Boston Globe: July 16

500 TAKE PATH TO ATONE FOR CRUSADES

Author: By Charles M. Sennott, Globe Staff
Date: FRIDAY, July 16, 1999

Page: A1

Section: National/Foreign


JERUSALEM --

The Holy Land has not always been the most forgiving place. Still, that didn't stop some 500 Christians from America and Europe from making a pilgrimage here yesterday to seek forgiveness for the Christian crusades of the Middle Ages, which 900 years ago led to the slaughter of thousands of innocent Jewish and Muslim people.

It is a kind of package-tour penance. And even though the pilgrims were met with genuine warmth and appreciation by Jewish and Muslim leaders, the endeavor also stirred some profound questions about the nature -- and the limits -- of forgiveness.

``You arrive better late than never, as we say,'' said Israel's Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, calling the crusades ``one of the dark periods in the history of mankind.''

Lau welcomed the pilgrims at Jerusalem's Great Synagogue and accepted a framed apology, as he added, ``We want to live together in peace and friendship.''

In a separate meeting in East Jerusalem, the grand mufti, or chief Muslim cleric, said, ``We don't have any hard feelings toward Christians. In fact, many of you may not realize, but we, Palestinian Christians and Palestinian Muslims, are one nation living in Palestine.''

The largely Christian evangelical group undertook a ``Reconciliation Walk'' to retrace the steps of the crusader army that descended on Jerusalem 900 years ago yesterday. It was July 15, 1099, when the Christian knights, 20,000 strong, invaded the city in a bid to conquer the Holy Land and put the Church of the Holy Sepulchre back under Christian dominion. They killed and tortured tens of thousands of Jerusalem's mainly Jewish and Muslim inhabitants.

The crusaders took three years to get from Europe to Jerusalem, and the ``Reconciliation Walk'' took the same amount of time to retrace their path, with some 2,500 people participating in various legs of the walk.

``No one has ever endeavored to apologize for the crusades,'' said Lynn Green, the director of the group that organizers describe as a non-denominational, grass-roots movement.

The Christian group has letters of support from the hierarchies of the more established denominations of Lutherans, Catholics, and Episcopalians, but they made clear that they were coming as individuals, not church representatives.

The good intentions of the group, all clad in matching gray and black T-shirts, were met with some reservations -- and some stern warnings on the limits of forgiveness.

``This evil century which we are leaving started with those evil events of 900 years ago,'' said Lau. ``We want that those events never happen again. Never again.''

Before a packed crowd of pilgrims and TV cameras in the conference room of the Great Synagogue, Lau said, ``Now, after the Holocaust, which is unforgettable, we have no authorization to forgive. On behalf of six million people? How can we?''

Lau added that many members of his own family went ``hand in hand to the gas chambers of Treblinka.''

The Palestinian clerics used the offer of reconciliation as a time to describe the suffering they have endured during 50 years of conflict with Israel and an occupation that, they said, has left hundreds of thousands of people displaced.

Sheikh Mohammed Ismail el Jamal, of the Palestinian-controlled town of Jericho, said, ``We thank you for this effort of reconciliation. But we hope we don't have to wait for another 900 years for apologies for the suffering that is happening to us now. We urge you, as followers of Jesus's message, to recognize that and do something about it.''

The occasion underscored the ways in which forgiveness, a core of Christian faith, is understood very differently by Judaism and Islam.

The chief difference, many theologians say, is that Judaism and Islam embrace a far more exacting and measurable set of terms for repentance before offering forgiveness. Jewish and Muslim theologians often say the reflexive forgiveness that is part of Jesus's message in the New Testament can be dangerous, even countenance evil.

``It is directly from the words of Jesus Christ that we must seek forgiveness, and that is what we are doing,'' said Matthew Hand, the originator and organizer of the walk who is involved with Lutheran charities in Turkey. ``When you ask a Muslim or a Jew from the Middle East about Christianity, a touchstone for them is often the crusades. That is the lens through which they view Christian history.

``Our effort at reconciliation is not going to save the world, it's just a small step, really, but it is a step worth taking.''

Actually, it was many steps, said Melissa Kane, 20, a sophomore at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., who over the last three years took part in several stages of the walk from Turkey to Jerusalem, using her savings to make the pilgrimage.

``It is very important to me,'' she said. ``There has to be a commitment to tearing down walls and divisions between our faiths.''

Norma Balusek, 66, a retired bank teller from San Marcos, Texas, walked the same winding Jerusalem streets as Jesus Christ yesterday, praying and then hurrying to catch up with the group as it made its way to yet another meeting, to offer a formal apology to the Greek Orthodox Christian church.

The pathways that the group traversed through the Old City were the same streets where historical accounts say crusaders left bodies piled high.

``I believe seeking forgiveness for what happened here is a good, positive thing to do,'' she said

``We're just people,'' she said. ``Everyday folks who wanted to let our brothers and sisters here know just how sorry we are for all that.''


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