LWF Documentation DOC 48 A Shift in Jewish-Lutheran Relations? A Shift in Jewish-Lutheran Relations? The Lutheran World Federation 150, rte de Ferney CH-1211 Geneva 2 ISSN No. 0174-1756 Documentation No. 48/03 Switzerland ISBN No. 3-905676-00-1 The Lutheran World Federation LWF LWF A Shift in Jewish-Lutheran Relations? A Lutheran contribution to Christian-Jewish dialogue with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Judaism today Documentation No. 48 January 2003 Edited by Wolfgang Greive and Peter N. Prove on behalf of The Lutheran World Federation Department for Theology and Studies Office for Theology and the Church A Shift in Jewish-Lutheran Relations? LWF Documentation 48, January 2003 Editorial assistance: Iris J. Benesch Design: Stéphane Gallay, LWF-OCS Published by: The Lutheran World Federation 150, rte de Ferney P.O. Box 2100 CH-1211 Geneva 2 Switzerland © 2003, The Lutheran World Federation Printed in Switzerland by ATAR ROTO PRESSE S.A. ISSN 0174-1756 ISBN 3-905676-00-1 4 LWF Documentation No. 48 Contents Introduction 11 ........ A Long Road: Turning Points Wolfgang Greive 17 ........ Jews and Christians—Past, Present and the Prospects for the Future: The View of a Hungarian Jew Tamás Lichtmann Antimemitism and Anti-Judaism Today 25 ........ Antisemitism and Anti-Judaism Today: A Human Rights Perspective Peter N. Prove 29 ........ Antisemitism and the Struggle for Human Rights Jean Halpérin 33 ........ Some Reflections on the Theme Antisemitism and Anti-Judaism Hans Ucko Christology without Anti-Judaism? 41 ........ Anti-Judaism: A Core Problem of Christian Theology Leon Klenicki 69 ........ Anti-Judaism – A Problem for New Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Historical Perspective Wolfgang Kraus A Shift in Christian and Jewish Relations? 89 ........ Starting Points in the Encounter between Christianity and Judaism Anni Maria Laato LWF Documentation No. 48 5 A Shift in Jewish-Lutheran Relations? 93 ........ Following the Spirit of Dialogue Evelyn Adunka 95 ........ Religion, Power and Dialogue Abraham Skorka 101 ...... A New Era in Lutheran-Jewish Relations? Peter Pettit Facing Antisemitism and Anti-Judaism Today: Country Reports 107 ...... Argentina Ricardo Pietrantonio and Abraham Skorka 109 ...... Australia John Levi and David G. Stolz 111 ...... Austria Evelyn Adunka 115 ...... Austria Othmar Göring 117 ...... Bavaria, Germany Heinrich Bauer 119 ...... Bavaria, Germany Abi Pitum 123 ...... Brazil Michel Schlesinger and Rolf Schünemann 125 ...... Canada Glen Nelson 129 ...... Finland Gideon Bolotovsky and Anni Maria Laato 133 ...... France René Gutman 6 LWF Documentation No. 48 135 ...... Hanover, Germany Wolfgang Raupach-Rudnick 139 ...... Hungary Steven Doman 141 ...... Hungary Imre Szebik 143 ...... Israel Deborah Weissman 147 ...... Italy Jürg Kleemann 151 ...... Italy Amos Luzzatto 153 ...... The Netherlands Judith Frishman and Willy Metzger 157 ...... Palestine Mitri Raheb 159 ...... Poland Stanislaw Krajewski 161 ...... Poland Zbigniew Paszta 163 ...... Russia Vadim G. Katselnik 167 ...... Saxony, Germany Matthias Werner 169 ...... Slovakia Juraj Bándy 171 ...... Slovakia Tómas Lang LWF Documentation No. 48 7 A Shift in Jewish-Lutheran Relations? 175 ...... South Africa Newton Brandt and Paddy Meskin 181 ...... Sweden Morton H. Narrowe 183 ...... Sweden Jesper Svartvik 185 ...... United States of America Judith Banki and Peter A. Pettit Statements 195 ...... Statements from the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Consultation, Stockholm, 1983 199 ...... Report of the Assembly Committee on the Church and the Jewish People, 1984 201 ...... Antisemitism and Anti-Judaism Today. A Contribution to the Jewish-Christian Dialogue: A Consultation of the Lutheran World Federation, Dobogokö, Hungary, 2001 205 ...... A Letter from the Consultation 209 ...... List of Contributors 8 LWF Documentation No. 48 Introduction LWF Documentation No. 48 9 A Shift in Jewish-Lutheran Relations? 10 LWF Documentation No. 48 Introduction A Long Road: Turning Points Wolfgang Greive The essays and country reports included in this publication were first presented at an international consultation of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) at Dobogókö, near Budapest, 9–13 September 2001. They evince a turning point in Jewish-Lutheran dialogue at the global level. The consultation brought together engaged Jews and Lutherans, men and women, from all continents in mutual witness. For the first time, the very diverse experiences and dialogues between representatives of the Lutheran churches and their dialogue partners from the Jewish communities were exchanged, as those involved reported and discussed on the basis of their personal relationships.1 The worldwide perspective