hebrew: A 2,000-year-old historical cycle is returning here to
its beginning, bearing the weight of remembrance - its richness
and pain, its light and shadows, its song and laments. The wounds
of time will not be healed in a day, but the path which brought
you here leads to a new horizon. This hour will go down in
history as a propitious hour, a moment of truth, the
victory of justice and hope.]
Your Holiness,
In the name of the Jewish people, in the name of the State of
Israel and all of its citizens - Christians, Muslims, Druze and
Jews - I welcome you, in friendship, in brotherhood, and in
peace, here in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, the eternal city
of faith.
Your Holiness,
We meet today in this sanctuary of memory, for the Jewish people
and for all humanity. "Yad Vashem" - literally "a place and a
name" - for the six million of our brothers and sisters, for one
and a half million children, victims of the barbarian evil of
Nazism.
When the darkness of Nazism descended, and my people were led
from all over Christian Europe to the crematoria and the gas
chambers, it seemed that no longer could one place any hope in
God or man. That in the words of the prophet Joel, "The sun and
the moon darkened and the stars withdrew their luster." And the
silence was not only from the heavens. During that time, here in
the land of Israel, the poet Natan Alterman wrote these searing,
tormented verses:
"As our children cried underneath the gallows,
the wrath of the world we did not hear..."
Your Holiness,
From the depths of that "long night of the Shoah", as you have
called it, we saw flickers of light, shining like beacons against
the utter darkness around them. These were the righteous
gentiles, mostly children of your faith, who secretly risked
their lives to save the lives of others. Their names are
inscribed on the walls around us here at "Yad Vashem"; they are
forever inscribed on the tablets of our hearts.
You, Your Holiness, were a young witness to the tragedy. And as
you wrote to your Jewish childhood friend, you felt, in some
sense, as if you yourself experienced the fate of Polish Jewry.
When my grandparents, Elka and Shmuel Godin, mounted the death
trains at Umschlagplatz near their home in Warsaw, headed towards
their fate at Treblinka - the fate of three million Jews from
your homeland - you were there, and you remembered.
You have done more than anyone else to bring about the historic
change in the attitude of the Church towards the Jewish people,
initiated by the good Pope John XXIII, and to dress the gaping
wounds that festered over many bitter centuries.
And I think I can say, Your Holiness, that your coming here
today, to the Tent of Remembrance at Yad Vashem, is a climax of
this historic journey of healing. Here, right now, time itself
has come to a standstill... This very moment holds within it two
thousand years of history. And their weight is almost too much
to bear.
Shortly before setting out on your pilgrimage here, you raised
the flag of fraternity to full mast, setting into Church liturgy
a request for forgiveness, for wrongs committed by members of
your faith against others, especially against the Jewish people.
We appreciate this noble act most profoundly.
Naturally, it is impossible to overcome all the pains of the past
overnight. Your Holiness has frequently commented on problems
regarding past relations between Christianity and the Jews. It is
our wish to continue productive dialogue on this issue, to work
together to eliminate the scourge of racism and anti-Semitism.
Your Holiness,
Mine is a nation that remembers. However onerous the burden of
memory, we may not avoid it, because without memory there can be
neither culture nor conscience.
The establishment of the State of Israel against all odds, and
the ingathering of the exiles not only has restored to the Jewish
people its honor and mastery over its fate; it is the definitive,
permanent answer to Auschwitz. We have returned home, and since
then no Jew will ever remain helpless or be stripped of the last
shred of human dignity. Here, at the cradle of our civilization,
we have rebuilt our home, so that it may thrive in peace and
security. Defending our state has claimed a heavy toll.
We are now resolved to find paths to historical reconciliation.
We are in the midst of an enormous effort to secure comprehensive
peace with our Palestinian neighbors, with Syria and Lebanon, and
with the entire Arab world.
Your Holiness,
We have noted with appreciation your words about the unique bond
of the Jewish people to Jerusalem, that, and I quote you, "Jews love
Jerusalem with a passion... from the days of David who chose it
as a capital, and from the days of Solomon who built the temple
there; therefore they turn to it in their prayers every day, and
point to it as a symbol of their nation."
I would like to reiterate our absolute commitment to protect all
rights and properties of the Catholic Church, as well as those of
the other Christian and Muslim institutions; to continue to
ensure full freedom of worship to members of all faiths equally;
and to keep united Jerusalem open and free, as never before, to all
who love her. I know that you pray, as we do, for the unity and
peace of Jerusalem:
"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem... Peace be within thy walls and
prosperity within thy palaces, for my brethren and companions'
sake I will now say, peace be within thee."
Your Holiness,
You have come on a mission of brotherhood, of remembrance and of
peace.
And we say to you:
Blessed are you in Israel.