Publication of the Association of Hebrew Catholics No. 100, Summer 2016 TheThe HebrewHebrew CatholicCatholic “And so all shall be saved” (Romans 11:26)

Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our Time Sculpture by Joshua Koffman, Installed September 15, 2015 St.Joseph University, Philadelphia

50 Years After “Nostrae Aetate” 100th commemorative issue of “The Hebrew Catholic” Association of Hebrew Catholics ~ International The Association of Hebrew Catholics aims at ending the alienation of Founder Catholics of Jewish origin and background from their historical heritage. Elias Friedman, O.C.D., 1916-1999 By gathering the People Israel within the Church, the AHC hopes to help Co-founder enable them to serve the Church and all peoples within the mystery of their Andrew Sholl () irrevocable gifts and calling. (cf. Rom. 11:29) Spiritual Advisor The kerygma of the AHC announces that the divine plan of salvation has Fr. Ed. Fride (United States) entered the phase of the Apostasy of the Gentiles, prophesied by Our Lord and President St. Paul, and of which the Return of the Jews to the Holy Land is a corollary. David Moss (United States) Secretary Kathleen Moss (United States) “Consider the primary aim of the group to be, Director of Theology not the conversion of the Jews, Lawrence Feingold S.T.D. S.T.L. (United States) but the creation of a new Hebrew Catholic community life and spirit, Advisory Board an alternative society to the old.” Card. Raymond Burke, Dr. Robert Fastiggi, A counsel from Elias Friedman, O.C.D. Fr. Peter Stravinskas, Fr. Jerome Treacy SJ, “The mission of your association responds, in a most fitting way, Dr. Andre Villeneuve to the desire of the Church to respect fully The Association of Hebrew Catholics (United States) is a non-profit corpora- the distinct vocation and heritage of Israelites in the .” tion registered in the state of New York, Michigan & Missouri. All contri- Most Rev. Raymond L. Burke, Archbishop of St. Louis, May 2006 butions are tax deductible in accordance with §501(c)(3) of the IRS code. “Please be assured of my prayers for your efforts devoted to studying and calling Please send correspondence and contributions to: attention to the Jewish roots of our Catholic faith and for your work to help Catholics of Jewish origin to find their place and role in the Church.” Association of Hebrew Catholics Archbishop Robert Carlson, Archbishop of St. Louis, Sept. 2010 4120 W Pine Blvd St Louis MO 63108, U.S. Phone: 314-535-4242 The Association of Hebrew Catholics is under the patronage of E-mail: [email protected] Our Lady of the Miracle Web: http://hebrewcatholic.net (who in the Church of St. Andrea della Fratte in Rome, Write to address above or go to our web site for on 20 January 1842, converted Alphonse Ratisbonne) info about groups in other countries. and Email discussion group: Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) For info, send completely blank email to: Miriam, Our Lady of the Miracle, pray for us! [email protected] Saint Edith Stein, pray for us! The Hebrew Catholic (ISSN 1547-4666) is a quar- terly. Contributions to cover our production and What They Have Said postage costs for four issues mailed from the U.S, “Thus, many aspects of are fully treated ex professo are shown below. in the Old Testament alone and this teaching is pre-supposed Contributions above our costs provide the funds in the New Testament and is not repeated there.” needed for our work. The Church and the Jewish People, Augustin Cardinal Bea, (All remittances must be in U.S. funds) ©1966, Harper and Row, pg. 128 US & $15; Other Countries: $25 “... the more Christians or Jews come together and American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa, Paypal the more they become capable of still closer association, the more thoroughly they will understand and live the word of God © Association of Hebrew Catholics, 2016 as contained in the Old Testament in all its fullness and richness with regard to their own lives, their relationship to God, Anything in The Hebrew Catholic may be reprinted, and their salvation.” except: Ibid, pg. 129 1. articles for which we have obtained permission, vuvh oaç tçv LËrç as indicated in the article’s credits, (Baruch haba b’Shem Adonai) 2. articles which will not be printed in their com- Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord plete and unedited form. For these, we must approve the edited version. News and Notes ...... 3 Credits for the article must include the name and President’s Memo ...... 3 issue number of our publication - The Hebrew Magisterial Documents Catholic - and the U.S. address of the AHC. • Declaration on the Relation of the Church to non-Christian Send a copy of the publication with the reprinted Religions, Nostra Aetate...... 4 article to the AHC at its U.S. address. • Guildelines and Suggestions for Implementing the Conciliar Declaration, “Nostra Aetate” (n. 4)...... 6 The views expressed in the published articles are • Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and in those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church...... 10 the views of the AHC. • We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah...... 16 • Lumen Gentium §16, Good Friday Prayer for the Jews, Catechism....21 The Gifts and the Calling of God are Irrevocable...... 22

2 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 News and Notes President’s Memo

Saint Louis: The Story of Catholic Evangelization Shalom Haverim (Friends), of America’s Heartland, Volume 2 As approaches, we are happy to provide Volume 1, From Canoe to Cathedral, by Msgr. Michael this special 100th issue of The Hebrew Catholic. This Witt, has been well received and has been used by Cov- publication was begun in May 1980 by Andrew Sholl, enant Radio, the Catholic radio network in Saint Louis, in shortly after Fr. Friedman and Andrew launched the AHC. their fund-raising efforts. We are in the final editing phase Along with our 100th issue, we also commemorate of Volume 2, The Lion and the Fourth City, and hope to the 50th year of the Vatican Council II document Nostra have this book available by mid-October. Aetate. This watershed document prepared the ground mystery AHC Lecture Series – Fall 2016 for a major exploration by the Church into the of Israel along with a revolutionary change in Catholic Our eighteenth lecture series, by Dr. Lawrence Feingold, thinking about the Jewish people. begins on September 21 at the Cathedral Basilica Rectory The fruit of that exploration is partly reflected in a num- in St. Louis. This series, On the Eucharist, Part 2, contin- ber of Magisterial documents, all of which are included ues from the series of last spring. As before, each lecture is in this issue. We also include the recent reflections by the recorded; the audio lecture and lecture text are both posted Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, The to our website generally within 2 days of the lecture. Gifts and the Calling of God are Irrevocable. While these For more information, go to our website at: reflections are not Magisterial, they do reveal the develop- http://www.hebrewcatholic.net/ahc-lecture-series-18-on-the-eucharist-part-2/ ment in the discussions that are taking place concerning Etz-Hayim – Catholic Jewish Calendar the Church’s relations with the Jewish people. The Etz-Hayim (Tree of Life) website produces a calen- The development of the Association of Hebrew Catho- dar which lists all the holy days of the Christian and Jewish lics (AHC) since its founding in 1979 has been taking place liturgical years. They have agreed to produce a calendar in parallel with the Church’s development of understand- slightly modified for AHC use. A sheet containing two ing concerning the People Israel. The mission of the AHC months of the calendar is enclosed for your review. The full would not have been possible before Vatican II, whereas now, it continues to grow and be well received by many calendar can be accessed from Etz-Hayim directly (http:// since Nostra Aetate was issued. www.etz-hayim.com/calendars/) and from our website. Etz-Hayim makes many additional resources available. This development is also revealed in a new sculpture shown on our cover entitled: Synagoga and Ecclesia In Sukkot in the Light of Christ Our Time. Installed Sept.25, 2015 at Saint Joseph’s Uni- This is the second year that we will be putting up a suk- versity in Philadelphia, it was blessed two days later by kah at the AHC Center. Our Sukkot service is in develop- Francis. The sculptor, Joshua Koffman, explained: ment and we are happy to share what we have so far. It “Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our Time” reverses medieval can be found on our web site at: portrayals of a majestic Church (Ecclesia) triumphing over http://www.hebrewcatholic.net/category/liturgical-year/sukkot/ a defeated and blindfolded Synagogue (Synagoga) found on dozens of European churches. Reflecting Catholic teaching Prayers Requested for Arnold Bellmer today, it depicts the symbolic feminine figures as friends who are studying their respective sacred texts together.” You may remember Arnold and Joanie Bellmer from past issues of The Hebrew Catholic. Both discovered late An overview of the history of these images, from me- in life that they have Jewish roots and they now lead the dieval times to Koffman’s new version, can be found at: Missionary Havurah with more than 40 members. http://www.sju.edu/int/academics/centers/ijcr/archives /Sculpture%20development.html Arnold was stopped, preparing to turn into the post office on his drive home. Someone hit his car from the rear at May the efforts of the Catholic and Jewish leaders, along full speed, estimated to be at least 50 mph. He was taken with the work of the AHC, under the inspiration of the to the hospital, then transferred to another hospital for 5 Holy Spirit, hasten the day when all Israel shall proclaim: days in the trauma center, and then sent home. Arnold is Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord. in considerable pain but is making some progress. Please With much gratitude for your prayers and support, we pray for his recovery. Pray also for Joanie as she takes are yours in the hearts of Yeshua, Miriam and St. Teresa care of Arnold. With all thanks to God that his life was Benedicta of the Cross, miraculously spared!

3 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 Declaration On The Relation of The Church To Non-Christian Religions: Nostra Aetate Proclaimed By His Holiness Pope Paul VI On October 28, 1965

This document is taken from: http://www.vatican.va/ar- inquiry. They seek freedom from the anguish of our human chive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_ condition either through ascetical practices or profound decl_19651028_nostra-aetate_en.html meditation or a flight to God with love and trust. Again, Buddhism, in its various forms, realizes the radical insuffi- 1. In our time, when day by day mankind is being drawn ciency of this changeable world; it teaches a way by which closer together, and the ties between different peoples are men, in a devout and confident spirit, may be able either becoming stronger, the Church examines more closely to acquire the state of perfect liberation, or attain, by their her relationship to non-Christian religions. In her task own efforts or through higher help, supreme illumination. of promoting unity and love among men, indeed among Likewise, other religions found everywhere try to counter nations, she considers above all in this declaration what the restlessness of the human heart, each in its own man- men have in common and what draws them to fellowship. ner, by proposing “ways,” comprising teachings, rules of One is the community of all peoples, one their origin, life, and sacred rites. The Catholic Church rejects nothing for God made the whole human race to that is true and holy in these religions. She live over the face of the earth.1 One also is regards with sincere reverence those ways their final goal, God. His providence, His of conduct and of life, those precepts and manifestations of goodness, His saving teachings which, though differing in many design extend to all men,2 until that time aspects from the ones she holds and sets when the elect will be united in the Holy forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that City, the city ablaze with the glory of God, Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, where the nations will walk in His light.3 she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ “the way, the truth, and the life” Men expect from the various religions (John 14:6), in whom men may find the answers to the unsolved riddles of the fullness of religious life, in whom God human condition, which today, even as has reconciled all things to Himself.4 The in former times, deeply stir the hearts of Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that men: What is man? What is the meaning, through dialogue and collaboration with the aim of our life? What is moral good, the followers of other religions, carried out what is sin? Whence suffering and what with prudence and love and in witness to purpose does it serve? Which is the road to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve, and true happiness? What are death, judgment and retribution promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as after death? What, finally, is that ultimate inexpressible the socio-cultural values found among these men. mystery which encompasses our existence: whence do we come, and where are we going? 3. The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; 2. From ancient times down to the present, there is found merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and among various peoples a certain perception of that hidden earth,5 who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit power which hovers over the course of things and over wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as the events of human history; at times some indeed have Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure come to the recognition of a Supreme Being, or even of in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not a Father. This perception and recognition penetrates their acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. lives with a profound religious sense. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they Religions, however, that are bound up with an advanced even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the culture have struggled to answer the same questions by day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all means of more refined concepts and a more developed those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they language. Thus in Hinduism, men contemplate the di- value the moral life and worship God especially through vine mystery and express it through an inexhaustible prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. abundance of myths and through searching philosophical 1 Cf. Acts 17:26 4 Cf 2 Cor. 5:18-19 2 Cf. Wis. 8:1; Acts 14:17; Rom. 2:6-7; 1 Tim. 2:4 5 Cf St. Gregory VII, letter XXI to Anzir (Nacir), King of Mauritania (Pl. 3 Cf. Apoc. 21:23f. 148, col. 450f.)

4 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 Since in the course of centuries not a few quarrels and Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Moslems, Jews is thus so great, this sacred synod wants to foster and this sacred synod urges all to forget the past and to work recommend that mutual understanding and respect which sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well is the fruit, above all, of biblical and theological studies as to promote together for the benefit of all mankind social as well as of fraternal dialogues. justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom. True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed 4. As the sacred synod searches into the mystery of the their lead pressed for the death of Christ;13 still, what Church, it remembers the bond that spiritually ties the happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the people of the New Covenant to Abraham’s stock. Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews Thus the Church of Christ acknowledges that, according of today. Although the Church is the new people of God, to God’s saving design, the beginnings of her faith and her the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed election are found already among the Patriarchs, Moses, by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures. All and the prophets. She professes that all who believe in should see to it, then, that in catechetical work or in the Christ – Abraham’s sons according to faith6 – are included preaching of the word of God they do not teach anything in the same Patriarch’s call, and likewise that the salvation that does not conform to the truth of the Gospel and the of the Church is mysteriously foreshadowed by the chosen spirit of Christ. people’s exodus from the land of bondage. The Church, Furthermore, in her rejection of every persecution therefore, cannot forget that she received the revelation against any man, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she of the Old Testament through the people with whom shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons God in His inexpressible mercy concluded the Ancient but by the Gospel’s spiritual love, decries hatred, persecu- Covenant. Nor can she forget that she draws sustenance tions, or displays of anti-Semitism directed against Jews from the root of that well-cultivated olive tree onto which at any time and by anyone. have been grafted the wild 7 Besides, as the Church shoots, the Gentiles. In- has always held and holds deed, the Church believes God holds the Jews most dear for the sake of their Fathers; He does not repent of the gifts now, Christ underwent His that by His cross, Christ, passion and death freely, Our Peace, reconciled Jews He makes or of the calls He issues ... because of the sins of men and Gentiles, making both 8 and out of infinite love, one in Himself. in order that all may reach salvation. It is, therefore, the The Church keeps ever in mind the words of the Apostle burden of the Church’s preaching to proclaim the cross of about his kinsmen: “theirs is the sonship and the glory Christ as the sign of God’s all-embracing love and as the and the covenants and the law and the worship and the fountain from which every grace flows. promises; theirs are the fathers, and from them is the Christ 5. We cannot truly call on God, the Father of all, if we according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:4-5), the Son of the Vir- refuse to treat in a brotherly way any man, created as he gin Mary. She also recalls that the Apostles, the Church’s is in the image of God. Man’s relation to God the Father main-stay and pillars, as well as most of the early disciples and his relation to men his brothers are so linked together who proclaimed Christ’s Gospel to the world, sprang from that Scripture says: “He who does not love does not know the Jewish people. God” (1 John 4:8). As Holy Scripture testifies, Jerusalem did not recognize No foundation therefore remains for any theory or prac- the time of her visitation,9 nor did the Jews in large number 10 tice that leads to discrimination between man and man or accept the Gospel; indeed not a few opposed its spreading. people and people, so far as their human dignity and the Nevertheless, God holds the Jews most dear for the sake of rights flowing from it are concerned. their Fathers; He does not repent of the gifts He makes or of the calls He issues – such is the witness of the Apostle.11 The Church reproves, as foreign to the mind of Christ, In company with the Prophets and the same Apostle, the any discrimination against men or harassment of them be- Church awaits that day, known to God alone, on which all cause of their race, color, condition of life, or religion. On peoples will address the Lord in a single voice and “serve the contrary, following in the footsteps of the holy Apostles him shoulder to shoulder” (Zeph. 3:9).12 Peter and Paul, this sacred synod ardently implores the Christian faithful to “maintain good fellowship among the 6 Cf. Gal. 3:7 nations” (1 Peter 2:12), and, if possible, to live for their 7 Cf. Rom. 11:17-24 14 8 Cf. Eph. 2:14-16 part in peace with all men, so that they may truly be sons 9 Cf. Lk. 19:44 of the Father who is in heaven.15 10 Cf. Rom. 11:28 11 Cf. Rom. 11:28-29; cf. Dogmatic Constitution, Lumen Gentium (Light of 13 Cf. John. 19:6 Nations) AAS, 57 (1965) pag. 20 14 Cf. Rom. 12:18 12 Cf. Is. 66:23; Ps. 65:4; Rom. 11:11-32 15 Cf. Matt. 5:45

5 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 Commission For Religious Relations With The Jews Guidelines and Suggestions For Implementing The Conciliar Declaration “Nostra Aetate” (n. 4) (Oct. 22, 1974)