made it possible to overcome the usual Western European and North American domi- nance in such conversations. The presence of Dr Gerhard Riegner, former general secretary of the World Jewish Congress, at the 1984 Assembly of the LWF at Budapest led to a new focus on this relationship. It signaled a new start in the dialogue between Jews and Lutherans at the global level, following the tragedy of the Shoah and the lamen- table effects of Luther’s anti-Jewish writings. Riegner’s address to and the recom- mendations of the 1984 Assembly were milestones in Jewish-Lutheran relations. On the basis of conversations held at Copenhagen (1981) and Stockholm (1983), both sides declared jointly, “We affirm the integrity and dignity of both our faith communities.” “We pledge to combat all forms of radical [racial] prejudice ….”2 The work at Budapest prepared the way “for an ending of the justifiable bitter- ness and defensiveness that have plagued Lutheran-Jewish relations.”3 For many Budapest was a breakthrough. The September 2001 consultation was a manifesta- tion of this breakthrough and an exhortation not to forget those common commit- ments. The nature of the contributions and the common experience of prayer in 1 Four of the reports could not be presented personally, including Mitri Raheb’s who was not granted an exit visa from Israel. 2 “In Christ – Hope for the World,” Proceedings of the Seventh Assembly, LWF Report No.19/20 (Geneva: The Lutheran World Federation, 1985), p. 259. 3 From Dar es Salaam to Budapest 1977-1984, LWF Report No.17/18 (Geneva: The Lutheran World Federation, 1984), p. 267. LWF Documentation No. 48 11 A Shift in Jewish-Lutheran Relations? the aftermath of the terrible terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11 (cf. Statement) made this consultation an expression of the turning point which the Assembly had seen as its aim. It is impossible for this book to do justice to the intensity of what was experienced at the consultation. A special challenge for Lutherans Jewish-Lutheran dialogue is an integral part of Christian-Jewish dialogue since it deals with fundamental issues pertaining to coexistence and inter-relation- ships in the light of Christian hostility towards the Jews. Nonetheless, at Budapest Gerhard Riegner expressly underlined the necessity of conducting conversa- tions specifically between Lutherans and Jews. Lutherans are aware of their special responsibility for this dialogue since the Reformer, Martin Luther, called for Jewish schools and synagogues to be destroyed “so that God will see that we are Christians”. “Away with the rabbis!” Their teaching is “the work of the devil” (Of the Jews and their lies, 1543, WA 53). If, as Albert H. Friedländer believes, this anti-Jewish spirit was “a component of his [Luther’s] thinking from the very beginning” but the “hidden agenda” was “nevertheless a concern for the Jews,”4 then a clarification of the Lutheran attitude and perspective is required. Re- sponsibility must go hand in hand with a sensitivity which gently seeks dialogue and remains critical of its own interests. Why did Luther with his concern for the Jews5 hit back “all the more bitterly” when his missionary hopes were disap- pointed?6 After Budapest, efforts at the international level to continue these conversa- tions met with little success because of “a failure to find mutually acceptable topics”7 and little progress was made in the Jewish-Lutheran dialogue. In the 1990s some Lutheran synods underlined the continued election of Israel and rejected mission to the Jews, and a new, constructive attitude developed in the individual 4 Albert H. Friedlander, “Aus der Sicht eines Juden,” in Hans Jürgen Schultz (ed.), Luther kontrovers ( Stuttgart: Kreuz Verlag, 1983), pp. 254 and 255. 5 “We are brothers in the Bible,” ibid., p. 257. 6 Hermann Greive, Die Juden. Grundzüge ihrer Geschichte im mittelalterlichen and neuzeitlichen Europa (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 19924), p.113 7 From Budapest 1985 to Curitiba 1989, LWF Report No. 27 (Geneva: The Lutheran World Federa- tion, 1989), p. 205. 12 LWF Documentation No. 48 Introduction churches. The documents and recommendations from Budapest did not play a special part in this. They were simply part of the overall dynamics in the Jewish- Christian dialogue which progressed in small steps from “contempt to respect for Israel in the church and in theology.”8 Antisemitism and anti-Judaism today When engaging in Christian-Jewish dialogue today, the question which must be asked is: “What has really been achieved in ‘Christian-Jewish dialogue’ when antisemitism and an uncritical condemnation of the state of Israel tend to increase rather than to decrease throughout Europe (and worldwide).”9 At the level