25.01.2010

January 17 has been for 13 years celebrated in the Catholic Church as the Judaism Day. On that day, the members of Jewish communities and Christian communities get to know each other through numerous forms of meetings, such as press conferences, discussions, concerts, performances, and common prayers.

This year, Tarnów hosted the celebrations; it is a town of common history and activity – before the Holocaust, the Jews constituted 45 percent of the inhabitants of the town.

Celebrations were attended by many outstanding persons, such as the ambassador of Israel Mr. Zvi Rav-Ner, rabbi Michael Schudrich, Piotr Kadlcik, Professor Stanisław Krajewski, bishop M.Cisło – the chairman of the Committee for Dialog with Judaism at the Conference of the Episcopate of Poland and bishop of Tarnów W. Skworc, as well as the members of the Council of Christians and Jews. Many major and accompanying events took place, and "Wiadomości tarnowskie" devoted the whole issue [20] to these celebrations. Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein was awarded with the title of the Man of Reconciliation for 2009, which was granted by the Polish Council of Christians and Jews. During the church service, bishop Skworc said the words, which are very important for the Christian-Jewish reconciliation: "recognizing and confessing our weaknesses, especially the lack of respect for the “other” in faith, in nationality, inculture or in the outlook, we ask God...” Let the awareness that not everything was good in the history of the Catholic Church become universal and let the process of purifying the memory be the task not only of the bishops but also of the parishioners and let it take place not only on the Judaism Day.

Monika Wieczyńska