I can’t think of a more explicit symbol of Christianity than the crucifix. For many Jews throughout history the mere sight of it has struck fear and loathing into their hearts. Christianity has been the source of much persecution of the Jewish people over the millennia. It has been responsible for some of the worst torture and slaughter in history. The Crusades and the Inquisition alone provide ample evidence of that. And there was more. Much more.
The persecution of Jews by Christendom has persisted almost un-abated since its very inception. One need only look at the ‘New’ Testament to see how far back in history it goes. That's where it all began. Jews are blamed in at least one of the Gospels to have encouraged the crucifixion of Jesus. Because of all this persecution the Jewish people have understandably developed an almost guttural revulsion to the crucifix. And that brings me to the following story.
A group of fourteen Austrian Catholic bishops recently went to the Kotel wearing crucifixes as part of their formal attire. I’m not sure of the Halachic dimensions of this, but the Rav of the Kotel, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch forbade them entry unless they removed their crucifixes. The Bishops refused.
Though I am not certain, I believe it is not required by Halacha for a priest to remove that symbol at the Kotel. But I understand the sentiment of the Rav. The question is, assuming there is no Issur, was he justified in making this demand? After all he did allow them to go to the Kotel to pray. And they do pray to Jesus, their god. Does it make it worse to allow them to wear that symbol while doing so?
I doubt that the crucifix itself can be considered an object of idolatry. They do not pray to it. It is only symbolic of how their god died on the cross. They do not worship a cross.
I also recall Pope John Paul personally placing a Kvittel, a prayer note into one of the crevices in the Kotel… and then saying a prayer afterward. It was done with the full approval of the Rav of the Kotel. Is there a symbol of Catholic Christianity greater than the Pope?
Assuming I am correct that it is not Halachicly forbidden, I think the Rav of the Kotel was wrong to make an issue of it. Why do something that will embarrass and alienate those who have in recent times extended a hand of friendship and apologized for their over two millennia of bad behavior to the Jewish people? Perhaps those priests should have thought of it themselves. But they didn’t. And they were insulted as a result. To understand the insult I suppose a milder reverse equivalent would be the Pope asking a Jew to remove his Kipa when entering the Vatican.
It also appears that this was a last minute demand. If I understand the article correctly, had they been asked in advance, the bishops might have accommodated him. But to ask them to remove the crucifixes once they are already there is confrontational and does seem insulting.
This incident is reminiscent of the time that a group of Cardinals entered Yeshiva University to observe first hand the wonderful things they had heard about how those students studied Jewish law. The outcry by Telshe Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Keller about it at the time seems similar to that of Rav Rabinovitch. Rabbi Keller called it a Chilul HaShem to allow the Cardinals dressed in full regalia… crucifix and all into a Yeshiva Beis HaMedrash. He considered it a travesty. But I said at the time that Yeshiva University was pressured into doing it. (I no longer re-call what the pressure was.)
Though they would have preferred not to host the bishops at all, Yeshiva officials felt that it would have been a Chilul HaShem to rebuff them at a time in our history when the Catholic Church has done so much to mend fences with us. So they allowed it. It would have been better had the Cardinals not come wearing their full red Cardinal attire. And YU had not foreseen it so as to be able to forstall it. But it wasn’t the end of the world. In the end it turned out to be a big Kiddush HaShem. The Cardinals had nothing but praise for YU in how they were treated, and in what they observed.
There was a similar incident at Yeshiva Chovevei Torah shortly after that. One to which I was opposed. In that case the Cardinals were actually invited to come learn Torah with the students in the Beis HaMedrash. That crossed a line and perhaps even violated Halacha. This was illustrated immediately by what was reported in the very first article about the event.
During the study session in their Beis HaMedrash, individual students were chosen to learn with individual Cardinals as study-partners (Chavrusos). One student explained a Jewish ritual in the Gemarah to his Chavrusa. The Chavrusa replied that Jesus must have done it that way too. This could have easily been a slippery slope to a theological dialogue between Jews and Christians. And what made it worse is that it was learned and experienced Catholic Cardinals paired with young and inexperienced students.
But with the Bishops at the Kotel, none of that was happening. Indeed the invitation by the Kotel Rav was still open to these Bishops to pray. It was not their prayer to Jesus that was an issue. It was their crucifixes. Is the prayer of a group of Christian bishops to their god at one of our holiest places made so much worse by their wearing a crucifix? So much so that it warrants insulting them? I don’t think so. I think Rabbi Rabinovitch may have had an understandably visceral reaction to what has become for many Jews... a horrific religious symbol. A reaction that probably should have been subdued.
Update:
After I wrote this post I was made aware that a Crucifix may very well be classified as an object of Avodah Zara. A few commenters who are more knowlegable than I am on this subject have pointed this out and one has pointed me in the direction of a Wikipedia article on the subject.
I had always thought that a crucifix and a cross were synonymous. And that both were merely symbols, and not objects of actual worship. Apparently they are not the same. A crucifix has a graven image of Jesus on a cross. This and a description in the Wiki article about how it is used might make it an object of Avodah Zara. I am going to leave the post intact along with this update as clarification.
The primary point of the post was to make note of an embarrassing situation created through an oversight by the Rav of the Kotel. That could have easily been avoided.
As I receive further clarification, I will update accordingly.
Modified: 11/15/07 7:35 PM CST
