(RNS) When Pope Benedict XVI became the first pontiff to visit a U.S. synagogue last year, it was to meet with Rabbi Arthur Schneier at his Park East Synagogue in Manhattan. A Holocaust survivor, Schneier has spoken on religious tolerance throughout the world through his Appeal of Conscience Foundation.
Schneier continues his interfaith outreach this week (Oct. 28), when he welcomes the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christianity, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, to Park East Synagogue.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q. What will be your message to Bartholomew this week?
A: We have worked together for the last 20 years to further peace and tolerance, particularly in the height of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.
We believe that in the past, religion was the problem. Now, more and more religious leaders understand the responsibility to convey one message. That message is we are our brother’s keeper, we are responsible for one another.
Q. When Pope Benedict visited your synagogue last year why did you give him a box of matzo?
A: I gave him a seder plate, and my granddaughter and one of our students from our day school gave him a box of matzo. It was the eve of Pesach, and Pope Benedict said he was going to eat it at his first seder.
The symbolism is religious freedom is a cardinal principal of human rights, and religious freedom means live and let live. It means coexistence, mutual respect, and means working for Tikkun Olam together to help perfect an imperfect world.
Q. Are you concerned that U.S. Catholic bishops seemed to say recently that interfaith dialogue can be used to proselytize to Jews?
A: Not at all. Fortunately, that has been clearly corrected with a statement by the pope. I was in Rome when I led a delegation that met with the pope, where he clearly stated that anyone who does not accept Nostra Aetate (a Vatican document that condemned anti-Semitism) and anyone who denies the Holocaust does not adhere to the guidelines adopted by the Catholic Church since 1965.
Jews are the older brother, and Judaism has a very special relationship with Christianity. I think as far as Judaism is concerned, there is no policy for conversion.
Q. Are you surprised more Jewish leaders don’t reach out to their Christian counterparts?
A: I think the organized Jewish community has excellent dialogue. We’ve done quite well, both with the Catholic Church and the Orthodox community. We’ve had setbacks with the more liberal Protestant church. They have taken an anti-Israel position and I think that really needs a lot more work. We’ve come a long way, in terms of Catholic denominations, but we still have a long way to go. And that has to be nurtured.
Q. You have met with several men who are the head of their church. Do you ever think Judaism needs a chief rabbi?
A: Judaism, in different countries, has a chief rabbi. There’s a chief rabbi of France and a chief rabbi of England. We have two chief rabbis in Israel — the Ashkenazic and the Sephardic. We seem to be functioning quite well with various Jewish communities electing their top Jewish leaders.
In the United States, there was an attempt — it was Rabbi Jacob Joseph — to have him become chief rabbi at the turn of the last century. It just didn’t work. The United States believes in cultural diversity, and religious diversity. You have prominent rabbis in the United States, prominent scholars, but I don’t see a chief rabbi of the United States.
Q. How will the world change after there are no Holocaust survivors to share first-person accounts?
A: There is nothing like an eye witness, not only in judicial proceedings, but when it comes to the Holocaust. I don’t have to visit a museum or see “Schindler’s List.” I have my own experience. I think that recording those experiences and making sure our eyewitness reports are transmitted through the Holocaust remembrances, we do a great service, not only to those who were annihilated but in terms of a pledge that never again are we going to be indifferent.
