Catholic Prelates learn the Torah and Talmud
On March 27-28, 2006, Card. Jean Pierre Ricard of Bordeaux, France, retired Cardinal of Paris, Jean Marie Lustiger, and Card. Peter Erdo, Primate of Hungary, along with a delegation of some 20 French Bishops, went to New York to dialogue and learn from rabbis and students of the Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, YCT,
a Jewish center for the formation of rabbis.
Card. Ricard, who had been raised to the cardinalate some days before, reports: "I should be in Rome. The Pope will be receiving the new cardinals soon, but I wrote him a letter telling him about [the conflict of dates with] this meeting in New York.
He answered, 'Of course you can go there.'"
The meeting was organized by Card. Lustiger and rabbi Israel Singer, then president of the World Jewish Congress.
The rabbinical school YCT was founded by Avi Weiss, the rabbi who made the demand to John Paul II that the Carmelite Convent leave Auschwitz, and that any cross be removed from the site. He was one of the teachers at the conference.
Card. Ricard, considered a conservative Prelate, was chosen by Benedict XVI to be the head of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, in charge of dealing with Traditionalists.
The Cardinals and Bishops sat at tables in small groups with rabbis and YCT students to study the Talmud. Above, Card. Ricard and at far left, the back of the head of Card. Erdo.
Below, Card. Lustiger with rabbi Weiss: second row, Bishops learning from Jewish students.
Third row, at the end of the meeting Catholic Prelates, Jewish rabbis and students hold hands in a circle to sing Jewish songs.
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