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstu- The question of the trial and death of Jesus is also touched ni/relations-jews-docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_19741201_nostra- upon, as stress is laid on the note of expectation which aetate_en.html characterizes both the Jewish and the Christian religion. Introductory Note Specialists are invited to conduct serious research, and the establishment of chairs of Hebrew studies is encouraged The document is published over the signature of Cardi- where it is possible, as well as collaboration with Jewish nal Willebrands, in his capacity as President of the new scholars. Commission for the Catholic Church’s Religious Relations with the Jews, instituted by Paul VI on 22 October 1974. The final section deals with the possibilities of common It comes out a short time after the ninth anniversary of social action in the context of a search for social justice the promulgation of Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican and for peace. Council’s Declaration on the Church’s relations with non- The conclusion touches on, among other things, the Christian religions. ecumenical aspect of the problem of relations with Juda- The “Guidelines and Suggestions”, ism, the initiatives of local churches in which refer to n. 4 of the Declaration, this area, and the essential lines of the are notable for their almost exclusively mission of the new Commission instituted practical nature and for their sobriety. by the Holy See. This deliberately practical nature of the The great sobriety of the text is noted text is justified by the fact that it concerns also in the concrete suggestions which it a pragmatic document. puts forward. But it would certainly be wrong to interpret such sobriety as be- It does not propose a Christian theol- ing indicative of a limiting programme ogy of Judaism. Such a theology certainly of activities. The document does propose has an interest for specialist research and limited suggestions for some key sec- reflection, but it still needs considerable tors, but it is a document meant for the study. The new Commission for Religious universal Church, and as such it cannot Relations with the Jews should be able to take account of all the individual situa- play a part in the gradual fruition of this tions. The suggestions put forward are endeavour. intended to give ideas to those who were The first part of the Document recalls the principal asking themselves how to start on a local level that dia- teachings of the Council on the condemnation of anti- logue which the text invites them to begin and to develop. semitism and of all discrimination, and the obligation of These suggestions are mentioned because of their value reciprocal understanding and of renewed mutual esteem. It as examples. They are made because it seems that they also hopes for a better knowledge on the part of Christians could find ample application and that their proposal at of the essence of the religious tradition of Judaism and of the same time constitutes an apt programme for aiding the manner in which Jews identify themselves. local churches to organize their own activities, in order The text then proposes a series of concrete suggestions. to harmonize with the general movement of the universal Church in dialogue with Judaism. The section dedicated to dialogue calls for fraternal dialogue and the establishment of deep doctrinal re- The Document can be considered from a certain point search. Prayer in common is also proposed as a means of view as the Commission’s first step for the realization of encounter. of religious relations with Judaism. It will devolve on the new Commission to prepare and put forward, when neces- With regard to the liturgy, mention is made of the links sary, the further developments which may seem necessary between the Christian liturgy and the Jewish liturgy and in order that the initiative of the Second Vatican Council in of the caution which is needed in dealing with commen- this important area may continue to bear fruit on a local taries on biblical texts, and with liturgical explanations and on a worldwide level, for the benefit of peace of heart and translations. and harmony of spirit of all who work under the protection The part concerning teaching and education allows the of the one Almighty God. relations between the two Testaments to be made clear.

6 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 The Document, which gives the invitation to an effort of by what essential traits the Jews define themselves in the mutual understanding and collaboration, coincides with light of their own religious experience. the opening of the Holy Year, which is consecrated to the With due respect for such matters of principle, we simply theme of reconciliation. It is impossible not to perceive in propose some first practical applications in different es- such a coincidence an invitation to study and to apply in sential areas of the Church’s life, with a view to launching concrete terms throughout the whole world the suggestions or developing sound relations between Catholics and their which the Document proposes. Likewise, one cannot fail Jewish brothers. to hope that our Jewish brothers, too, may find in it useful indications for their participation in a commitment which I. Dialogue is common. To tell the truth, such relations as there have been be- tween Jew and Christian have scarcely ever risen above Preamble the level of monologue. From now on, real dialogue must The Declaration Nostra Aetate, issued by the Second be established. Vatican Council on 28 October 1965, “on the relationship of the Church to non-Christian religions” (n. 4), marks an Dialogue presupposes that each side wishes to know the important milestone in the history of Jewish-Christian other, and wishes to increase and deepen its knowledge relations. of the other. It constitutes a particularly suitable means of favouring a better mutual knowledge, and especially in the Moreover, the step taken by the Council finds its histori- case of dialogue between Jews and Christians, of probing cal setting in circumstances deeply affected by the memory the riches of one’s own tradition. Dialogue demands re- of the persecution and massacre of Jews which took place in Europe just before and during the Second World War. spect for the other as he is; above all, respect for his faith and his religious convictions. Although Christianity sprang from Judaism, taking from it certain essential ele- In virtue of her divine ments of its faith and di- ... the spiritual bonds and historical links mission, and her very vine cult, the gap divid- nature, the Church must ing them was deepened binding the Church to Judaism condemn preach Jesus Christ to more and more, to such (as opposed to the very spirit of Christianity) the world (Ad Gentes, an extent that Christian all forms of anti-semitism and discrimination, 2). Lest the witness and Jew hardly knew of Catholics to Jesus each other. which in any case the dignity of the human Christ should give of- After two thousand person alone would suffice to condemn. fence to Jews, they must years, too often marked take care to live and by mutual ignorance and frequent confrontation, the Dec- spread their Christian faith while maintaining the strictest laration Nostra Aetate provides an opportunity to open respect for religious liberty in line with the teaching of the or to continue a dialogue with a view to better mutual Second Vatican Council (Declaration Dignitatis Humanae). They understanding. Over the past nine years, many steps in will likewise strive to understand the difficulties which this direction have been taken in various countries. As a arise for the Jewish soul - rightly imbued with an extremely result, it is easier to distinguish the conditions under which high, pure notion of the divine transcendence when faced a new relationship between Jews and Christians may be with the mystery of the incarnate Word. worked out and developed. This seems the right moment While it is true that a widespread air of suspicion, to propose, following the guidelines of the Council, some inspired by an unfortunate past, is still dominant in this concrete suggestions born of experience, hoping that they particular area, Christians, for their part, will be able to will help to bring into actual existence in the life of the see to what extent the responsibility is theirs and deduce Church the intentions expressed in the conciliar document. practical conclusions for the future. While referring the reader back to this document, we may In addition to friendly talks, competent people will be simply restate here that the spiritual bonds and historical encouraged to meet and to study together the many prob- links binding the Church to Judaism condemn (as opposed lems deriving from the fundamental convictions of Judaism to the very spirit of Christianity) all forms of anti-semitism and of Christianity. In order not to hurt (even involuntarily) and discrimination, which in any case the dignity of the those taking part, it will be vital to guarantee, not only tact, human person alone would suffice to condemn. Further but a great openness of spirit and diffidence with respect still, these links and relationships render obligatory a better to one’s own prejudices. mutual understanding and renewed mutual esteem. On the practical level in particular, Christians must therefore strive In whatever circumstances as shall prove possible and to acquire a better knowledge of the basic components of mutually acceptable, one might encourage a common the religious tradition of Judaism; they must strive to learn meeting in the presence of God, in prayer and silent medita- tion, a highly efficacious way of finding that humility, that

7 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 openness of heart and mind, necessary prerequisites for explicitly the meaning of a text1, while taking scriptural a deep knowledge of oneself and of others. In particular, studies into account. that will be done in connection with great causes such as The preceding remarks also apply to introductions to the struggle for peace and justice. biblical readings, to the Prayer of the Faithful, and to com- II. Liturgy mentaries printed in missals used by the laity. The existing links between the Christian liturgy and the III. Teaching and Education Jewish liturgy will be borne in mind. The idea of a liv- Although there is still a great deal of work to be done, ing community in the service of a better understanding of Judaism God, and in the service of men ... the New Testament brings out itself and its relationship to Chris- for the love of God, such as it is the full meaning of the Old, tianity has been achieved in recent realized in the liturgy, is just as years thanks to the teaching of the characteristic of the Jewish lit- while both Old and New illumine Church, the study and research of urgy as it is of the Christian one. and explain each other. scholars, as also to the beginning To improve Jewish-Christian of dialogue. relations, it is important to take cognizance of those common elements of the liturgical In this respect, the following facts deserve to be recalled. life (formulas, feasts, rites, etc.) in which the Bible holds - It is the same God, “inspirer and author of the books an essential place. of both Testaments” (Dei Verbum, 16), who speaks both in An effort will be made to acquire a better understanding the old and new Covenants. of whatever in the Old Testament retains its own perpetual - Judaism in the time of Christ and the Apostles was a value (cf. Dei Verbum, 14-15), since that has not been cancelled complex reality embracing many different trends, many by the later interpretation of the New Testament. Rather, spiritual, religious, social, and cultural values. the New Testament brings out the full meaning of the Old, - The Old Testament and the Jewish tradition founded while both Old and New illumine and explain each other upon it must not be set against the New Testament in such (cf. ibid., 16). This is all the more important since liturgical a way that the former seems to constitute a religion of reform is now bringing the text of the Old Testament ever only justice, fear, and legalism, with no appeal to the love more frequently to the attention of Christians. of God and neighbour (cf. Deut 6:5, Lev 19:18, Matt 22:34-40). When commenting on biblical texts, emphasis will be - Jesus was born of the Jewish people, as were his laid on the continuity of our faith with that of the earlier Apostles and a large number of his first disciples. When Covenant, in the perspective of the promises, without mini- he revealed himself as the Messiah and Son of God (cf. Matt mizing those elements of Christianity which are original. 16:16), the bearer of the new Gospel message, he did so We believe that those promises were fulfilled with the as the fulfilment and perfection of the earlier Revelation. first coming of Christ. But it is none the less true that we And, although his teaching had a profoundly new character, still await their perfect fulfilment in his glorious return at Christ, nevertheless, in many instances took his stand on the end of time. the teaching of the Old Testament. The New Testament With respect to liturgical readings, care will be taken is profoundly marked by its relation to the Old. As the to see that homilies based Second Vatican Council de- on them will not distort their “God, the inspirer and author of the books clared: “God, the inspirer and meaning, especially when it is of both Testaments, wisely arranged that author of the books of both a question of passages which Testaments, wisely arranged seem to show the Jewish peo- the New Testament be hidden in the Old that the New Testament be ple as such in an unfavourable and the Old be made manifest in the New.” hidden in the Old and the Old light. Efforts will be made so be made manifest in the New” to instruct the Christian people that they will understand (Dei Verbum, 16). Jesus also used teaching methods similar the true interpretation of all the texts and their meaning to those employed by the rabbis of his time. for the contemporary believer. - With regard to the trial and death of Jesus, the Council Commissions entrusted with the task of liturgical transla- recalled that “what happened in his passion cannot be tion will pay particular attention to the way in which they blamed upon all the Jews then living, without distinction, express those phrases and passages which Christians, if nor upon the Jews of today” (Nostra Aetate, 4). not well informed, might misunderstand because of preju- 1 Thus the formula “the Jews,” in St. John, sometimes according to the con- dice. Obviously, one cannot alter the text of the Bible. The text means “the leaders of the Jews,” or “the adversaries of Jesus,” terms which point is that, with a version destined for liturgical use, express better the thought of the evangelist and avoid appearing to arraign the there should be an overriding preoccupation to bring out Jewish people as such. Another example is the use of the words “pharisee” and “pharisaism” which have taken on a largely pejorative meaning.

8 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 - The history of Judaism did not end with the destruction Conclusion of Jerusalem, but rather went on to develop a religious The Second Vatican Council has pointed out the path to tradition. And, although we believe that the importance follow in promoting deep fellowship between Jews and and meaning of that tradition were deeply affected by Christians. But there is still the coming of Christ, it a long road ahead. is still nonetheless rich in The history of Judaism did not end with religious values. The problem of Jewish- the destruction of Jerusalem, but rather Christian relations con- - With the prophets went on to develop a religious tradition. cerns the Church as such, and the apostle Paul, “the And, although we believe that the since it is when “pondering Church awaits the day, her own mystery” that she known to God alone, on importance and meaning of that tradition encounters the mystery which all peoples will ad- were deeply affected by the coming of Christ, of Israel. Therefore, even dress the Lord in a single it is still nonetheless rich in religious values. in areas where no Jewish voice and ‘serve him with communities exist, this one accord (Zeph 3:9)’” (Nos- remains an important prob- tra Aetate, 4). lem. There is also an ecumenical aspect to the question: Information concerning these questions is important at the very return of Christians to the sources and origins of all levels of Christian instruction and education. Among their faith, grafted on to the earlier Covenant, helps the sources of information, special attention should be paid search for unity in Christ, the cornerstone. to the following: In this field, the bishops will know what best to do on the - catechisms and religious textbooks; pastoral level, within the general disciplinary framework - history books; of the Church and in line with the common teaching of her magisterium. For example, they will create some suit- - the mass-media (press, radio, cinema, television). able commissions or secretariats on a national or regional The effective use of these means presupposes the thor- level, or appoint some competent person to promote the ough formation of instructors and educators in training implementation of the conciliar directives and the sugges- schools, seminaries, and universities. tions made above. Research into the problems bearing on Judaism and On 22 October 1974, the Holy Father instituted for the Jewish-Christian relations will be encouraged among universal Church this Commission for Religious Rela- specialists, particularly in the fields of exegesis, theology, tions with the Jews, joined to the Secretariat for Promot- history, and sociology. Higher institutions of Catholic ing Christian Unity. This special Commission, created to research, in association if possible with other similar encourage and foster religious relations between Jews and Christian institutions and experts, are invited to contribute Catholics - and to do so eventually in collaboration with to the solution of such problems. Wherever possible, chairs other Christians - will be, within the limits of its compe- of Jewish studies will be created, and collaboration with tence, at the service of all interested organizations, provid- Jewish scholars encouraged. ing information for them, and helping them to pursue their IV. Joint Social Action task in conformity with the instructions of the Holy See. The Commission wishes to develop this collaboration in Jewish and Christian tradition, founded on the Word of order to implement, correctly and effectively, the express God, is aware of the value of the human person, the image intentions of the Council. of God. Love of the same God must show itself in effective action for the good of mankind. Given at Rome, 1 December 1974. In the spirit of the prophets, Jews and Christians will Johannes Card. Willebrands work willingly together, seeking social justice and peace President of the Commission at every level – local, national, and international. Pierre-Marie de Contenson, O.P. At the same time, such collaboration can do much to Secretary of the Commission foster mutual understanding and esteem.

The problem of Jewish-Christian relations concerns the Church as such, since it is when “pondering her own mystery” that she encounters the mystery of Israel.

9 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 Commission For Religious Relations with the Jews Notes on the Correct Way to Present Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church (June 24, 1985)

This document is taken from http://www.vatican.va/roman_cu- The effective use of these means presupposes the thorough ria/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/relations-jews-docs/rc_pc_ formation of instructors and educators in training schools, chrstuni_doc_19820306_jews-judaism_en.html seminaries and universities” (AAS 77, 1975, p. 73). The paragraphs which follow are intended to serve this Preliminary considerations purpose. On March 6th, 1982, Pope John Paul II told delegates of I. Religious Teaching and Judaism episcopal conferences and other experts meeting in Rome 1. In Nostra Aetate 4, the Council speaks of the “spiri- to study relations between the Church and Judaism: tual bonds linking” Jews and Christians and of the “great “‘You yourselves were concerned, during your sessions, spiritual patrimony” common to both, and it further asserts with Catholic teaching and catechesis regarding Jews and that “the Church of Christ acknowledges that, according Judaism.’ We should aim, in this to the mystery of God’s saving field, that Catholic teaching at its design, the beginning of her faith different levels, in catechesis to and her election are already found children and young people, pres- among the patriarchs, Moses, and ents Jews and Judaism, not only in the prophets.” an honest and objective manner, free from prejudices and without 2. Because of the unique rela- any offences, but also with full tions that exist between Chris- awareness of the heritage com- tianity and Judaism – “linked mon” to Jews and Christians.” together at the very level of their In this passage, so charged with identity” (John Paul II, 6th March, meaning, the Holy Father plainly 1982) – relations “founded on drew inspiration from the Coun- the design of the God of the cil Declaration Nostra Aetate, 4, Covenant” (ibid.), the Jews and which says: Judaism should not occupy an occasional and marginal place “All should take pains, The Holy Father has stated this in catechesis: Their presence then, lest in catechetical in- permanent reality of the Jewish people struction and in the preaching there is essential and should be of God’s Word they teach in a remarkable theological formula, ... organically integrated. anything out of harmony with “the people of God of the Old Covenant, 3. This concern for Juda- the truth of the Gospel and ism in Catholic teaching has the spirit of Christ”; as also which has never been revoked.” not merely a historical or ar- from these words: “Since the cheological foundation. As the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus Holy Father said in the speech already quoted, after he had so great, this sacred Synod wishes to foster and recommend again mentioned the “common patrimony” of the Church mutual understanding and respect.” and Judaism as “considerable”: “To assess it carefully in In the same way, the Guidelines and Suggestions for itself and with due awareness of the faith and religious life implementing the conciliar declaration Nostra Aetate (4) of the Jewish people as they are professed and practised ends its chapter III, entitled “Teaching and education”, still today, can greatly help us to understand better certain which lists a number of practical things to be done, with aspects of the life of the Church” (italics added). It is a this recommendation: question then of pastoral concern for a still living reality “Information concerning these questions is important at closely related to the Church. The Holy Father has stated all levels of Christian instruction and education. Among this permanent reality of the Jewish people in a remarkable sources of information, special attention should be paid to theological formula, in his allocution to the Jewish com- the following: munity of West at Mainz, on November 17th, - catechisms and religious textbooks; 1980: “... the people of God of the Old Covenant, which - history books; has never been revoked.” - the mass media (press, radio, cinema, television).

