WHAT A HEEL: Religious Intolerance
An imam rabbi is forbidding Pope Benedict XVI to wear his cross when visiting a holy site. Shmuel Rabinovitch, the rabbi of the Western Wall, insists that "crosses are a symbol that hurt Jewish feelings," reports The Jerusalem Post:
The pope wears a cross in all public appearances and is slated to visit the Western Wall on May 12 after a meeting with Muslim religious leaders at the Dome of the Rock. …
"My position is that it is not fitting to enter the Western Wall area with religious symbols, including a cross," said Rabinovitch in a telephone interview … "I feel the same way about a Jew putting on a tallit and phylacteries and going into a church." …
On a historic visit to the Holy Land in 2000, Pope John Paul II prayed at the Western Wall, stuffing a written prayer between the cracks. Pictures from the visit clearly show him wearing a golden cross while praying.
Despite this precedent, Rabinovitch maintains his position against the display of religious symbols. In recent years there have been at least two incidents in which Rabinovitch has barred access to the Western Wall by Christian clergy wearing crosses. …
Before 1967, when the Western Wall was under Jordanian rule, Jews were forbidden to pray there. In the Six Day War, Israel conquered east Jerusalem, including the Western Wall, from Jordan and prayer was opened to all religions.
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