Aaron Lustija, who two weeks ago marked the 97th anniversary of his birth, was a very prominent Holocaust refugee by any standard. The problem was that the same reason that made him so exceptional also led to controversy and controversy surrounding him in Israel, to the point of calls to boycott him and opposition to his participation in the Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony, which he survived, at Yad Vashem. About the reason for this we will tell with the help of ChatGPT and Forefront.
Lustiza was born on September 17, 1926 in Paris to religious Polish-Jewish parents, the youngest of eleven children. Young Aaron, who grew up in a religious Jewish home, experienced anti-Semitism in Christian school—but yet, at the age of 14, while the family was hiding with a Catholic family in Orléans after the Nazi invasion of France, he decided to convert to Catholicism.
He adopted the Christian name Jean-Marie, and in 1954 was ordained a Catholic priest. In 1981 he became Archbishop of Paris, and in 1983 Cardinal (member of the Council Electing the Pope). He held both positions until his retirement in 2005, two years before his death.
Although he converted to Christianity, Lustija never denied his Jewishness, and even waved it off. He called himself a "self-fulfilled Jew" and claimed that the New Testament was simply a direct continuation of the Bible. He also said: "I was born a Jew, and I will remain so – even if many disagree. For me, the destiny of the people of Israel is to be a light unto the nations. That is my hope, and I believe that the way to do that is Christianity."
Of course, this provoked outrage among Jews around the world, especially in Israel. In 1995 he was invited to speak at Tel Aviv University on Holocaust Remembrance Day and to participate in the state memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem. Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau Shlita claimed that Lustizha represented a "spiritual annihilation" that "leads, like physical annihilation, to the final solution of the Jewish problem." Yad Vashem Chairman Yosef Burg also expressed his displeasure with the upcoming visit, and Education Minister Amnon Rubinstein canceled the invitation.
Despite the conflict, Lustija supported Israel and Judaism by promoting projects that served as a bridge between Christians and Jews.
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