Why the new pope matters to Jews

There are an estimated 2 billion Christians in the world led by a variety of religious leaders from Patriarchs to Metropolitans, and for many Protestant denominations, the World Council of Churches. Yet for World Jewry, there is but one Christian leader who has counted the most: The pope.

In the tumultuous 20th Century what popes said and did not say to and about Jews impacted directly on the destiny of the Jewish people.

In 1904, Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism asked Pope Pius X to endorse the Jewish people’s return to the Holy Land.  “We are unable to favor this movement. We cannot prevent the Jews from going to Jerusalem but we could never sanctionit”, the Pontiff replied.

In the 1930s, as the horrors of Nazism began to unfold, Pius XI increasingly denounced its racist ideology and anti-Semitism: In 1937, his encyclical "Mit brennender Sorge" condemned the Nazi ideology of racism and totalitarianism and before his death in 1938, Pius XI said this:

“Mark well that in the Catholic Mass, Abraham is our Patriarch and forefather. Anti-Semitism is incompatible with the lofty thought which that fact expresses. It is a movement with which we Christians can have nothing to do. No, no, I say to you it is impossible for a Christian to take part in anti-Semitism. It is inadmissible. Through Christ and in Christ we are the spiritual progeny of Abraham. Spiritually, we [Christians] are all Semites.”

The pope’s words were not carried by the Vatican’s official Osservatore Romano newspaper or Vatican radio, and largely fell on deaf ears across Europe. His controversial successor, Pius XII never made such explicit condemnations during the Nazi Holocaust, when 6 million European Jews were being massacred.

After World WWII, Pope John XXIII, in word and deed, removed demonizing and denigrating language about Jews in the Catholic liturgy and through Vatican II unleashed the forces of reconciliation between the Church and world Jewry. 

That legacy was dramatically accelerated by Pope John Paul II, the first pontiff to enter Rome’s Synagogue, to pray for Jewish victims at Auschwitz, to put a prayer kvittel in the cracks of the Western Wall and ultimately to establish full diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

It was my honor to meet His Holiness twice at the Vatican, the second time as part of a small Simon Wiesenthal Center delegation that came to tell the dying ope these words: “Thank you and G-d Bless.”

During our later meeting with his successor  Benedict XVI, who continued the friendship with the Jewish people established by predecessor, we all expressed concerns about many of the same issues, especially terrorism inspired by and justified in the name of religion.

Pope Francis ascends the Throne of St Peter at a time of great challenges for him and Catholics the world over.

As for the Jewish people, we are currently witnessing a resurgent anti-Semitism across Europe, the demonization of our faith by Islamist extremists and calls by some Christians to condemn the Jewish State as a theological sin.

We look for a leader who understands the special relationship between our faiths. As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he visited two synagogues and led Kristallnacht commemorations last November at the Buenos Aires Cathedral.

We look forward to meeting the new pontiff where one of the issues we will raise is our solidarity with some 200 million endangered Christians from Nigeria, to Egypt, Iran, and Pakistan.

We join with all people of faith in praying for Pope Francis’ success.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper is associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. Follow the Simon Wiesenthal Center on Facebook and on Twitter.

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'Showing up' at work is not what matters most when it comes to being productive

Woody Allen once famously said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up,” the meaning of which, I always understood to be that if you’ve at least made the effort to appear in the flesh, you were well on your way to accomplishing your goal.  Logic would dictate that the same rate of success cannot be achieved virtually by videochat, Skype, telephone or via email or text.  
Perhaps Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer was embracing her inner "Woodman" when she announced her ban on working from home for Yahoo employees.

There is certainly tremendous value to be gained from face-to-face interaction in the workplace. In-person communications play a role in building relationships, fostering collaboration, hatching big ideas and solving problems. In many business circles, a firm handshake and direct eye contact can speak volumes, not to mention serve as a barometer of sorts for character and trust.  Side-by-side, people share ideas, confidences, dreams and aspirations…the soft stuff that can create hard returns.

The benefits of working at the office are well established. However, it is also important to keep in mind that just being there is not the same as being there. 

Consider this typical 2013 scenario: A meeting takes place in an office conference room. Four or five employees who work at the company along with an outside consultant or two are convened to discuss and solve an issue. 

The lights are dimmed for the slide presentation. The presenter is practically doing calisthenics at the front of the room to capture and hold the attention of the others, though he can already see two meeting participants on their iPhones, one on her laptop checking her Facebook and another has just been texted.  

Yes, everyone is physically there in that room, but how many are actually being there? How much productivity is really taking place given the distractions?  

Being there is as much a state of mind as it is a state of physicality.  While it is possible to have both, there’s no guarantee employers get the mind when they get the body.  Who is to say a disciplined, engaged employee working from home can’t be there for the employer?    

In my 25+ year career, I have worked both at the office and from home. Along the way, I have collaborated with many very talented colleagues. It didn’t matter to me, my partners, our employer, our clients or the success of our projects where we were sitting day-to-day, as long as we met face-to-face regularly, talked frequently, commented on and enhanced each other’s work products and were 100% engaged in the delivery of our best.  If anyone's attention strayed, it showed.

Considering how the pendulum has swung in the last twenty years from business dress to business casual, from nine-to-five to telecommuting, it seems likely that a middle ground will soon be identified that allows for  valuable, contributing employees—those who are at the office everyday and those whom, for a myriad of reasons, work from home.  

As CEO, Ms. Mayer has put a stake in the ground for herself and started a new iteration of the conversation about multi-tasking, focus and what is required to deliver the kind of innovation that will drive Yahoo forward. 

She has done a service for her company as well as other businesses by sounding a wake-up call about the importance of being there at work.  And for now at Yahoo, showing up is part of the deal.    

Sandra Stahl is a partner in a PR and marketing communications firm. She also writes for leading industry and national outlets.

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