10 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 4. Here we should recall the passage in which the 8. The urgency and importance of precise, objective, and Guidelines and Suggestions (no. 1) tried to define the rigorously accurate teaching on Judaism for our faithful fundamental condition of dialogue: “respect for the other follows too from the danger of anti-Semitism which is as he is,” knowledge of the “basic components of the always ready to reappear under different guises. The ques- religious traditions of Judaism,” and again, learning “by tion is not merely to uproot from among the faithful the what essential trait the Jews define themselves in the light remains of anti-Semitism still to be found here and there, of their own religious experience” (Introd.). but much rather to arouse in them, through educational 5. The singular character and the difficulty of Christian work, an exact knowledge of the wholly unique “bond” teaching about Jews and Judaism lies in this, that it needs (Nostra Aetate, 4) which joins us as a Church to the Jews and to balance a number of pairs of ideas which express the to Judaism. In this way, they would learn to appreciate and relation between the two economies of the Old and New love the latter, who have been chosen by God to prepare Testament: the coming of Christ and have preserved everything that was progressively revealed and given in the course of that • Promise and Fulfilment preparation, notwithstanding their difficulty in recognizing • Continuity and Newness in Him their Messiah. • Singularity and Universality II. Relations between the Old1 and New Testament • Uniqueness and Exemplary Nature. 1. Our aim should be to show the unity of biblical Revela- This means that the theologian and the catechist who tion (O.T. and N.T.) and of the divine plan, before speaking deals with the subject needs to show in his practice of of each historical event, so as to stress that particular events teaching that: have meaning when seen in history as a whole from cre- • promise and fulfilment throw light on each other; ation to fulfillment. This history concerns the whole human • newness lies in a metamorphosis of what was there race and especially believers. Thus the definitive meaning before; of the election of Israel does not become clear except in the • the singularity of the people of the Old Testament light of the complete fulfillment (Rom 9-11), and election in is not exclusive and is open, in the divine vision, to Jesus Christ is still better understood with reference to the a universal extension; announcement and the promise (cf. Heb 4:1-11). • the uniqueness of the Jewish people is meant to have 2. We are dealing with singular happenings which the force of an example. concern a singular nation but are destined, in the sight of God who reveals his purpose, to take on universal and 6. Finally, “work that is of poor quality and lacking in exemplary significance. precision would be extremely detrimental” to Judaeo- Christian dialogue (John Paul II, speech of March 6th, 1982). But The aim is moreover to present the events of the Old Tes- it would be above all detri- tament not as concerning only the Jews but also as touch- mental – since we are talking Jesus affirms that ing us personally. Abraham is of teaching and education – to truly the father of our faith (cf. Christian identity (ibid). “there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” Rom 4:11-12; Roman Canon: patri- archae nostri Abrahae). And it is 7. “In virtue of her divine Church and Judaism cannot then be seen said ( 1 Cor 10:1): “Our fathers mission, the Church” which as two parallel ways of salvation were all under the cloud, and is to be “the all-embracing and the Church must witness to Christ all passed through the sea.” means of salvation” in which The patriarchs, prophets, and alone “the fullness of the as the Redeemer for all ... other personalities of the Old means of salvation can be Testament have been vener- obtained” (Unit. Red. 3), “must of her nature proclaim Jesus ated and always will be venerated as saints in the liturgical Christ to the world” (cf. Guidelines and Suggestions, I). Indeed tradition of the Oriental Church as also of the . we believe that it is through him that we go to the Father (cf. Jn. 14:6), “and this is eternal life, that they know thee 3. From the unity of the divine plan derives the problem the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent” of the relation between the Old and New Testaments. The (Jn 17:33). Church already from apostolic times (cf. 1 Cor 10:11; Heb 10:1) and then constantly in tradition resolved this problem by Jesus affirms (ibid. 10:16) that “there shall be one flock means of typology, which emphasizes the primordial value and one shepherd.” Church and Judaism cannot then be that the Old Testament must have in the Christian view. seen as two parallel ways of salvation, and the Church must witness to Christ as the Redeemer for all, “while 1 We continue to use the expression Old Testament because it is traditional maintaining the strictest respect for religious liberty in line (cf. already 2 Cor 3:14) but also because “Old” does not mean “out of date” with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council (Declaration or “out-worn.” In any case, it is the permanent value of the O.T. as a source of Christian Revelation that is emphasized here (cf. Dei Verbum, 3). Dignitatis Humanae)” (Guidelines and Suggestions, I). 11 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 Typology, however, makes many people uneasy and is already accomplished in Christ and gradually realized perhaps the sign of a problem unresolved. by the sacraments in the Church. This makes way for 4. Hence in using typology, the teaching and practice the fulfillment of God’s design, which awaits its final of which we have received from the Liturgy and from the consummation with the return of Jesus as Messiah, for Fathers of the Church, we should be careful to avoid any which we pray each day. The Kingdom, for the coming of transition from the Old to the New Testament which might which we also pray each day, will be finally established. seem merely a rupture. With salvation and liberation, the elect and the whole of creation will be transformed in Christ (Rom 8:19-23). The Church, in the spontaneity of the Spirit which animates her, has vigorously condemned the attitude of 10. Furthermore, in underlining the eschatological Marcion2 and always opposed his dualism. dimension of Christianity, we shall reach a greater awareness that the people of God of the Old and the New 5. It should also be emphasized that typological interpre- Testament are tending towards a like end in the future: tation consists in reading the Old Testament as preparation the coming or return of the Messiah – even if they start and, in certain aspects, outline and foreshadowing of the from two different points of view. It is more clearly New (cf. e.g., Heb 5:5-10 etc.). Christ is henceforth the key understood that the person of the Messiah is not only a and point of reference to the Scriptures: “the rock was point of division for the people of God but also a point Christ” (1 Cor 10:4). of convergence (cf. Sussidi per l’ecumenismo of the diocese of 6. It is true then, and should be stressed, that the Church Rome, n. 140). Thus, it can be said that Jews and Christians and Christians read the Old Testament in the light of the meet in a comparable hope, founded on the same promise event of the dead and risen Christ and that on these grounds made to Abraham (cf. Gen 12:1-3; Heb 6:13-18). there is a Christian reading of the Old Testament which 11. Attentive to the same God who has spoken, hang- does not necessarily coincide with the Jewish reading. ing on the same word, we have to witness to one same Thus, Christian identity and Jewish identity should be care- memory and one common hope in Him who is the fully distinguished in their respective reading of the Bible. master of history. We must also accept our responsibil- But this detracts nothing from the value of the Old Testa- ity to prepare the world for the coming of the Messiah ment in the Church and does nothing to hinder Christians by working together for social justice, respect for the from profiting discerningly from the traditions of Jewish rights of persons and nations, and for social and inter- reading. national reconciliation. To this we are driven, Jews and 7. Typological reading only manifests the unfathomable Christians, by the command to love our neighbour, by a riches of the Old Testament, its inexhaustible content, and common hope for the kingdom of God, and by the great the mystery of which it is full, and should not lead us to heritage of the Prophets. Transmitted soon enough by forget that it retains its own value as Revelation that the catechesis, such a conception would teach young Chris- New Testament often does no more than resume (cf. Mk tians in a practical way to cooperate with Jews, going 12:29-31). Moreover, the New Testament itself demands to beyond simple dialogue (cf. Guidelines, IV). be read in the light of the Old. Primitive Christian cateche- III. Jewish Roots of Christianity sis constantly had recourse to this (cf. e.g., 1 Cor 5:6-8; 10:1-11). 1. Jesus was and always remained a Jew; his ministry 8. Typology further signifies reaching towards the ac- was deliberately limited “to the lost sheep of the house complishment of the divine plan, when “God will be all of Israel” (Mt 15:24). Jesus is fully a man of his time, and in all” (1 Cor 15:28). This holds true also for the Church of his environment: the Jewish Palestinian of the first which, realized already in Christ, yet awaits its definitive century, the anxieties and hopes of which he shared. This perfecting as the Body of Christ. cannot but underline both the reality of the Incarnation The fact that the Body of Christ is still tending towards and the very meaning of the history of salvation as it its full stature (cf. Eph 4:12-19) takes nothing from the value has been revealed in the Bible (cf. Rom 1:3- 4; Gal 4:4-5). of being a Christian. So also, the calling of the patriarchs 2. Jesus’ relations with biblical law and its more or less and the Exodus from Egypt do not lose their importance traditional interpretations are undoubtedly complex, and and value in God’s design from being at the same time he showed great liberty towards it (cf. the “antitheses” of the intermediate stages (cf. e.g., Nostra Aetate, 4). Sermon on the Mount: Mt 5:21-48, bearing in mind the exegetical 9. The Exodus, for example, represents an experience difficulties; his attitude to rigorous observance of the Sabbath: Mk of salvation and liberation that is not complete in itself, 3:1-6, etc.). but has in it, over and above its own meaning, the capac- But there is no doubt that he wished to submit himself ity to be developed further. Salvation and liberation are to the law (cf. Gal 4:4), that he was circumcised and pre- sented in the Temple like any Jew of his time (cf. Lk 2:21, 2 A man of gnostic tendency who in the second century rejected the Old Testament and part of the New as the work of an evil god, a demiurge. The 22-24), and that he was trained in the law’s observance. Church reacted strongly against this heresy (cf. Irenaeus). He extolled respect for it (cf. Mt 5:17-20) and invited obe-

12 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 dience to it (cf. Mt 8:4). The rhythm of his life was marked exclusively negative picture of the Pharisees is likely to by observance of pilgrimages on great feasts, even from be inaccurate and unjust (cf. Guidelines, Note 1; cf. AAS, loc. cit. his infancy (cf. Lk 2:41-50; Jn 2:13;7:10 etc.). The importance p. 76). If, in the Gospels and elsewhere in the New Testa- of the cycle of the Jewish feasts has been frequently un- ment, there are all sort of unfavourable references to the derlined in the Gospel of John (cf. 2:13; 5:1: 7:2.10.37; 10:22; Pharisees, they should be seen against the background of 12:1; 18:28; 19:42; etc.). a complex and diversified movement. 3. It should be noted also that Jesus often taught in the Criticisms of various types of Pharisees are moreover Synagogues (cf. Mt 4:23: 9:35; Lk 4:15-18; Jn 18:20 etc.) and in not lacking in rabbinical sources (cf. the Babylon Talmud, the the Temple (cf. Jn 18:20 etc.), which he frequented as did the Sotah treatise 22b, etc.). “Phariseeism” in the pejorative sense disciples even after the Resurrection (cf. e.g., Acts 2:46; 3:1: can be rife in any religion. It may also be stressed that, 21:26 etc.). He wished to put in the context of synagogue if Jesus shows himself severe towards the Pharisees, it is worship the proclamation of his Messiahship (cf. Lk 4:16-21). because he is closer to them than to other contemporary But above all, he wished to achieve the supreme act of the Jewish groups (cf. supra n. 17). gift of himself in the setting of the domestic liturgy of the 9. All this should help us to understand better what St. or at least of the paschal festivity (cf. Mk 14:1.12 and Paul says (Rom 11:16 ff) about the “root” and the “branches.” parallels; Jn 18:28). This also allows a better understanding The Church and Christianity, for all their novelty, find their of the “memorial” character of the Eucharist. origin in the Jewish milieu of the first century of our era, 4. Thus, the Son of God is incarnate in a people and a and more deeply still in the “design of God” (Nostra Aetate, human family (cf. Gal 4:4; Rom 9:5). This takes away noth- 4), realized in the Patriarchs, Moses, and the Prophets (ibid.), ing, quite the contrary, from the fact that he was born for down to its consummation in Christ Jesus. all men (Jewish shepherds and pagan wise men are found at his crib: Lk 2:80-20; Mt 2:1-12) and died for all men (at the foot of the IV. The Jews in the New Testament cross there are Jews, among them Mary and John: Jn 19:25-27, and 1. The Guidelines (see footnote 1) already say that “the pagans like the centurion: Mk 15:39 and parallels). Thus, he made formula ‘the Jews’ sometimes, according to the context, two peoples one in his flesh (cf. Eph 2:14-17). This explains means ‘the leaders of the Jews’ or ‘the adversaria of Jesus,’ why, with the Ecclesia ex gentibus we have in Palestine terms which express better the thought of the evangelist and elsewhere, an Ecclesia ex circumcisione, of which and avoid appearing to arraign the Jewish people as such.” Eusebius, for example, speaks (H.E. IV, 5). An objective presentation of the role of the Jewish 5. His relations with the Pharisees were not always or people in the New Testament should take account of these wholly polemical. Of this there are many proofs: various facts: - It is Pharisees who warn Jesus of the risks he is run- A. The Gospels are the outcome of long and compli- ning (Lk 13:31); cated editorial work. The dogmatic constitution Dei - Some Pharisees are praised (e.g., “the scribe” of Mk 12:34); Verbum following the Pontifical Biblical Commis- sion’s Instruction Sancta Mater Ecclesia distin- - Jesus eats with Pharisees (Lk 7:36; 14:1). guishes three stages: “The sacred authors wrote the 6. Jesus shares, with the majority of Palestinian Jews of four Gospels, selecting some things from the many that time, some pharisaic doctrines: the resurrection of the which had been handed on by word of mouth or body; forms of piety, like alms-giving, prayer, fasting (cf. in writing, reducing some of them to a synthesis, Mt 6:1-18), and the liturgical practice of addressing God as explicating some things in view of the situation of Father; and the priority of the commandment to love God the Churches, and preserving the form of proclama- and our neighbour (cf. Mk 12:28-34). tion, but always in such fashion that they told us the This is so also with Paul (cf. Acts 23:8), who always con- honest truth about Jesus” (n. 19). sidered his membership in the Pharisees as a title of honour Hence, it cannot be ruled out that some references (cf. ibid. 23:6; 26:6; Phil 3:5). hostile or less than favourable to the Jews have their 7. Paul also, like Jesus himself, used methods of reading historical context in conflicts between the nascent and interpreting Scripture and of teaching his disciples Church and the Jewish community. which were common to the Pharisees of their time. This Certain controversies reflect Christian-Jewish rela- applies to the use of parables in Jesus’ ministry, as also to tions long after the time of Jesus. the method of Jesus and Paul of supporting a conclusion To establish this is of capital importance if we wish with a quotation from Scripture. to bring out the meaning of certain Gospel texts for 8. It is noteworthy, too, that the Pharisees are not men- the Christians of today. tioned in accounts of the Passion. Gamaliel (Acts 5:34- 39) All this should be taken into account when preparing defends the apostles in a meeting of the Sanhedrin. An catechesis and homilies for the last weeks of Lent

