Pope: Lord, why did you remain silent?
Posted on May 28, 2006 by Bene Diction
Pope Benedict XVI has received a mixed reaction from Jewish people regarding his visit to Auschwitz Sunday. It is his third trip to the death camp, his first as Pope. The Jerusalem Post noted the appearance of the rainbow after his prayers.
“In a place like this, words fail; in the end, there can be only a dread silence, a silence which itself is a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent?”
Benedict walked along the row of plaques at the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex’s memorial, one in the language of each nationality whose members died there.
As he stopped to pray, a light rain stopped and a brilliant rainbow suddenly appeared over the camp.
Although Genesis does not say that prior to the Flood there were no rainbows, in Genesis after the Flood God blesses Noah, warns about the shedding of blood and makes a promise to never destroy the earth and mankind by flood again:
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.” Genesis 9:12-17 NIV
The central tenant of all branches of the Jewish faith is one of a people of covenant.
The central religious idea is that God made a covenant with humanity. God made an agreement with all humans, each side making certain mutual promises and commitments. The agreement, like a marriage, is based on a mutual love. Then God made a second covenant with a particular people, known as the people Israel.
Let us begin with the covenant God made with all humanity. We can see this in the Bible in the Noah story, after Noah and his family left the ark. God made a promise to accept humanity for who they are. God would never again bring a flood to destroy the world. On the other side, God made demands of Noah, the father of all humanity. Whoever spills the blood of man, by man shall his blood be spilled, for in the image of God did God create man.@ (Genesis 9:6) Humanity promised God that the killing of innocents would stop. (If only we could keep that promise.)
The Rabbis of the Talmud developed this idea into one of the most powerful in Jewish tradition. They taught that God gave Noah and his family seven laws. Humanity was to shun bloodshed, forbidden sexual relations, idolatry, theft, blasphemy, and cruelty to animals. Humanity was also to establish courts of justice. These laws, known as the Seven Laws of the Children of Noah, are central to the Jewish view of humanity. Jewish tradition does not seek converts. It seeks a commitment by every human being to certain fundamental ethical standards – respect for life, religion, family, property, the avoidance of cruelty, and the pursuit of justice. According to the Rabbis, any human being of any faith who follows these fundamental laws will have a place in the World to Come.
God made a covenant with humanity. God wants us humans to practice fundamental ethical laws. And God in turn has promised He will never destroy us. What is the symbol of this covenant? It is the rainbow. And here is where we receive some wonderful insights. What is a rainbow? Light shines through water droplets in the sky which act like a prism, bending various frequencies at various angles. The light is separated according to colors. We see the various colors and think of them as separate and distinct. But behind them, hidden from view, is the original light, unified and one. So it is with humanity. We are separate and distinct, each of us an individual.
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