The Pope and his Jewish maestro

By: 60 Minutes Overtime Staff
Topics: 60 Rewind

"Do you ever pinch yourself and wonder how you got here?"

That's the question "60 Minutes" correspondent Bob Simon asked American conductor Gilbert Levine in 2001.

"Every day," Levine replied. "Every single day."

At the time, Levine had just been bestowed with a Vatican knighthood by Pope John Paul II. It was the first time a musician had been knighted by a pope since Mozart. Aired in 2001 on "60 Minutes," this is the story of how an unlikely friendship between a pope and a "nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn" helped changed relations between Jews and Christians forever.

And if that's not enough, there's also a pope joke in this piece-- as told by the Pope himself. Here at "60 Minutes Overtime," we've decided to use the holiday season as an excuse to post this wonderful old piece online. This is one story that shouldn't be buried in the CBS archives.

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by markabauman March 18, 2012 10:09 AM EDT: Ma nishtana halaila hazeh? Why is this (k)night different from all other (k)nights?; Reply to this comment

by ANONTDH March 11, 2012 8:49 PM EDT

Zionism has created "rivers of blood," Rabbi Weiss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUppu2OHVTY

When Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, visited Washington last week on the eve of the Purim holiday, he gave Barack Obama, the US president, what he considered a symbolic gift - a copy of the old testament book of Esther.??Netanyahu called it "background reading on Iran", since its story concerns relations with Jews in the Persian empire some 2,500 years ago.
It is considered by scholars to be mostly fiction, but for Netanyahu Esther represented justification for his stance against modern Iran.
"Israel must reserve the right to defend itself. And after all that's the very purpose of the Jewish state. To restore to the Jewish people control over our destiny," Netanyahu said.??But Netanyahu's controversial reading of history, even his fight to preserve the state of Israel, are questioned by many of Judaism's own religious authorities.??"This is against the will of the Almighty and this is not what it means to be a Jew," says Jewish religious scholar Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, a spokesman for "Jews against Zionism", who believes that Israel as a state is not legitimate. He says that Zionism has created "rivers of blood" and he opposes the occupation of Palestine.
On the threat from Iran and President Ahmadinejad he says: "He gives charity to Jewish communities and he says one thing: he has a problem with the oppression of the Palestinian people. And the words "wipe out" he constantly says that Iran doesn't have a history and he is not talking about harming anybody he says that God will not allow this crime to happen. We concur with him that Jews are in danger because there is Zionism because it says in the Tora if you rebel against God, it will not be successful and there will be catastrophic results and Zionism has brought catastrophic results and it could be much worse."
Today on Talk to Al Jazeera Weiss explains why Zionism and Judaism are not necessarily the same thing.

Source:
Al Jazeera

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by genesis12-3 March 25, 2012 11:12 AM EDT: I am not a Jew and I don't believe in a politicalised Zionism such as what you portray here. I don't agree with Weiss but it's up to him if he wants to give up his birthright as a Jew. Abraham was given a covenant by God where the land that God promised to him will be their inheritance forever, not on account of Abraham but because God made a covenant and His word He shall fulfill as an oath to His name. All those apostates who can't take this fact and treat it as if it's just a fairytale, have a problem with God. Just as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses believed in that promise, I also believe that it is justified of Israel to remain rightfully as a state. It was God who gave the land to the children of Israel, only God can remove them if He so wills. I give my support to Netanyahu and to Israel and I pray that all the apostate Jews will soon see the light and the wisdom of obeying God by remaining as a state.


by servorum January 2, 2012 5:44 AM EST: "Not since Mozart has a musician been knighted by a pope..."

This is incorrect.

William Ferris, founder and director of the world-famous William Ferris Chorale, was knighted by Pope John Paul II in 1989.; Reply to this comment


by rwsmith29456 January 1, 2012 11:41 PM EST: After the usual "I'm not even Catholic" introduction let me say that Pope John Paul was a great man in very many ways. What a partnership!; Reply to this comment


by Danize December 26, 2011 2:17 PM EST: An uplifting story.; Reply to this comment

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