13 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 and Holy Week (cf. already Guidelines II, and now also distinction nor upon the Jews of today,” especially since Sussidi per l’ecumenismo nella diocesi di Roma, 1982, 144 b). “authorities of the Jews and those who followed their lead B. It is clear on the other hand that there were con- pressed for the death of Christ.” flicts between Jesus and certain categories of Again, further on: “Christ in his boundless love freely Jews of his time, among them Pharisees, from the underwent his passion and death because of the sins of all beginning of his ministry (cf. Mk 2:1-11.24; 3:6 etc.). men, so that all might attain salvation” (Nostra Aetate, 4). The C. There is moreover the sad fact that the major- Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches that Christian ity of the Jewish people and its authorities did sinners are more to blame for the death of Christ than those not believe in Jesus – a fact not merely of his- few Jews who brought it about – they indeed “knew not tory but of theological bearing, of which St Paul what they did” (cf. Lk 23:24), and we know it only too well tries hard to plumb the meaning (Rom chap. 9-11). (Pars I, caput V, Quaest, XI). D. This fact, accentu- In the same way and for ated as the Christian The Catechism of the Council of Trent the same reason, “the Jews mission developed, should not be presented as especially among teaches that Christian sinners repudiated or cursed by the pagans, led in- are more to blame for the death of Christ God, as if such views fol- evitably to a rup- lowed from the holy Scrip- ture between Juda- than those few Jews who brought it about - tures” (Nostra Aetate, 4), even ism and the young they indeed “knew not what they did” though it is true that “the Church, now irre- (cf. Lk 23:24), and we know it only too well. Church is the new people ducibly separated (Pars I, caput V, Quaest, XI). of God” (ibid.). and divergent in faith, and this stage V. The Liturgy of affairs is reflected in the texts of the New Testa- 1. Jews and Christians find in the Bible the very sub- ment and particularly in the Gospel. There is no ques- stance of their liturgy: the proclamation of God’s word, tion of playing down or glossing over this rupture; response to it, prayer of praise and intercession for the that could only prejudice the identity of either side. living and the dead, and recourse to the divine mercy. Nevertheless, it certainly does not cancel the The Liturgy of the word in its own structure originates in spiritual “bond” of which the Council speaks (Nostra Judaism. The prayer of Hours and other liturgical texts Aetate, 4) and which we propose to dwell on here. and formularies have their parallels in Judaism as do the E. Reflecting on this in the light of Scripture, nota- very formulas of our most venerable prayers, among them bly of the chapters cited from the epistle to the the Our Father. Romans, Christians should never forget that the The eucharistic prayers also draw inspiration from mod- faith is a free gift of God (cf. Rom 9:12) and that we els in the Jewish tradition. As John Paul II said (Allocution should never judge the consciences of others. St of March 6th, 1982): “the faith and religious life of the Jewish Paul’s exhortation “do not boast” in your attitude people as they are professed and practised still today, can to “the root” (Rom 11:18) has its full point here. greatly help us to understand better certain aspects of the F. There is no putting the Jews who knew Jesus and life of the Church. Such is the case of liturgy.” did not believe in him or those who opposed the 2. This is particularly evident in the great feasts of the preaching of the apostles on the same plane with liturgical year, like the Passover. Christians and Jews cel- Jews who came after, or those of today. If the re- ebrate the Passover: the Jews, the historic Passover looking sponsibility of the former remains a mystery hidden towards the future; the Christians, the Passover accom- with God (cf. Rom 11:25), the latter are in an entirely plished in the death and resurrection of Christ, although different situation. Vatican II in the declaration still in expectation of the final consummation (cf. supra n. on Religious Liberty teaches that “all men are to 9). It is still the “memorial” which comes to us from the be immune from coercion” in such wise that in Jewish tradition, with a specific content different in each matters religious, no one is to be forced to act in a case. On either side, however, there is a like dynamism: for manner contrary to his own beliefs, nor “restrained Christians, it gives meaning to the eucharistic celebration from acting in accordance with his own beliefs” (cf. the antiphon ‘O sacrum convivium), a paschal celebration and (n. 2). This is one of the bases – proclaimed by the as such, a making present of the past, but experienced in Council – on which Judeao-Christian dialogue rests. the expectation of what is to come. 2. The delicate question of responsibility for the death of Christ must be looked at from the standpoint of the con- VI. Judaism and Christianity in History ciliar declaration Nostra Aetate, 4 and of Guidelines and 1. The history of Israel did not end in 70 A.D. (cf. Guide- Suggestions (III): “What happened in (Christ’s) passion lines, II). It continued, especially in a numerous Diaspora cannot be blamed upon all the Jews then living without 14 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 which allowed Israel to human person alone would carry to the whole world a The history of Israel did not end in 70 A.D. suffice to condemn” (Guide- witness – often heroic – of It continued, especially in a numerous lines Preamble). its fidelity to the one God and to “exalt him in the Diaspora which allowed Israel to carry to Conclusion presence of all the living” the whole world a witness - often heroic - of Religious teaching, (Tobit 13:4), while preserving its fidelity to the one God and to “exalt him catechesis and preaching the memory of the land of should be a preparation their forefathers at the heart in the presence of all the living” (Tobit 13:4), not only for objectivity, of their hope (Passover Seder). while preserving the memory of the land of justice, tolerance but also Christians are invited to their forefathers at the heart of their hope. for understanding and dia- understand this religious logue. Our two traditions attachment which finds its are so related that they roots in Biblical tradition, without however making their cannot ignore each other. Mutual knowledge must be own any particular religious interpretation of this relation- encouraged at every level. There is evident in particular a painful ignorance of the history and traditions of Judaism, ship (cf. Declaration of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, of which only negative aspects and often caricature seem November 20, 1975). to form part of the stock ideas of many Christians. The existence of the State of Israel and its political op- That is what these notes aim to remedy. This would tions should be envisaged not in a perspective which is mean that the Council text and Guidelines and Sugges- in itself religious, but in their reference to the common tions would be more easily and faithfully put into practice. principles of international law. The permanence of Israel (while so many ancient Johannes Cardinal Willebrands peoples have disappeared without trace) is a historic fact President and a sign to be interpreted within God’s design. We must Pierre Duprey in any case rid ourselves of the traditional idea of a people Vice-President punished, preserved as a living argument for Christian apologetics. It remains a chosen people, “the pure olive on Jorge Meija which were grafted the branches of the wild olive which Secretary are the gentiles” (John Paul II, 6th March, 1982, alluding to Rom 11:17-24). We must remember how much the balance of relations between Jews and Christians over two thousand years has been negative. We must remind ourselves how the permanence of Israel is accompanied by a continuous spiritual fecundity, in the rabbinical period, in the Middle Ages, and in modern times, taking its start from a patri- mony which we long shared, so much so that “the faith and religious life of the Jewish people as they are professed The permanence of Israel and practised still today, can greatly help us to understand (while so many ancient peoples have better certain aspects of the life of the Church” (John Paul II, disappeared without trace) March 6th, 1982). Catechesis should on the other hand help in understanding the meaning for the Jews of the extermina- is a historic fact and a sign tion during the years 1939- 1945, and its consequences. to be interpreted within God’s design. 2. Education and catechesis should concern themselves with the problem of racism, still active in different forms of anti-Semitism. The Council presented it thus: “Moreover, (the Church) mindful of her common patrimony with the Jews and motivated by the Gospel’s spiritual love and by no political considerations, deplores the hatred, persecu- tions and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews at any time and from any source” (Nostra Aetate, 4). The Guidelines Comment: “the spiritual bonds and historical links binding the Church to Judaism condemn (as opposed to the very spirit of Christianity) all forms of anti-Semitism and discrimination, which in any case the dignity of the

15 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 Commission for Religious Relations With the Jews

We Remember: A Reflection On The Shoah (March 16, 1998)

This document is found at http://www.vatican.va/roman_cu- On the occasion of a meeting in Rome on 31 August ria/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/documents/rc_pc_chrstuni_ 1987 of representatives of the Holy See’s Commission for doc_16031998_shoah_en.html Religious Relations with the Jews and of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, the then At a press conference on March 16, 1998, Cardinal Cas- President of the Holy See’s Commission for Religious sidy, President of the Holy See’s Commission For Religious Relations with the Jews, Cardinal Johannes Willebrands, Relations With the Jews, presented for publication the announced the intention of the Commission to prepare an document, We Remember: A Reflection On The Shoah. official Catholic document on the Shoah. The following Joining him in the presentation were Bishop Pierre Du- day, 1 September 1987, the participants in this meeting prey, Vice President of the Commission, and Father Remi were received at Castel Gandolfo by His Holiness Pope Hoeckmann, O.P., its Secretary. John Paul II, who affirmed the importance of the proposed We publish here Cardinal Cassidy’s presentation of the document for the Church and for the world. His Holiness document, along with Pope John Paul II’s letter to the spoke of his personal experience in his native country Cardinal about the document, and the text itself. and his memories of living close to a Jewish community now destroyed. He recalled a recent address to the Jewish Presentation by Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy community in Warsaw, in which he spoke of the Jewish The Holy See has to date pub- people as a force of conscience in lished, through its Commission the world today and of the Jewish for Religious Relations with the memory of the Shoah as “a warn- Jews, two significant documents ing, a witness, and a silent cry” to intended for the application of all humanity. Citing the Exodus of the Second Vatican Council’s the Jewish people from Egypt as a Declaration Nostra Aetate, n. 4: paradigm and a continuing source the 1974 Guidelines and Sug- of hope, His Holiness expressed his gestions, and the 1985 Notes on deep conviction that, with God’s the Correct Way to Present the help, evil can be overcome in his- Jews and Judaism in Preaching tory, even the awesome evil of the and Catechesis in the Catholic Shoah. Church. We can read in the Joint Press Today it publishes another document, which the Holy Communiqué which was released at that time, that the See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews Jewish delegation warmly welcomed the initiative of an has prepared at the express request of His Holiness Pope official Catholic document on the Shoah, and expressed John Paul II. This document, which contains a reflection the conviction that such a document will contribute sig- on the Shoah, is another step on the path marked out by the nificantly to combating attempts to revise and to deny the Second Vatican Council in our relations with the Jewish reality of the Shoah and to trivialize its religious signifi- people. In the words which His Holiness wrote in his let- cance for Christians, Jews, and humanity. ter to me as President of the Commission, it is our fervent In the years following the announcement, the Holy hope “that the document [...] will help to heal the wounds See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews of past misunderstandings and injustices.”1 engaged in a process of consciousness raising and of re- It is addressed to the Catholic faithful throughout the flection on several levels in the Catholic Church, and in world, not only in Europe where the Shoah took place, different places. hoping that all Christians will join their Catholic brothers In the Guidelines and Suggestions for Implementing the and sisters in meditating on the catastrophe which befell Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate, n. 4, published on the Jewish people, on its causes, and on the moral impera- 1 December 1974, the Holy See’s Commission recalled tive to ensure that never again such a tragedy will happen. that “the step taken by the Council finds its historical set- At the same time it asks our Jewish friends to hear us with ting in circumstances deeply affected by the memory of an open heart. the persecution and massacre of Jews which took place in Europe just before and during the Second World War.” 1 The letter of His Holiness is dated 12 March 1998.

16 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 Yet, as the Guidelines pointed out, “the problem of Jewish- ber: A Reflection on the Shoah, which the Commission Christian relations concerns the Church as such, since it is for Religious Relations with the Jews has prepared under when “pondering her own mystery” (Nostra Aetate, n. 4) your direction, will indeed help to heal the wounds of past that she encounters the mystery of Israel. Therefore, even misunderstandings and injustices. May it enable memory in areas where no Jewish communities exist, this remains to play its necessary part in the process of shaping a future an important problem.” in which the unspeakable iniquity of the Shoah will never Pope John Paul II himself has repeatedly called upon again be possible. May the Lord of history guide the efforts us to see where we stand with regard to our relations with of Catholics and Jews and all men and women of good will the Jewish people. In doing so, “we must remember how as they work together for a world of true respect for the much the balance [of these relations] over two thousand life and dignity of every human being, for all have been years has been negative.”2 This long period “which,” in the created in the image and likeness of God. words of Pope John Paul II, “we must not tire of reflecting From the Vatican, 12 March 1998. upon in order to draw from it the appropriate lessons,3” has been marked by many manifestations of anti-Judaism Commission for Religious Relations With the Jews and anti-Semitism, and, in this century, by the horrifying events of the Shoah. We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah Therefore, the Catholic Church wants all Catholics, and indeed all people, everywhere, to know about this. It does I. The tragedy of the Shoah and the duty of so also with the hope that it will help Catholics and Jews remembrance towards the realization of those universal goals that are The twentieth century is fast coming to a close, and a found in their common roots. In fact, whenever there has new Millennium of the Christian era is about to dawn. been guilt on the part of Christians, this burden should The 2000th anniversary of the Birth of Jesus Christ calls be a call to repentance. As His Holiness has put it on one all Christians, and indeed invites all men and women, to occasion, “guilt must always be the point of departure for seek to discern in the passage of history the signs of divine conversion.” Providence at work, as well as the ways in which the image We are confident that all the Catholic faithful in every of the Creator in man has been offended and disfigured. part of the world will be helped by this document to dis- This reflection concerns one of the main areas in which cover in their relationship with the Jewish people “the Catholics can seriously take to heart the summons which boldness of brotherhood.”4 Pope John Paul II has addressed to them in his Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente: “It is appropriate that, Letter of Pope John Paul II as the Second Millennium of Christianity draws to a close, To my Venerable Brother, Cardinal Edward Idris Cas- the Church should become more fully conscious of the sidy: sinfulness of her children, recalling all those times in his- On numerous occasions during my Pontificate I have tory when they departed from the spirit of Christ and his recalled with a sense of deep sorrow the sufferings of the Gospel, and instead of offering to the world the witness Jewish people during the Second World War. The crime of a life inspired by the values of faith, indulged in ways which has become known as the Shoah remains an indel- of thinking and acting which were truly forms of counter- 1 ible stain on the history of the century that is coming to witness and scandal.” a close. This century has witnessed an unspeakable tragedy As we prepare for the beginning of the Third Millennium which can never be forgotten: the attempt by the Nazi of Christianity, the Church is aware that the joy of a Jubilee regime to exterminate the Jewish people, with the con- is, above all, the joy that is based on the forgiveness of sins sequent killing of millions of Jews. Women and men, old and reconciliation with God and neighbour. Therefore she and young, children and infants, for the sole reason of their encourages her sons and daughters to purify their hearts, Jewish origin, were persecuted and deported. Some were through repentance of past errors and infidelities. She killed immediately, while others were degraded, illtreated, calls them to place themselves humbly before the Lord tortured and utterly robbed of their human dignity, and and examine themselves on the responsibility which they, then murdered. Very few of those who entered the Camps too, have for the evils of our time. survived, and those who did remained scarred for life. This was the Shoah. It is a major fact of the history of this It is my fervent hope that the document: We Remem- century, a fact which still concerns us today. 2 Cf. Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis in the Catholic Church (24 June 1985). Before this horrible genocide, which the leaders of na- 3 Speech delivered on the occasion of the visit of His Holiness to the Syna- tions and Jewish communities themselves found hard to gogue of Rome (13 April 1986), 4: AAS 78 (1986), 1120. 4 Pope John Paul II in his address to the Diplomatic Corps on 15 January 1 Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 10 No- 1994. vember 1994, 33: AAS 87 (1995), 25.

