A Polish archbishop said the Catholic Church must not accept anti-Semitism within its ranks, calling it "irrational behavior."Archbishop Jozef Zycinski of Lublin spoke during a Nov. 30-Dec 1 conference in Jerusalem focusing on the relationships among the Polish Catholic Church, Jews and Israel.
"In the case of Lublin ... we emphasize that (the Jews) were present in our life, in cultural solidarity. It is part of our cultural heritage," he said.
Some anti-Semitic incidents show a "generational problem" and a problem of "social frustration" more than a cultural phenomenon, he said. He cited as an example the issue of Radio Maryja's Redemptorist Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, who has been accused of anti-Semitic remarks and insulting the Polish president.
Even the younger generation of Redemptorist priests are skeptical of Radio Maryja's message, said Archbishop Zycinski, noting that the ideas predate the Second Vatican Council and the followers are a minute percentage of the population.
An anti-Semitic idea "shouldn't be accepted, but there are groups where it plays a factor. It is hard to understand a return (to anti-Semitism), but for the elderly it is a form of psychological support to defend Polish identity," he said, adding that Father Rydzyk "is 'anti-' in general."
He said that today dialogue between Catholics and Jews is a "much stronger trend."
"In a few years there will be a cultural transformation," said the archbishop. "The younger generation is pro-dialogue."
In 1939 Poland had the largest population of Jews in Europe -- 3 million people -- most of whom were killed by the Nazis. Today an estimated 25,000 Jews live in Poland.
For many Jews and Israelis, Poland is a historical mire of centuries of anti-Semitism, including pogroms.
Rabbi Ron Kronish, head of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, noted that it is important for Israelis to realize that the Polish Catholic Church has undergone a transformation in its way of thinking about Jews and Judaism. He said Israelis must rid themselves of preconceived ideas of Poles as anti-Semitic.
Over the past 20 years there has been a revival of interest in Poland's Jewish history as Poles seek their own roots, which were covered up during Soviet control, said Zbigniew Nosowski, a consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity and co-director of the Polish Council of Christian and Jews.
Young Polish musicians have adopted the traditional Jewish klezmer music as their own, and many books on Jewish themes are on the best-seller lists, he said.
"The generation of my children is discovering that (the Jews) are a part of us; it (the Holocaust) was a loss to Polish identity," he said. "The Poland (which used to have Jews) was much richer. My daughter is learning Jewish history. When I was in elementary school we didn't know anybody who was not ethnically a Pole or who was not baptized in the Catholic Church."
Despite efforts by dialogue groups, anti-Semitism still exists in Poland, said Nosowski, but it "has its roots in the past" and differs from the "new anti-Semitism" around the world, which takes the form of anti-Israel rhetoric, he said.
"As people who lived the Holocaust on our own land it is personally, completely un-understandable to have people still dare say these things publicly," said Nosowski.
Zuzanna Radzik, a 25-year-old Polish religious studies student who is studying in Israel for two years, said this openness to Jewish history often remains within the intellectual circles and does not necessarily filter down to the grass-roots levels. Having received her undergraduate degree at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Warsaw, Radzik said she did not feel there were enough serious attempts to educate people about Judaism.
"It is still a flower in (the bud). There is not enough infiltration in the minds of future priests," she said.
Part of the interest in Poland's Jewish past is a genuine desire to learn about that part of Polish history but another part is the younger generation's yearning for something more exotic than the homogenous society in which they live, she said.
"People my age generally are aware of the question mark (about our past) and many struggle" to learn about it, Radzik said.
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(Source: CNS)