\”There was no magic to our survival. It was sheer, pure, unadulterated luck, for men and women infinitely more worthy perished,\” Congressman Tom Lantos said at an advance screening of \”The Last Days.\”
As Rabbi Allen Freehling of University Synagogue in West Los Angeles and a bus load of bishops and rabbis left the Rome airport for their hotel near the Vatican, one of the bishops read aloud a document that would soon spark a firestorm of controversy around the world: the Vatican\’s March 16 statement on the Holocaust, released just hours before. The group had just flown in from Israel, where they had spent a week worshiping together, learning about each other\’s histories, and beginning to understand, as only true friends can, what the other believes.
The Holocaust has been the professional focus of Dr. Michael Berenbaum\’s life for 30 of his 51 years — as student, teacher, scholar, author, journalist and administrator.
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