17 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 believe at the very moment when it was being mercilessly recognized this fact in his repeated appeals to Catholics put into effect, no one can remain indifferent, least of all to see where we stand with regard to our relations with the Church, by reason of her very close bonds of spiritual the Jewish people.6 In effect, the balance of these relations kinship with the Jewish people and her remembrance of over two thousand years has been quite negative. 7 the injustices of the past. The Church’s relationship to the At the dawn of Christianity, after the crucifixion of Jesus, Jewish people is unlike the one she shares with any other there arose disputes between the early Church and the Jew- 2 religion. However, it is not only a question of recalling ish leaders and people who, in their devotion to the Law, the past. The common future of Jews and Christians de- on occasion violently opposed the preachers of the Gospel mands that we remember, for “there is no future without and the first Christians. In the pagan Roman Empire, Jews 3 memory.” History itself is memoria futuri. were legally protected by the privileges granted by the In addressing this reflection to our brothers and sisters Emperor, and the authorities at first made no distinction of the Catholic Church throughout the world, we ask all between Jewish and Christian communities. Soon however, Christians to join us in meditating on the catastrophe which Christians incurred the persecution of the State. Later, befell the Jewish people, and on the moral imperative to when the Emperors themselves converted to Christianity, ensure that never again will selfishness and hatred grow they at first continued to guarantee Jewish privileges. But to the point of sowing such suffering and death.4 Most Christian mobs who attacked pagan temples sometimes especially, we ask our Jewish friends, “whose terrible did the same to synagogues, not without being influenced fate has become a symbol of the aberrations of which by certain interpretations of the New Testament regarding man is capable when he turns against God,”5 to hear us the Jewish people as a whole. “In the Christian world—I with open hearts. do not say on the part of the Church as such—erroneous and unjust interpretations of the New Testament regard- II. What we must remember ing the Jewish people and their alleged culpability have While bearing their unique witness to the Holy One of circulated for too long, engendering feelings of hostility Israel and to the , the Jewish people have suffered towards this people.”8 Such interpretations of the New much at different times and in many places. But the Shoah Testament have been totally and definitively rejected by was certainly the worst suffering of all. The inhumanity the Second Vatican Council.9 with which the Jews were persecuted and massacred during Despite the Christian preaching of love for all, even for this century is beyond the capacity of words to convey. one’s enemies, the prevailing mentality down the centu- All this was done to them for the sole reason that they ries penalized minorities and those who were in any way were Jews. “different.” Sentiments of anti-Judaism in some Christian The very magnitude of the crime raises many questions. quarters, and the gap which existed between the Church Historians, sociologists, political philosophers, psycholo- and the Jewish people, led to a generalized discrimination gists, and theologians are all trying to learn more about the which ended at times in expulsions or attempts at forced reality of the Shoah and its causes. Much scholarly study conversions. In a large part of the “Christian” world, until still remains to be done. But such an event cannot be fully the end of the 18th century, those who were not Christian measured by the ordinary criteria of historical research did not always enjoy a fully guaranteed juridical status. alone. It calls for a “moral and religious memory,” and Despite that fact, Jews throughout Christendom held on particularly among Christians, a very serious reflection to their religious traditions and communal customs. They on what gave rise to it. were therefore looked upon with a certain suspicion and The fact that the Shoah took place in Europe, that is, in mistrust. In times of crisis such as famine, war, pestilence, countries of long-standing Christian civilization, raises or social tensions, the Jewish minority was sometimes the question of the relation between the Nazi persecution taken as a scapegoat and became the victim of violence, and the attitudes down the centuries of Christians towards looting, even massacres. the Jews. By the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, Jews generally had achieved an equal III. Relations between Jews and Christians standing with other citizens in most States and a certain The history of relations between Jews and Christians number of them held influential positions in society. But in is a tormented one. His Holiness Pope John Paul II has that same historical context, notably in the 19th century, a

2 Cf. Pope John Paul II, Speech at the Synagogue of Rome, 13 April 1986, 6 Cf. Pope John Paul II, Address to Delegates of Episcopal Conferences for 4: AAS 78 (1986), 1120. Catholic-Jewish relations, 6 March 1982: Insegnamenti, 51, 1982, 743-747. 3 Pope John Paul II, Angelus Prayer, 11 June 1995: Insegnamenti 181, 7 Cf. Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, Notes 1995, 1712. on the correct way to present the Jews and Judaism in preaching and catechesis 4 Cf. Pope John Paul II, Address to Jewish Leaders in Budapest, 18 August in the Roman Catholic Church, 24 June 1985, VI, 1: Ench. Vat. 9, 1656 1991, 4: Insegnamenti 142, 1991, 349. 8 Cf. Pope John Paul II, Speech to Symposium on the roots of anti-Judaism, 5 Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 1 May 1991, 17: 31 October 1997, 1: L’Osservatore Romano, 1 November 1997, p. 6. AAS 83 (1991), 814-815. 9 Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Nostra Aetate, 4.

18 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 false and exacerbated nationalism took hold. In a climate IV. Nazi anti-Semitism and the Shoah of eventful social change, Jews were often accused of Thus we cannot ignore the difference which exists exercising an influence disproportionate to their numbers. between anti-Semitism, based on theories contrary to the Thus there began to spread in varying degrees throughout constant teaching of the Church on the unity of the human most of Europe an anti-Judaism that was essentially more race and on the equal dignity of all races and peoples, and sociological and political than religious. the long-standing sentiments of mistrust and hostility that At the same time, theories began to appear which denied we call anti-Judaism, of which, unfortunately, Christians the unity of the human race, affirming an original diversity also have been guilty. of races. In the 20th century, National Socialism in Ger- The National Socialist ideology went even further, in many used these ideas as a pseudo-scientific basis for a the sense that it refused to acknowledge any transcendent distinction between so called Nordic-Aryan races and sup- reality as the source of life and the criterion of moral good. posedly inferior races. Furthermore, an extremist form of Consequently, a human group, and the State with which nationalism was heightened in Ger- it was identified, arrogated to many by the defeat of 1918 and the “... on 6 September, Pius XI asserted: itself an absolute status and de- demanding conditions imposed by “Antisemitism is unacceptable. termined to remove the very the victors, with the consequence Spiritually we are all Semites.” existence of the Jewish people, that many saw in National Social- a people called to witness to ism a solution to their country’s the one God and the Law of the problems and cooperated politically with this movement. Covenant. At the level of theological reflection, we can- The Church in Germany replied by condemning racism. not ignore the fact that not a few in the Nazi Party not The condemnation first appeared in the preaching of some only showed aversion to the idea of divine Providence at of the clergy, in the public teaching of the Catholic Bish- work in human affairs, but gave proof of a definite hatred ops, and in the writings of lay Catholic journalists. Already directed at God himself. Logically, such an attitude also in February and March 1931, Cardinal Bertram of Breslau, led to a rejection of Christianity, and a desire to see the Cardinal Faulhaber and the Bishops of Bavaria, the Bish- Church destroyed or at least subjected to the interests of ops of the Province of Cologne and those of the Province the Nazi State. of Freiburg published pastoral letters condemning National 10 It was this extreme ideology which became the basis Socialism, with its idolatry of race and of the State. The of the measures taken, first to drive the Jews from their well-known Advent sermons of Cardinal Faulhaber in homes and then to exterminate them. The Shoah was 1933, the very year in which National Socialism came to the work of a thoroughly modern neo-pagan regime. Its power, at which not just Catholics but also Protestants and anti-Semitism had its roots outside of Christianity, and in Jews were present, clearly expressed rejection of the Nazi 11 pursuing its aims, it did not hesitate to oppose the Church anti-semitic propaganda. In the wake of the Kristallnacht, and persecute her members also. Bernhard Lichtenberg, Provost of Berlin Cathedral, offered public prayers for the Jews. He was later to die at Dachau But it may be asked whether the Nazi persecution of and has been declared Blessed. the Jews was not made easier by the anti-Jewish preju- dices imbedded in some Christian minds and hearts. Did Pope Pius XI, too, condemned Nazi racism in a solemn 12 anti-Jewish sentiment among Christians make them less way in his Encyclical Letter Mit brennender Sorge, which sensitive, or even indifferent, to the persecutions launched was read in German churches on Passion Sunday 1937, a against the Jews by National Socialism when it reached step which resulted in attacks and sanctions against mem- power? bers of the clergy. Addressing a group of Belgian pilgrims on 6 September 1938, Pius XI asserted: “Anti-Semitism Any response to this question must take into account that is unacceptable. Spiritually, we are all Semites.”13 Pius we are dealing with the history of people’s attitudes and XII, in his very first Encyclical, Summi Pontificatus,14 of ways of thinking, subject to multiple influences. Moreover, 20 October 1939, warned against theories which denied many people were altogether unaware of the “final solu- the unity of the human race and against the deification of tion” that was being put into effect against a whole people; others were afraid for themselves and those near to them; the State, all of which he saw as leading to a real “hour 15 some took advantage of the situation; and still others were of darkness.” moved by envy. A response would need to be given case 10 Cf. B. Statiewski (Ed.), Akten deutscher Bischöfe über die Lage der by case. To do this, however, it is necessary to know what Kirche , 1933-1945, vol. I, 1933-1934 (Mainz 1968), Appendix. precisely motivated people in a particular situation. 11 Cf. L. Volk, Der Bayerische Episkopat und der Nationalsozialismus 1930-1934 (Mainz 1966), pp. 170-174 At first, the leaders of the Third Reich sought to expel 12 The Encyclical is dated 14 March 1937: AAS 29 (1937), 145-167 the Jews. Unfortunately, the governments of some Western 13 La Documentation Catholique, 29 (1938), col. 1460 14 AAS 31 (1939), 413-453 countries of Christian tradition, including some in North 15 Ibid., 449.

19 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 and South America, were more than hesitant to open of their brothers and sisters during the Second World War their borders to the persecuted Jews. Although they could must be a call to penitence.17 not foresee how far the Nazi hierarchs would go in their We deeply regret the errors and failures of those sons and criminal intentions, the leaders of those nations were aware daughters of the Church. We make our own what is said in of the hardships and dangers to which Jews living in the the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration Nostra Aetate, territories of the Third Reich were exposed. The closing which unequivocally affirms: “The Church ... mindful of of borders to Jewish emigration in those circumstances, her common patrimony with the Jews, and motivated by whether due to anti-Jewish hostility or suspicion, political the Gospel’s spiritual love and by no political consider- cowardice or shortsightedness, or national selfishness, lays ations, deplores the hatred, persecutions, and displays of a heavy burden of conscience on the authorities in question. anti-Semitism directed against the Jews at any time and In the lands where the Nazis undertook mass deporta- from any source.”18 tions, the brutality which surrounded these forced move- We recall and abide by what Pope John Paul II, address- ments of helpless people should have led to suspect the ing the leaders of the Jewish community in Strasbourg in worst. Did Christians give every possible assistance to 1988, stated: “I repeat again with you the strongest con- those being persecuted, and in particular to the persecuted demnation of anti-Semitism and racism, which are opposed Jews? to the principles of Christianity.”19 The Catholic Church Many did, but others did not. Those who did help to save therefore repudiates every persecution against a people or Jewish lives as much as was in their human group anywhere, at any time. power, even to the point of placing ... we appeal to our She absolutely condemns all forms their own lives in danger, must not Catholic brothers and sisters of genocide, as well as the racist be forgotten. During and after the to renew the awareness of ideologies which give rise to them. war, Jewish communities and Jew- Looking back over this century, we ish leaders expressed their thanks the Hebrew roots of their faith. are deeply saddened by the violence for all that had been done for them, that has enveloped whole groups of including what Pope Pius XII did personally or through his peoples and nations. We recall in particular the massacre representatives to save hundreds of thousands of Jewish of the Armenians, the countless victims in Ukraine in the lives.16 Many Catholic bishops, priests, religious, and laity 1930s, the genocide of the Gypsies, which was also the have been honoured for this reason by the State of Israel. result of racist ideas, and similar tragedies which have Nevertheless, as Pope John Paul II has recognized, occurred in America, Africa, and the Balkans. Nor do we alongside such courageous men and women, the spiritual forget the millions of victims of totalitarian ideology in resistance and concrete action of other Christians was not the Soviet Union, in China, Cambodia, and elsewhere. Nor that which might have been expected from Christ’s fol- can we forget the drama of the Middle East, the elements lowers. We cannot know how many Christians in countries of which are well known. Even as we make this reflection, occupied or ruled by the Nazi powers or their allies were “many human beings are still their brothers’ victims.”20 horrified at the disappearance of their Jewish neighbours V. Looking together to a common future and yet were not strong enough to raise their voices in protest. For Christians, this heavy burden of conscience Looking to the future of relations between Jews and Christians, in the first place we appeal to our Catholic 16 The wisdom of Pope Pius XII’s diplomacy was publicly acknowledged on brothers and sisters to renew the awareness of the Hebrew a number of occasions by representative Jewish Organizations and personalities. For example, on 7 September 1945, Dr. Joseph Nathan, who represented the roots of their faith. We ask them to keep in mind that Jesus Italian Hebrew Commission, stated: “Above all, we acknowledge the Supreme was a descendant of David; that the Virgin Mary and the Pontiff and the religious men and women who, executing the directives of the Apostles belonged to the Jewish people; that the Church Holy Father, recognized the persecuted as their brothers and, with effort and abnegation, hastened to help us, disregarding the terrible dangers to which they draws sustenance from the root of that good olive tree on were exposed” (L’Osservatore Romano, 8 September 1945, p. 2). On 21 Sep- to which have been grafted the wild olive branches of the tember of that same year, Pius XII received in audience Dr. A. Leo Kubowitzki, Gentiles (cf. Rom 11:17-24); that the Jews are our dearly Secretary General of the World Jewish Congress who came to present “to the beloved brothers, indeed in a certain sense they are “our Holy Father, in the name of the Union of Israelitic Communities, warmest thanks 21 for the efforts of the Catholic Church on behalf of Jews throughout Europe during elder brothers.” the War” (L’Osservatore Romano, 23 September 1945, p. 1). On Thursday, 29 17 Cf. Pope John Paul II, Address to the New Ambassador of the Federal November 1945, the Pope met about 80 representatives of Jewish refugees from Republic of Germany to the Holy See , 8 November 1990, 2: AAS 83 (1991), various concentration camps in Germany, who expressed “their great honour 587-588. at being able to thank the Holy Father personally for his generosity towards 18 Loc. cit., no. 4. those persecuted during the Nazi-Fascist period” (L’Osservatore Romano, 30 19 (19) Address to Jewish Leaders, Strasbourg, 9 October 1988, no. 8: November 1945, p. 1). In 1958, at the death of Pope Pius XII, Golda Meir sent an Insegnamenti 113, 1988, 1134 eloquent message: “We share in the grief of humanity. When fearful martyrdom 20 Pope John Paul II, Address to the Diplomatic Corps, 15 January 1994, came to our people, the voice of the Pope was raised for its victims. The life of 9: AAS 86 (1994), 816. our times was enriched by a voice speaking out about great moral truths above 21 Pope John Paul II, Speech at the Synagogue of Rome, 13 April 1986, 4: the tumult of daily conflict. We mourn a great servant of peace.” AAS 78 (1986), 1120

20 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 At the end of this Millennium the Catholic Church de- Lumen Gentium §16 sires to express her deep sorrow for the failures of her sons 16. Finally, those who have not yet received the Gospel and daughters in every age. This is an act of repentance are related in various ways to the people of God.(18*) In the (teshuva), since, as members of the Church, we are linked first place we must recall the people to whom the testament to the sins as well as the merits of all her children. The and the promises were given and from whom Christ was born Church approaches with deep respect and great compas- according to the flesh.(125) On account of their fathers, this sion the experience of extermination, the Shoah, suffered people remains most dear to God, for God does not repent of by the Jewish people during World War II. It is not a matter the gifts He makes nor of the calls He issues.(126) of mere words, but indeed of binding commitment. “We http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/docu- would risk causing the victims of the most atrocious deaths ments/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html to die again if we do not have an ardent desire for justice, if we do not commit ourselves to ensure that evil does not prevail over good as it did for millions of the children of Good Friday Prayer for the Jews the Jewish people ... Humanity cannot permit all that to Ordinary Form, 1970 happen again.”22 Let us pray for the Jewish people, the first to hear the word We pray that our sorrow for the tragedy which the of God, that they may continue to grow in the love of his Jewish people has suffered in our century will lead to a name and in faithfulness to his covenant. new relationship with the Jewish people. We wish to turn (Prayer in silence. Then the priest says:) awareness of past sins into a firm resolve to build a new future in which there will be no more anti-Judaism among Almighty and eternal God, long ago you gave your promise to Abraham and his posterity. Listen to your Church as we Christians or anti-Christian sentiment among Jews, but pray that the people you first made your own may arrive at rather a shared mutual respect, as befits those who adore the fullness of redemption. We ask this through Christ our the one Creator and Lord and have a common father in Lord. Amen. faith, Abraham. Finally, we invite all men and women of good will to Extraordinary Form, 2008 reflect deeply on the significance of the Shoah. The vic- (This is the prayer from the 1962 Missal as revised by Pope Benedict tims from their graves, and the survivors through the vivid XVI, and announced in L’Osservatore Romano on Feb. 6, 2008. ) testimony of what they have suffered, have become a loud Let us also pray for the Jews: That our God and Lord may voice calling the attention of all of humanity. To remember illuminate their hearts, that they acknowledge Jesus Christ this terrible experience is to become fully conscious of is the Savior of all men. the salutary warning it entails: the spoiled seeds of anti- (Let us pray. Kneel. Rise.) Judaism and anti-Semitism must never again be allowed Almighty and eternal God, who want that all men be saved to take root in any human heart. and come to the recognition of the truth, propitiously grant 16 March 1998. that even as the fullness of the peoples enters Thy Church, all Israel be saved. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen. Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Friday_prayer_for_the_Jews#1970_prayer President The Most Reverend Pierre Duprey Vice-President Catechism of the Catholic Church The Reverend Remi Hoeckman, O.P. §674 The glorious advent of Christ, the hope of Israel Secretary The glorious Messiah’s coming is suspended at every TYPIS VATICANIS MCMXCVIII moment of history until his recognition by “all Israel,” for a “hardening has come upon part of Israel” in their “unbelief” toward Jesus. 22 Pope John Paul II, Address on the occasion of a commemoration of the §839 The relation of the Church with the Jewish People Shoah, 7 April 1994, 3: Insegnamenti 171, 1994, 897 and 893. “When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People, ‘the first to hear the Word of God.’ The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God’s revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews ‘belong the sonship, the glory, the covenant, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ’, for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.”

