During his visit to the New York synagogue, for a few instants the blue curtain on the front wall was open to display the sacred books and relics of Judaism to Benedict XVI. In this rare photo, one can observe the reverential position of the Pope paying his respects to those books.

Among them are included the scrolls of Torah and commentaries on it made by rabbis. The ensemble of such commentaries by the famous rabbis is the Talmud. As it is known, the Talmud depicts Our Lord Jesus Christ and Our Lady in the most offensive manner possible.

So, similar to John Paul II kissing the Koran, here we see Benedict XVI venerating the ensemble of Jewish books.

Below first row, a rabbi opening the case containing the Torah scrolls; second row, two rabbis reading the scrolls and inserting commentaries on them.

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