A Polish priest finds his way home -- to Israel

A Polish Priest’s Dream of Aliyah Adopted To Survive Shoah, Jewish-Born Catholic Struggles - Donald Snyder (The Forward):

When Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel applied to immigrate to Israel as a Jew under the Law of Return last October, Israeli authorities delayed responding to his request for months.

Perhaps it was the priest’s white-band collar around his neck that had something to do with this.

Yet ultimately, Israel’s Interior Ministry did issue the 66-year-old Polish cleric, scholar and professor at Catholic University of Lublin a two-year residency visa. It was, it seems, an imperfect compromise with a priest who insists: “I am Jewish. And my mother and father were Jewish. I feel Jewish.”

Speaking through an interpreter during a phone interview, he said, “Going to Israel would be the return of the Jewish child who took the long way home.”

Read the rest.

Related

• For a Priest and for Poland, a Tangled Identity, by Roger Cohen. New York Times October 10, 1999.