21 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 Commission for Religious Relations With the Jews THE GIFTS AND THE CALLING OF GOD ARE IRREVOCABLE (Rom 11:29) A Reflection on Theological Questions Pertaining to Catholic–Jewish Relations on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate (No.4)

This document is found at http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/ enriching and intensifying the theological dimension of pontifical_councils/chrstuni/relations-jews-docs/rc_pc_chrs- Jewish–Catholic dialogue. tuni_doc_20151210_ebraismo-nostra-aetate_en.html 1. A brief history of the impact of “Nostra Aetate” 1. A brief history of the impact of “Nostra Aetate” (No. (No. 4) over the last 50 years 4) over the last 50 years 1. Nostra Aetate (No. 4) is rightly counted among those 2. The special theological status of Jewish-Catholic documents of the Second Vatican Council which have dialogue been able to effect, in a particularly strik- ing manner, a new direction of the Catholic 3. Revelation in history as “Word of Church since then. This shift in the rela- God” in Judaism and Christianity tions of the Church with the Jewish people 4. The relationship between the Old and Judaism becomes apparent only when and New Testament and the Old and we recall that there were previously great New Covenant reservations on both sides, in part because 5. The universality of salvation in the history of Christianity has been seen Jesus Christ and God’s unrevoked to be discriminatory against Jews, even covenant with Israel including attempts at forced conversion (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 248). The background 6. The Church’s mandate to evange- of this complex connection consists inter lize in relation to Judaism alia in an asymmetrical relationship: as a 7. The goals of dialogue with Judaism minority the Jews were often confronted by Preface and dependent upon a Christian majority. The dark and terrible shadow of the Shoah over Europe Fifty years ago, the declaration Nostra Aetate of the during the Nazi period led the Church to reflect anew on Second Vatican Council was promulgated. Its fourth article her bond with the Jewish people. presents the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people in a new theological framework. The 2. The fundamental esteem for Judaism expressed in following reflections aim at looking back with gratitude Nostra Aetate (No. 4), however, has enabled communities on all that has been achieved over the last decades in the that once faced one another with scepticism to become – Jewish–Catholic relationship, providing at the same time step by step over the years – reliable partners and even a new stimulus for the future. Stressing once again the good friends, capable of weathering crises together and unique status of this relationship within the wider ambit negotiating conflicts positively. Therefore, the fourth ar- of interreligious dialogue, theological questions are fur- ticle of Nostra Aetate is recognized as the solid foundation ther discussed, such as the relevance of revelation, the for improving the relationship between Catholics and Jews. relationship between the Old and the New Covenant, the 3. For the practical implementation of Nostra Aetate relationship between the universality of salvation in Jesus (No. 4), Blessed Pope Paul VI on 22 October 1974 es- Christ and the affirmation that the covenant of God with tablished the Commission for Religious Relations with Israel has never been revoked, and the Church’s mandate the Jews which, although organizationally attached to to evangelize in relation to Judaism. This document pres- the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, is ents Catholic reflections on these questions, placing them operationally independent and entrusted with the task in a theological context, in order that their significance of accompanying and fostering religious dialogue with may be deepened for members of both faith traditions. The Judaism. From a theological perspective, it also makes text is not a magisterial document or doctrinal teaching good sense to link this Commission with the Council for of the Catholic Church, but is a reflection prepared by Promoting Christian Unity, since the separation between the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews on Synagogue and Church may be viewed as the first and most current theological questions that have developed since far-reaching breach among the chosen people. the Second Vatican Council. It is intended to be a start- 4. Within a year of its foundation, the Holy See’s Com- ing point for further theological thought with a view to mission published its first official document on 1 Decem-

22 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 ber 1974, with the title “Guidelines and Suggestions for to play its necessary part in the process of shaping a future Implementing the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate (No. in which the unspeakable iniquity of the Shoah will never 4).” The crucial and new concern of this document consists again be possible.” in becoming acquainted with Judaism as it defines itself, 7. In the series of documents issued by the Holy See, giving expression to the high esteem in which Christian- reference must be made to the text published by the ity holds Judaism and stressing the great significance for Pontifical Biblical Commission on 24 May 2001, which the Catholic Church of dialogue with the Jews, as stated deals explicitly with Jewish-Catholic dialogue: The Jew- in the words of the document: “On the practical level in ish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian particular, Christians must therefore strive to acquire a Bible. This represents the most significant exegetical and better knowledge of the basic components of the religious theological document of the Jewish-Catholic dialogue tradition of Judaism: they must strive to learn by what and is a treasure-trove of common issues which have their essential traits the Jews define themselves in the light of basis in the Scriptures of Judaism and Christianity. The their own religious experience” (Preamble). On the basis of Sacred Scriptures of the Jewish people are considered the Church’s witness of faith in Jesus Christ, the document a “fundamental component of the Christian Bible,” the reflects upon the specific nature of the Church’s dialogue fundamental themes of the Holy Scripture of the Jewish with Judaism. Reference is made in the text to the roots people and their adoption into the faith in Christ are dis- of Christian liturgy in its Jewish matrix, new possibilities cussed, and the manner in which Jews are represented in are outlined for rapprochement in the spheres of teaching, the New Testament is illustrated in detail. education and training, and finally suggestions are made for joint social action. 8. Texts and documents, as important as they are, cannot replace personal encounters and face–to–face dialogues. 5. Eleven years later on 24 June 1985, the Holy See’s While under Blessed Pope Paul VI the first steps in Jew- Commission issued a second document entitled Notes ish–Catholic dialogue were undertaken, Saint Pope John on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and Judaism in Paul II succeeded in fostering and deepening this dialogue Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church. through compelling gestures towards the Jewish people. This document has a stronger theological-exegetical ori- He was the first pope to visit the former concentration entation insofar as it reflects on the relationship of the Old camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau to pray for the victims of the and New Testaments, delineates the Jewish roots of the Shoah, and he visited the Roman Synagogue to express his Christian faith, explicates the manner in which ‘the Jews’ solidarity with the Jewish community. In the context of an are represented in the New Testament, points out com- historical pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he was also a guest monalities in liturgy, above all in the great festivals of the of the state of Israel where he participated in interreligious Church year, and briefly focuses on the relationship of Ju- encounters, paid a visit to both Chief Rabbis, and prayed daism and Christianity in history. With regard to the “land at the Western Wall. Again and again he met with Jewish of the forefathers,” the document emphasizes: “Christians groups, whether in the Vatican or during his numerous are invited to understand this religious attachment which apostolic journeys. So too, Benedict XVI, even before finds its roots in Biblical tradition, without however mak- his election to the papacy, engaged in Jewish-Catholic ing their own any particular religious interpretation of this dialogue by offering in a series of lectures important theo- relationship. … The existence of the State of Israel and its logical reflections on the relationship between the Old and political options should be envisaged not in a perspective the New Covenant, and the Synagogue and the Church. which is in itself religious, but in their reference to the Following his election and in the footsteps of Saint Pope common principles of international law.” The permanence John Paul II, he fostered this dialogue in his own way by of Israel is, however, to be perceived as an “historic fact reinforcing the same gestures and giving expression to his and a sign to be interpreted within God’s design” (VI, 1). esteem for Judaism through the power of his words. As 6. A third document of the Commission for Religious Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Ber- Relations with the Jews was presented to the public on goglio was greatly committed to fostering Jewish-Catholic 16 March 1998. It deals with the Shoah under the title We dialogue and had many friends among the Jews of Argen- Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah. This text delivers tina. Now as Pope he continues, at the international level, the harsh but accurate judgement that the balance of the to intensify dialogue with Judaism through many friendly 2000–year relationship between Jews and Christians is encounters. One of his first such encounters was in May regrettably negative. It recalls the attitude of Christians 2014 in Israel, where he met with the two Chief Rabbis, towards the anti-Semitism of the National Socialists and visited the Western Wall, and prayed for the victims of the focuses on the duty of Christians to remember the human Shoah in Yad Vashem. catastrophe of the Shoah. In a letter at the beginning of this 9. Even before the establishment of the Holy See’s Com- declaration, Saint Pope John Paul II expresses his hope that mission, there were contacts and links with various Jewish this document will truly “help to heal the wounds of past organizations through the then-Secretariat for Promoting misunderstandings and injustices. May it enable memory

23 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 Christian Unity. Since Judaism is multi-facetted and not possible, such as on the sanctity of life, the status of the constituted as an organizational unity, the Catholic Church family, the significance of the Sacred Scriptures for life in was faced with the challenge of determining with whom society, religious freedom, the ethical foundations of hu- to engage, because it was not man behaviour, the ecological possible to conduct individual The International Jewish Committee challenge, the relationship of and independent bilateral dia- secular and religious authority, logues with all Jewish group- on Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) and the essential qualities of ings and organizations which is the official Jewish representative to the religious leadership in secu- had declared their readiness Holy See’s Commission for lar society. The fact that the to dialogue. To resolve this Catholic representatives taking problem, the Jewish organiza- Religious Relations with the Jews. part in the meetings are bishops tions took up the suggestion and priests and the Jewish rep- of the Catholic Church to establish a single organization resentatives almost exclusively rabbis permits individual for this dialogue. The International Jewish Committee on topics to be examined from a religious perspective as well. Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) is the official Jewish The dialogue with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel has to that representative to the Holy See’s Commission for Religious extent enabled more open relations between Orthodox Relations with the Jews. Judaism and the Catholic Church at a global level. After 10. The IJCIC began its work in 1970, and a year later each meeting, a joint declaration is published which in the first joint conference was organized in Paris. The con- each instance has testified to the richness of the common ferences which have been conducted regularly since are spiritual heritage of Judaism and Christianity and to what the responsibility of the entity known as the International valuable treasures are still to be unearthed. In reviewing Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee (ILC), and they shape over more than ten years of dialogue we can gratefully af- the collaboration between the IJCIC and the Holy See’s firm that a strong friendship has resulted which represents Commission. In February 2011, a firm foundation for the future. once more in Paris, the ILC was Beside the dialogue with the IJCIC, 12. The efforts of the Holy able to look back with gratitude on See’s Commission for Religious 40 years of institutional dialogue. we should also mention the Relations with the Jews cannot of Much has developed over the past institutional conversation with the course be restricted to these two 40 years; the former confrontation Chief Rabbinate of Israel ... institutional dialogues. The Com- has turned into successful coop- mission aims in fact at being open eration, the previous potential for conflict has become to all streams within Judaism and at maintaining contact positive conflict management, and the past co–existence with all Jewish groupings and organizations that wish to marked by tension has been replaced by resilient and establish links with the Holy See. The Jewish side shows fruitful mutuality. The bonds of friendship forged in the a particular interest in audiences with the Pope, which are meantime have proved to be stable, so that it has become in every instance prepared by the Commission. Besides possible to address even controversial subjects together direct contacts with Judaism, the Holy See’s Commission without the danger of permanent damage being done to also strives to provide opportunities within the Catholic the dialogue. This was all the more necessary because over Church for dialogue with Judaism and to work together the past decades the dialogue had not always been free of with individual Bishops’ Conferences to support them lo- tensions. In general, however, one can observe with ap- cally in promoting Jewish-Catholic dialogue. The introduc- preciation that in Jewish-Catholic dialogue since the new tion of the ‘Day of Judaism’ in some European countries millennium above all, intensive efforts have been made to is a good example of this. deal openly and positively with any arising differences of 13. Over the past decades, both the ‘dialogue ad extra’ opinion and conflicts, in such a way that mutual relations and the ‘dialogue ad intra’ have led with increasing clarity have become stronger. to the awareness that Christians and Jews are irrevocably 11. Beside the dialogue with the IJCIC, we should also inter-dependent, and that the dialogue between the two mention the institutional conversation with the Chief Rab- is not a matter of choice but of duty as far as theology is binate of Israel, which is clearly to be seen as a fruit of concerned. Jews and Christians can enrich one another in the encounter of Saint Pope John Paul II with both Chief mutual friendship. Without her Jewish roots, the Church Rabbis in Jerusalem during his visit to Israel in March would be in danger of losing its soteriological anchoring 2000. The first meeting was organized in June 2002 in Jeru- in salvation history and would slide into an ultimately salem, and since then such meetings have been conducted unhistorical Gnosis. Pope Francis states that “while it is annually, taking place in Rome and Jerusalem alternately. true that certain Christian beliefs are unacceptable to Juda- The two delegations are relatively small so that a very ism, and that the Church cannot refrain from proclaiming personal and intensive discussion on various subjects is Jesus as Lord and Messiah, there exists as well a rich

24 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 complementarity which allows us to read the texts of the Kingdom of God has come with himself as God’s repre- Hebrew Scriptures together and to help one another to sentative is beyond the horizon of Jewish expectation. The mine the riches of God’s word. We can also share many conflict between Jesus and the Jewish authorities of his ethical convictions and a common concern for justice and time is ultimately not a matter of an individual transgres- the development of peoples” Evangelii gaudium, 249). sion of the law, but of Jesus’ claim to be acting with divine authority. The figure of Jesus thus is and remains for Jews 2. The special theological status of the “stumbling block,” the central and neuralgic point in Jewish-Catholic dialogue Jewish-Catholic dialogue. From a theological perspective, 14. The dialogue with Judaism is for Christians some- Christians need to refer to the Judaism of Jesus’ time and thing quite special, since Christianity possesses Jewish to a degree also the Judaism that developed from it over roots which determine relations between the two in a the ages for their own self-understanding. Given Jesus’ unique way (cf. Evangelii gaudium, 247). In spite of the Jewish origins, coming to terms with Judaism in one way historical breach and the painful conflicts arising from it, or another is indispensable for Christians. Yet, the history the Church remains conscious of its enduring continuity of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity has with Israel. Judaism is not to be considered simply as also been mutually influenced over time. another religion; the Jews are instead our “elder brothers” 15. Dialogue between Jews and Christians then can only (Saint Pope John Paul II), our “fathers in faith” (Benedict be termed “interreligious dialogue” by analogy, that is, XVI). Jesus was a Jew, was at home in the Jewish tradition dialogue between two intrinsically separate and different of his time, and was decisively shaped by this religious religions. It is not the case that two fundamentally diverse milieu (cf. Ecclesia in Medio Oriente, 20). His first dis- religions confront one another after having developed ciples gathered around him had the same heritage and were independently of one another or without mutual influ- defined by the same Jewish tradition in their everyday ence. The soil that nurtured both Jews and Christians is life. In his unique relationship with his heavenly Father, the Judaism of Jesus’ time, which not only brought forth Jesus was intent above all on proclaiming the coming of Christianity but also, after the destruction of the temple in the Kingdom of God. “The time is fulfilled and the king- the year 70, post-biblical rabbinical Judaism which then dom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel” had to do without the sacrificial cult, and in its further (Mk 1:15). Within Judaism, there were many very different development, had to depend exclusively on prayer and the kinds of ideas regarding how the kingdom of God would interpretation of both written and oral divine revelation. be realized, and yet Jesus’ central message on the Kingdom Thus Jews and Christians have the same mother and can of God is in accordance with some Jewish thinking of his be seen, as it were, as two siblings who – as is the normal day. One cannot understand Jesus’ teaching or that of his course of events for siblings – have developed in different disciples without situating it within the Jewish horizon directions. The Scriptures of ancient Israel constitute an in the context of the living tradition of Israel; one would integral part of the Scriptures of both Judaism and Chris- understand his teachings even less so if they were seen tianity, understood by both as the word of God, revelation, in opposition to this tradition. In Jesus, not a few Jews of and salvation history. The first Christians were Jews; as a his time saw the coming of a “new Moses,” the promised matter of course they gathered as part of the community Christ (Messiah). But his coming nevertheless provoked in the Synagogue, they observed the dietary laws, the a drama with consequences still felt today. Fully and com- Sabbath, and the requirement of circumcision, while at the pletely human, a Jew of his time, descendant of Abraham, same time confessing Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah sent son of David, shaped by the whole tradition of Israel, heir by God for the salvation of Israel and the entire human of the prophets, Jesus stands in continuity with his people race. With Paul the “Jewish Jesus movement” definitively and its history. On the other hand he is, in the light of the opens up other horizons and transcends its purely Jewish Christian faith, himself God – the Son – and he transcends origins. Gradually his concept came to prevail, that is, that time, history, and every earthly reality. The community of a non-Jew did not have to become first a Jew in order to those who believe in him confesses his divinity (cf. Phil 2:6- confess Christ. In the early years of the Church, therefore, 11). In this sense, he is perceived to be in discontinuity with there were the so-called Jewish Christians and the Gentile the history that prepared his coming. From the perspective Christians, the ecclesia ex circumcisione and the ecclesia of the Christian faith, he fulfils the mission and expectation ex gentibus, one Church originating from Judaism, the of Israel in a perfect way. At the same time, however, he other from the Gentiles, who, however, together constituted overcomes and transcends them in an eschatological man- the one and only Church of Jesus Christ. ner. Herein consists the fundamental difference between 16. The separation of the Church from the Synagogue Judaism and Christianity, that is, how the figure of Jesus does not take place abruptly, however, and according to is to be evaluated. Jews are able to see Jesus as belonging some recent insights, may not have been complete until to their people, a Jewish teacher who felt himself called in well into the third or fourth centuries. This means that a particular way to preach the Kingdom of God. That this many Jewish Christians of the first period did not perceive

25 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 any contradiction between living in accordance with some and to encourage them to persevere by pointing to Christ aspects of the Jewish tradition and yet confessing Jesus as Jesus as the true and ultimate high priest, the mediator of the Christ. Only when the number of Gentile Christians the new covenant. This context is necessary to understand represented the majority, and within the Jewish community the Epistle’s contrast between the first purely earthly cov- the polemics regarding the figure of Jesus took on sharper enant and a second better (cf. Heb 8:7) and new covenant contours, did a definitive separation appear to be no longer (cf. 9:15, 12:24). The first covenant is defined as outdated, avoidable. Over time, the siblings Christianity and Juda- in decline and doomed to obsolescence (cf. 8:13), while ism increasingly grew apart, becoming hostile and even the second covenant is defined as everlasting (cf. 13:20). defaming one another. For Christians, Jews were often To establish the foundations of this contrast, the Epistle represented as damned by God and blind since they were refers to the promise of a new covenant in the Book of the unable to recognise in Jesus the Messiah and bearer of Prophet Jeremiah 31:31-34 (cf. Heb 8:8-12). This demon- salvation. For Jews, Christians were often seen as heretics strates that the Epistle to the Hebrews has no intention of who no longer followed the path originally laid down by proving the promises of the Old Covenant to be false, but God but who went their own way. It is not without reason on the contrary treats them as valid. The reference to the that in the Christianity is called “the Old Testament promises is intended to help Christians to way” (cf. Acts 9:2; 19:9,23; 24:14,22) in contrast to the Jewish be sure of their salvation in Christ. At issue in the Epistle Halacha which determined the interpretation of the law to the Hebrews is not the contrast of the Old and New for practical conduct. Over time Judaism and Christian- Covenants as we understand them today, nor a contrast ity became increasingly alienated from one another, even between the church and Judaism. Rather, the contrast is becoming involved in ruthless conflicts and accusing one between the eternal heavenly priesthood of Christ and the another of abandoning the path prescribed by God. transitory earthly priesthood. The fundamental issue in the 17. On the part of many of the Church Fathers, the so- Epistle to the Hebrews in the new situation is a Christologi- called replacement theory or supersessionism steadily cal interpretation of the New Covenant. For exactly this gained favour until in the Middle Ages it represented the reason, Nostra Aetate (No. 4) did not refer to the Epistle standard theological foundation of the relationship with to the Hebrews, but rather to Saint Paul’s reflections in his Judaism: the promises and commitments of God would no letter to the Romans 9–11. longer apply to Israel because it had not recognized Jesus 19. For an outside observer, the Conciliar Declaration as the Messiah and the Son of God, but had been trans- Nostra Aetate could give the impression that the text deals ferred to the Church of Jesus with the relations of the Catho- Christ which was now the true With its Declaration Nostra Aetate (No.4) lic Church with all world reli- ‘new Israel’, the new chosen the Church unequivocally professes, gions in a relationship based people of God. Arising from on parity, but the history of its the same soil, Judaism and within a new theological framework, development and the text itself Christianity in the centuries the Jewish roots of Christianity. point in a different direction. after their separation became Originally, Saint Pope John involved in a theological antagonism which was only to XXIII proposed that the Council should promulgate a Trac- be defused at the Second Vatican Council. With its Dec- tatus de Iudaeis, but in the end the decision was made to laration Nostra Aetate (No. 4), the Church unequivocally give consideration to all world religions in Nostra Aetate. professes, within a new theological framework, the Jewish However, the fourth article of this Conciliar Declaration roots of Christianity. While affirming salvation through an which deals with a new theological relationship with Juda- explicit or even implicit faith in Christ, the Church does not ism represents almost the heart of the document, in which question the continued love of God for the chosen people a place is also made for the Catholic Church’s relationship of Israel. A replacement or supersession theology which with other religions. The relationship with Judaism can in sets against one another two separate entities, a Church that sense be seen as the catalyst for the determination of of the Gentiles and the rejected Synagogue whose place the relationship with the other world religions. it takes, is deprived of its foundations. From an originally 20. Nevertheless, from the theological perspective the close relationship between Judaism and Christianity a dialogue with Judaism has a completely different character long-term state of tension had developed, which has been and is on a different level in comparison with the other gradually transformed after the Second Vatican Council world religions. The faith of the Jews testified to in the into a constructive dialogue relationship. Bible, found in the Old Testament, is not for Christians 18. There have often been attempts to identify this another religion but the foundation of their own faith, replacement theory in the Epistle to the Hebrews. This although clearly the figure of Jesus is the sole key for the Epistle, however, is not directed to the Jews but rather to Christian interpretation of the Scriptures of the Old Testa- the Christians of Jewish background who have become ment. The cornerstone of the Christian faith is Jesus (cf. weary and uncertain. Its purpose is to strengthen their faith Acts 4:11; 1 Pt 2:4–8). However, the dialogue with Judaism

26 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 occupies a unique position for Christians; Christianity is ultimate goal – the whole of humanity is gathered together by its roots connected with Judaism as with no other re- and led to him. ligion. Therefore the Jewish-Christian dialogue can only 23. The Church is called the new people of God (cf. Nostra with reservations be termed “interreligious dialogue” in Aetate, No. 4) but not in the sense that the people of God of the true sense of the expression; one could however speak Israel has ceased to exist. The Church “was prepared in of a kind of “intra-religious” or “intra–familial” dialogue a remarkable way throughout the history of the people of sui generis. In his address in the Roman Synagogue on 13 Israel and by means of the Old Covenant” (Lumen Gentium, April 1986 Saint Pope John Paul II expressed this situation 2). The Church does not replace the people of God of Israel, in these words: “The Jewish religion is not ‘extrinsic’ to since as the community founded on Christ it represents in us but in a certain way is ‘intrinsic’ to our own religion. him the fulfilment of the promises made to Israel. This With Judaism, therefore, we have a relationship which we does not mean that Israel, not having achieved such a do not have with any other religion. You are our dearly fulfilment, can no longer be considered to be the people beloved brothers, and in a certain way, it could be said that of God. “Although the Church is the new people of God, you are our elder brothers.” the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed 3. Revelation in history as “Word of God” in by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures” Judaism and Christianity (Nostra Aetate, No. 4). 24. God revealed himself in his Word, so that it may be 21. We find in the Old Testament God’s plan of salvation understood by humanity in actual historical situations. This presented for his people (cf. “Dei verbum”, 14). This plan of Word invites all people to respond. If their responses are in salvation is expressed in an enlightening way at the begin- accord with the Word of God, they stand in right relation- ning of biblical history in the call to Abraham (Gen 12ff). In ship with him. For Jews, this Word can be learned through order to reveal himself and speak to humankind, redeeming the Torah and the traditions based on it. The Torah is the it from sin and gathering it together as one people, God instruction for a successful life in right relationship with began by choosing the people of Israel through Abraham God. Whoever observes the Torah has life in its fullness (cf. and setting them apart. To them, God revealed himself Pirqe Avot II, 7). By observing the Torah, the Jew receives a gradually through his emissaries, his prophets, as the true share in communion with God. In this regard, Pope Fran- God, the only God, the living God, the redeeming God. cis has stated: “The Christian confessions find their unity This divine election was constitutive of the people of Israel. in Christ; Judaism finds its unity in the Torah. Christians Only after the first great intervention of the redeeming believe that Jesus Christ is the Word of God made flesh in God, the liberation from slavery in Egypt (cf. Ex 13:17ff), and the world; for Jews the Word of God is present above all the establishment of the covenant at Sinai (Ex 19ff) did the in the Torah. Both faith traditions find their foundation in twelve tribes truly become a nation and become conscious the One God, the God of the Covenant, who reveals him- of being the people of God, the bearers of his message self through his Word. In seeking a right attitude towards and his promises, witnesses of his merciful favour in the God, Christians turn to Christ as the fount of new life, and midst of the nations and also for the nations (cf. Is 26:1-9; Jews to the teaching of the Torah.” (Address to members of the 54; 60; 62). In order to instruct his people on how to fulfil International Council of Christians and Jews, 30 June 2015). their mission and how to pass on the revelation entrusted to them, God gave Israel the law which defines how they 25. Judaism and the Christian faith as seen in the New are to live (cf. Ex 20; Deut 5), and which distinguishes them Testament are two ways by which God’s people can make from other peoples. the Sacred Scriptures of Israel their own. The Scriptures which Christians call the Old Testament is open therefore 22. Like the Church itself even in our own day, Israel to both ways. A response to God’s word of salvation that bears the treasure of its election in fragile vessels. The accords with one or the other tradition can thus open up relationship of Israel with its Lord is the story of its faith- access to God, even if it is left up to his counsel of salvation fulness and its unfaithfulness. In order to fulfil his work to determine in what way he may intend to save mankind of salvation despite the smallness and weakness of the in each instance. That his will for salvation is universally instruments he chose, God manifested his mercy and the directed is testified by the Scriptures (cf. eg. Gen 12:1-3; Is graciousness of his gifts, as well as his faithfulness to his 2:2-5; 1 Tim 2:4). Therefore there are not two paths to salva- promises which no human infidelity can nullify (cf. Rom tion according to the expression “Jews hold to the Torah, 3:3; 2 Tim 2:13). At every step of his people along the way, Christians hold to Christ.” Christian faith proclaims that God set apart at least a “small number” (cf. Deut 4:27), a Christ’s work of salvation is universal and involves all “remnant” (cf. Is 1:9; Zeph 3:12; cf. also Is 6:13; 17:5-6), a hand- mankind. God’s word is one single and undivided reality ful of the faithful who “have not bowed the knee to Baal” which takes concrete form in each respective historical (cf. 1 Kings 19:18). Through this remnant, God realized his context. plan of salvation. Constantly, the object of his election and love remained the chosen people, as through them – as the 26. In this sense, Christians affirm that Jesus Christ can

27 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 be considered as “the living Torah of God.” Torah and monies of divine revelation. With the existence of the Old Christ are the Word of God, his revelation for us human Testament as an integral part of the one Christian Bible, beings as testimony of his boundless love. For Christians, there is a deeply rooted sense of intrinsic kinship between the pre-existence of Christ as the Word and Son of the Judaism and Christianity. The roots of Christianity lie Father is a fundamental doctrine, and according to rab- in the Old Testament, and Christianity constantly draws binical tradition, the Torah and the name of the Messiah nourishment from these roots. However, Christianity is exist already before creation (cf. Genesis Rabbah 1,1). Further, grounded in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who is rec- according to Jewish understanding, God himself interprets ognized as the Messiah promised to the Jewish people, and the Torah in the Eschaton, while in Christian understanding as the only begotten Son of God who has communicated everything is recapitulated in Christ in the end (cf. Eph 1:10; himself through the Holy Spirit following his death on the Col 1:20). In the gospel of Matthew, Christ is seen as it were cross and his resurrection. With the existence of the New as the “new Moses.” Matthew 5:17–19 presents Jesus as Testament, the question naturally arose quite soon of how the authoritative and authentic interpreter of the Torah (cf. the two testaments are related to one another, whether for Lk 24:27, 45–47). In the rabbinical literature, however, we example the New Testament writings have not superseded find the identification of the Torah with Moses. Against this the older writings and nullified them. This position was background, Christ as the ‘new Moses’ can be connected represented by Marcion, who in the second century held with the Torah. Torah and Christ are the locus of the pres- that the New Testament had made the Old Testament book ence of God in the world as this presence is experienced in of promises obsolete, destined to fade away in the glow of the respective worship communities. The Hebrew dabar the new, just as one no longer needs the light of the moon as means word and event at the same time – and thus one soon as the sun has risen. This stark antithesis between the may reach the conclusion that the word of the Torah may Hebrew and the Christian Bible never became an official be open for the Christ event. doctrine of the Christian Church. By excluding Marcion from the Christian community in 144, the Church rejected 4. The relationship between the Old and New his concept of a purely “Christian” Bible purged of all Old Testament and the Old and New Covenant Testament elements, bore witness to its faith in the one and 27. The covenant that God has offered Israel is irrevo- only God who is the author of both testaments, and thus cable. “God is not man, that he should lie” (Num 23:19; cf. 2 held fast to the unity of both testaments, the “concordia Tim 2:13). The permanent elective fidelity of God expressed testamentorum.” in earlier covenants is never repudiated (cf. Rom 9:4; 11:1–2). 29. This is of course only one side of the relationship The New Covenant does not revoke the earlier covenants, between the two testaments. The common patrimony of but it brings them to fulfillment. Through the Christ event, the Old Testament not only formed the fundamental basis Christians have understood that all that had gone before of a spiritual kinship between Jews and Christians but also was to be interpreted anew. For Christians, the New Cov- brought with it a basic tension in the relationship of the two enant has acquired a quality of its own, even though the faith communities. This is demonstrated by the fact that orientation for both consists in a unique relationship with Christians read the Old Testament in the light of the New, God (cf. for example, the covenant formula in Lev 26:12, “I will be in the conviction expressed by Augustine in the indelible your God and you will be my people”). For Christians, the New formula: “In the Old Testament the New is concealed and Covenant in Christ is the culminating point of the promises in the New the Old is revealed” (Quaestiones in Heptateuchum of salvation of the Old Covenant, and is to that extent never 2, 73). Pope Gregory the Great also spoke in the same sense independent of it. The New Covenant is grounded in and when he defined the Old Testament as “the prophecy of based on the Old, because it is ultimately the God of Israel the New” and the latter as the “best exposition of the Old” who concludes the Old Covenant with his people Israel (Homiliae in Ezechielem I, VI, 15; cf. Dei Verbum, 16). and enables the New Covenant in Jesus Christ. Jesus lives 30. This Christological exegesis can easily give rise to during the period of the Old Covenant, but in his work the impression that Christians consider the New Testament of salvation in the New Covenant confirms and perfects not only as the fulfilment of the Old but at the same time as the dimensions of the Old. The term covenant, therefore, a replacement for it. That this impression cannot be correct means a relationship with God that takes effect in differ- is evident already from the fact that Judaism, too, found ent ways for Jews and Christians. The New Covenant can itself compelled to adopt a new reading of Scripture after never replace the Old but presupposes it and gives it a new the catastrophe of the destruction of the Second Temple dimension of meaning, by reinforcing the personal nature in the year 70. Since the Sadducees who were bound to of God as revealed in the Old Covenant and establishing the temple did not survive this catastrophe, the rabbis, fol- it as openness for all who respond faithfully from all the lowing in the footsteps of the Pharisees, who had already nations (cf. Zech 8:20-23; Psalm 87). developed their particular mode of reading and interpreting 28. Unity and difference between Judaism and Christi- Scripture, now did so without the temple as the centre of anity come to the fore in the first instance with the testi- Jewish religious devotion.

28 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 31. As a consequence, there were two responses to this definitive and unsurpassable locus of the salvific action situation, or more precisely, two new ways of reading of God. This, however, does not mean that Israel as the Scripture, namely the Christological exegesis of the Chris- people of God has been repudiated or has lost its mission tians and the rabbinical exegesis of that form of Judaism (cf. Nostra Aetate, No. 4). The New Covenant for Christians that developed historically. Since each mode involved a is therefore neither the annulment nor the replacement, new interpretation of Scripture, the crucial new question but the fulfillment of the promises of the Old Covenant. must be precisely how these two 33. For Jewish-Christian dia- modes are related to each other. The New Covenant for Christians logue in the first instance, God’s But since the Christian Church is therefore neither the covenant with Abraham proves to and post-biblical rabbinical Ju- be constitutive, as he is not only daism developed in parallel, but annulment nor the replacement, the father of Israel but also the also in opposition and mutual but the fulfillment of the promises father of the faith of Christians. ignorance, this question cannot of the Old Covenant. In this covenant community, it be answered from the New Tes- should be evident for Christians tament alone. After centuries of that the covenant that God con- opposing positions, it has been the duty of Jewish-Catholic cluded with Israel has never been revoked but remains dialogue to bring these two new ways of reading the Bib- valid on the basis of God’s unfailing faithfulness to his lical writings into dialogue with one another in order to people, and consequently the New Covenant which Chris- perceive the “rich complementarity” where it exists and tians believe in can only be understood as the affirmation “to help one another to mine the riches of God’s word” and fulfilment of the Old. Christians are therefore also (Evangelii Gaudium, 249). The document of the Pontifical convinced that through the New Covenant the Abrahamic Biblical Commission The Jewish People and Their Sacred covenant has obtained that universality for all peoples Scriptures in the Christian Bible in 2001 therefore stated which was originally intended in the call of Abram (cf. that Christians can and must admit “that the Jewish read- Gen 12:1-3). This recourse to the Abrahamic covenant is ing of the Bible is a possible one, in continuity with the so essentially constitutive of the Christian faith that the Jewish Scriptures from the Second Temple period, a read- Church without Israel would be in danger of losing its ing analogous to the Christian reading which developed locus in the history of salvation. By the same token, Jews in parallel fashion.” It then draws the conclusion: “Both could with regard to the Abrahamic covenant arrive at the readings are bound up with the vision of their respective insight that Israel without the Church would be in danger faiths, of which the readings are the result and expression. of remaining too particularist and of failing to grasp the Consequently, both are irreducible” (No. 22). universality of its experience of God. In this fundamental 32. Since each of the two readings serves the purpose sense, Israel and the Church remain bound to each other of rightly understanding God’s will and word, it becomes according to the covenant and are interdependent. evident how important is the awareness that the Christian 34. That there can only be one history of God’s cov- faith is rooted in the faith of Abraham. That raises the enant with mankind, and that consequently Israel is God’s further question of how the Old and the New Covenant chosen and beloved people of the covenant which has stand in relation to one another. For the Christian faith it is never been repealed or revoked (cf. Rom 9:4; 11:29), is the axiomatic that there can only be one single covenant his- conviction behind the Apostle Paul’s passionate struggle tory of God with humanity. The covenant with Abraham, with the dual fact that while the Old Covenant from God with circumcision as its sign (cf. Gen 17), and the covenant continues to be in force, Israel has not adopted the New with Moses restricted to Israel regarding obedience to the Covenant. In order to do justice to both facts, Paul coined law (cf. Ex 19:5; 24:7-8) and in particular the observance of the the expressive image of the root of Israel into which the Sabbath (cf. Ex 31:16-17), had been extended in the covenant wild branches of the Gentiles have been grafted (cf. Rom with Noah, with the rainbow as its sign (cf. Verbum Domini, 11:16-21). One could say that Jesus Christ bears in himself 117), to the whole of creation (cf. Gen 9:9 ff). Through the the living root of the “green olive tree”, and yet in a deeper prophets, God in turn promises a new and eternal covenant meaning that the whole promise has its root in him (cf. Jn (cf. Is 55:3; 61:8; Jer 31:31-34; Ez 36:22-28). Each of these cov- 8:58). This image represents for Paul the decisive key to enants incorporates the previous covenant and interprets it thinking of the relationship between Israel and the Church in a new way. That is also true for the New Covenant which in the light of faith. With this image Paul gives expres- for Christians is the final eternal covenant and therefore sion to the duality of the unity and divergence of Israel the definitive interpretation of what was promised by the and the Church. On the one hand, the image is to be taken prophets of the Old Covenant, or as Paul expresses it, the seriously in the sense that the grafted wild branches have “Yes” and “Amen” to “all that God has promised” (2 Cor not their origin as branches in the plant onto which they 1:20). The Church as the renewed people of God has been are grafted, and their new situation represents a new real- elected by God without conditions. The Church is the ity and a new dimension of God’s work of salvation, so

29 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 that the Christian Church cannot merely be understood unfathomable divine mystery. It is therefore no accident as a branch or a fruit of Israel (cf. Mt 8:10-13). On the other that Paul’s soteriological reflections in Romans 9-11 on the hand, the image is also to be taken seriously in the sense irrevocable redemption of Israel against the background of that the Church draws nourishment and strength from the the Christ-mystery culminate in a magnificent doxology: root of Israel, and that the grafted branches would wither “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge or even die if they were cut off from the root of Israel (cf. of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how un- Ecclesia in Medio Oriente, 21). searchable his ways” (Rom 11:33). Bernard of Clairvaux (De cons. III/I,3) says that for the Jews “a determined point in 5. The universality of salvation in Jesus Christ time has been fixed which cannot be anticipated.” and God’s unrevoked covenant with Israel 37. Another focus for Catholics must continue to be the 35. Since God has never revoked his covenant with his highly complex theological question of how Christian people Israel, there cannot be different paths or approaches belief in the universal salvific significance of Jesus Christ to God’s salvation. The theory that there may be two dif- can be combined in a coherent way with the equally clear ferent paths to salvation, the Jewish path without Christ statement of faith in the never-revoked covenant of God and the path with the Christ, whom Christians believe is with Israel. It is the belief of the Church that Christ is the Jesus of Nazareth, would in fact endanger the foundations Saviour for all. There cannot be two ways of salvation, of Christian faith. Confessing the universal and therefore therefore, since Christ is also the Redeemer of the Jews in also exclusive mediation of salvation through Jesus Christ addition to the Gentiles. Here we confront the mystery of belongs to the core of Christian faith. So, too, does the God’s work, which is not a matter of missionary efforts to confession of the one God, the God of Israel, who through convert Jews, but rather the expectation that the Lord will his revelation in Jesus Christ has become totally manifest bring about the hour when we will all be united, “when all as the God of all peoples, insofar as in him the promise peoples will call on God with one voice and ‘serve him has been fulfilled that all peoples will pray to the God of shoulder to shoulder’” (Nostra Aetate, No. 4). Israel as the one God (cf. Is 56:1-8). The document Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and Judaism in 38. The Declaration of the Second Vatican Council on Judaism, that is the fourth article of Nostra Aetate, is Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church, located within a decidedly theological framework regard- published by the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Re- ing the universality of salvation in Jesus Christ and God’s lations with the Jews in 1985, therefore maintained that the unrevoked covenant with Israel. That does not mean that Church and Judaism cannot be represented as “two parallel all theological questions which arise in the relationship of ways to salvation,” but that the Church must “witness to Christianity and Judaism were resolved in the text. These Christ as the Redeemer for all” (No.I, 7). The Christian faith questions were introduced in the Declaration, but require confesses that God wants to lead all people to salvation, further theological reflection. Of course, there had been that Jesus Christ is the universal mediator of salvation, earlier magisterial texts which focussed on Judaism, but and that there is no “other name under heaven given to Nostra Aetate (No. 4) provides the first theological over- the human race by which we are to be saved” (Acts 4:12). view of the relationship of the Catholic Church to the Jews. 36. From the Christian confession that there can be only 39. Because it was such a theological breakthrough, the one path to salvation, however, it does not in any way Conciliar text is not infrequently over–interpreted, and follow that the Jews are excluded from God’s salvation things are read into it which it does not in fact contain. because they do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah An important example of over–interpretation would be of Israel and the Son of God. Such a claim would find no the following: that the covenant that God made with his support in the soteriological understanding of Saint Paul, people Israel perdures and is never invalidated. Although who in the Letter to the Romans not only gives expression this statement is true, it cannot be explicitly read into to his conviction that there can be no breach in the history Nostra Aetate (No. 4). This statement was instead first of salvation, but that salvation comes from the Jews (cf. also made with full clarity by Saint Pope John Paul II when Jn 4:22). God entrusted Israel with a unique mission, and he said during a meeting with Jewish representatives in He does not bring his mysterious plan of salvation for all Mainz on 17 November 1980 that the Old Covenant had peoples (cf. 1 Tim 2:4) to fulfilment without drawing into it never been revoked by God: “The first dimension of this his “first-born son” (Ex 4:22). From this it is self-evident dialogue, that is, the meeting between the people of God that Paul in the Letter to the Romans definitively negates of the Old Covenant, never revoked by God … and that of the question he himself has posed, whether God has re- the New Covenant, is at the same time a dialogue within pudiated his own people. Just as decisively he asserts: our Church, that is to say, between the first and the second “For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Rom part of her Bible” (No. 3). The same conviction is stated 11:29). That the Jews are participants in God’s salvation is also in the Catechism of the Church in 1993: “The Old theologically unquestionable, but how that can be possible Covenant has never been revoked” (121). without confessing Christ explicitly, is and remains an

30 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 6. The Church’s mandate to evangelize in relation proclaim the historical realization of God’s universal will to Judaism for salvation in Christ Jesus (cf. Ad Gentes, 7). They experi- 40. It is easy to understand that the so–called “mission to ence his sacramental presence in the liturgy and make it the Jews” is a very delicate and sensitive matter for Jews tangible in their service to others, especially those in need. because, in their eyes, it involves the very existence of the 43. It is and remains a qualitative definition of the Church Jewish people. This question also proves to be awkward for of the New Covenant that it consists of Jews and Gentiles, Christians, because for them even if the quantitative pro- the universal salvific sig- It is easy to understand that the so–called portions of Jewish and Gen- nificance of Jesus Christ and tile Christians may initially consequently the universal “mission to the Jews” is a very delicate give a different impression. mission of the Church are of and sensitive matter for Jews Just as after the death and fundamental importance. The because, in their eyes, it involves the resurrection of Jesus Christ Church is therefore obliged there were not two unrelated to view evangelization to very existence of the Jewish people. covenants, so too the people Jews, who believe in the one of the covenant of Israel are God, in a different manner from that to people of other not disconnected from “the people of God drawn from religions and world views. In concrete terms this means the Gentiles.” Rather, the enduring role of the covenant that the Catholic Church neither conducts nor supports people of Israel in God’s plan of salvation is to relate any specific institutional mission work directed towards dynamically to the “people of God of Jews and Gentiles, Jews. While there is a principled rejection of an institu- united in Christ,” he whom the Church confesses as the tional Jewish mission, Christians are nonetheless called universal mediator of creation and salvation. In the context to bear witness to their faith in Jesus Christ also to Jews, of God’s universal will of salvation, all people who have although they should do so in a humble and sensitive man- not yet received the gospel are aligned with the people of ner, acknowledging that Jews are bearers of God’s Word, God of the New Covenant. “In the first place there is the and particularly in view of the great tragedy of the Shoah. people to whom the covenants and promises were given 41. The concept of mission must be presented correctly and from whom Christ was born according to the flesh (cf. in dialogue between Jews and Christians. Christian mission Rom 9:4-5). On account of their fathers this people remains has its origin in the sending of most dear to God, for he Jesus by the Father. He gives While there is a principled rejection of an does not repent of the gifts he makes nor of the calls he his disciples a share in this call institutional Jewish mission, Christians in relation to God’s people of issues (cf. Rom 11:28-29)” Israel (cf. Mt 10:6) and then as are nonetheless called to bear witness to (Lumen Gentium, 16). the risen Lord with regard to their faith in Jesus Christ also to Jews, 7. The goals of dialogue all nations (cf. Mt 28:19). Thus with Judaism the people of God attains although they should do so in a humble a new dimension through and sensitive manner, acknowledging 44. The first goal of the Jesus, who calls his Church dialogue is to add depth to the from both Jews and Gentiles that Jews are bearers of God’s Word, reciprocal knowledge of Jews (cf. Eph 2:11-22) on the basis of and particularly in view of the and Christians. One can only faith in Christ and by means of great tragedy of the Shoah. learn to love what one has baptism, through which there gradually come to know, and is incorporation into his Body one can only know truly and which is the Church (Lumen Gentium, 14). profoundly what one loves. This profound knowledge is accompanied by a mutual enrichment whereby the dialogue 42. Christian mission and witness, in personal life and partners become the recipients of gifts. The Conciliar in proclamation, belong together. The principle that Jesus declaration Nostra Aetate (No. 4) speaks of the rich spiri- gives his disciples when he sends them out is to suffer tual patrimony that should be further discovered step by violence rather than to inflict violence. Christians must step through biblical and theological studies and through put their trust in God, who will carry out his universal dialogue. To that extent, from the Christian perspective, plan of salvation in ways that only he knows, for they are an important goal is the mining of the spiritual treasures witnesses to Christ, but they do not themselves have to concealed in Judaism for Christians. In this regard, one implement the salvation of humankind. Zeal for the “house must mention above all the interpretation of the Sacred of the Lord” and confident trust in the victorious deeds Scriptures. In the foreword by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of God belong together. Christian mission means that all to the 2001 document of the Pontifical Biblical Commis- Christians, in community with the Church, confess and sion The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the

31 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016 Christian Bible, the respect of Christians for the Jewish obliged to do all that is possible with our Jewish friends interpretation of the Old Testament is stressed. It high- to repel anti-Semitic tendencies. Pope Francis has repeat- lights that “Christians can learn a great deal from a Jewish edly stressed that a Christian can never be an anti-Semite, exegesis practised for more than 2000 years; in return, especially because of the Jewish roots of Christianity. Christians may hope that Jews can profit from Christian 48. Justice and peace, however, should not simply be exegetical research.” In the field of exegesis many Jewish abstractions within dialogue, but should also be evidenced and Christian scholars now work together and find their in tangible ways. The social-charitable sphere provides a collaboration mutually fruitful precisely because they rich field of activity, since both Jewish and Christian ethics belong to different religious traditions. include the imperative to support the poor, disadvantaged, 45. This reciprocal acquiring of knowledge must not and sick. Thus, for example, the Holy See’s Commission be limited to specialists alone. Therefore, it is important for Religious Relations with the Jews and the International that Catholic educational institutions, particularly in the Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) training of priests, integrate into their curricula both Nos- worked together in 2004 in during the financial tra Aetate and the subsequent documents of the Holy See crisis in that country to organise joint soup kitchens for regarding the implementation of the Conciliar declaration. the poor and homeless, and to enable impoverished chil- The Church is also grateful for the analogous efforts within dren to attend school by providing meals for them. Most the Jewish community. The fundamental changes in rela- Christian churches have large charitable organizations, tions between Christians and Jews which were initiated which likewise exist within Judaism. These would be by Nostra Aetate (No. 4) must also be made known to the able to work together to alleviate human need. Judaism coming generations and be received and disseminated by teaches that the commandment “to walk in His ways” them. (Deut 11:22) requires the imitation of the Divine Attributes 46. One important goal of Jewish-Christian dialogue (Imitatio Dei) through care for the vulnerable, the poor and certainly consists in joint engagement throughout the world the suffering (Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 14a). This principle for justice, peace, conservation of creation, and reconcili- accords with Jesus’ instruction to support those in need (cf. ation. In the past, it may have been that the different reli- eg. Mt 25:35–46). Jews and Christians cannot simply accept gions – against the background of a narrowly understood poverty and human suffering; rather they must strive to claim to truth and a corresponding intolerance – contrib- overcome these problems. uted to the incitement of conflict and confrontation. But 49. When Jews and Christians make a joint contribution today, religions should not be part of the problem, but part through concrete humanitarian aid for justice and peace of the solution. Only when religions engage in a success- in the world, they bear witness to the loving care of God. ful dialogue with one another, and in that way contribute No longer in confrontational opposition but cooperating towards world peace, can this be realized also on the social side by side, Jews and Christians should seek to strive for and political levels. Religious freedom guaranteed by civil a better world. Saint Pope John Paul II called for such authority is the prerequisite for such dialogue and peace. cooperation in his address to the Central Council of Ger- In this regard, the litmus-test is how religious minorities man Jewry and to the Conference of Rabbis in Mainz on are treated, and which rights of theirs are guaranteed. In 17 November 1980: “Jews and Christians, as children of Jewish-Christian dialogue the situation of Christian com- Abraham, are called to be a blessing for the world … , munities in the state of Israel is of great relevance, since by committing themselves together for peace and justice there – as nowhere else in the world – a Christian minority among all men and peoples, with the fullness and depth faces a Jewish majority. Peace in the Holy Land – lacking that God himself intended us to have, and with the readi- and constantly prayed for – plays a major role in dialogue ness for sacrifices that this goal may demand.” between Jews and Christians. 47. Another important goal of Jewish–Catholic dialogue 10 December 2015 consists in jointly combatting all manifestations of racial discrimination against Jews and all forms of anti-Sem- Cardinal Kurt Koch itism, which have certainly not yet been eradicated and President re-emerge in different ways in various contexts. History teaches us where even the slightest perceptible forms of The Most Reverend Brian Farrell anti-Semitism can lead: the human tragedy of the Shoah Vice–President in which two-thirds of European Jewry were annihilated. Both faith traditions are called to maintain together an The Reverend Norbert Hofmann, SDB unceasing vigilance and sensitivity in the social sphere as Secretary well. Because of the strong bond of friendship between Jews and Catholics, the Catholic Church feels particularly

32 The Hebrew Catholic, No. 100, Summer 2016