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1987 Menorah Review (No. 11, Fall, 1987)

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REVIEW• THE JUDAIC STUDIES PROGRAM OF VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY • NUMBER 11 • FALL 1987

Church's historic attitude of con Jewish-Christian relations are WHY IT'S FUNDAMENTAL tempt toward the Jewish people; Vat never an academic exercise. ican II rose to this historic challenge. They are, on the contrary, part A Dictionaryof tM Jewish A relationship that had endured for of the very fabric of our religious Christilm Dill1ogue 1,900 years began to undergo a met commitments and our respective Edited by Leon Ireligions, merely co-exist These extraordinary historic test to that progress but also to fur ing in the same place, but as events, beginning with the Conciliar ther the advancement of understand members of such religions which Declaration Nostra Aetate, were nour ing between the faiths. are so closely linked to one an ished by the ashes of the Holocaust. Pope John Paul II's visit to the his other (cf, Nostra Aetate, No. 4). On June 13, 1960, Pope John XXIII toric Rome Synagogue, the first ever This implies that Christians try held a private conversation with the made by a Pontiff to a Jewish house to know as exactly as possible French Jewish historian, Jules Isaac. of worship, is an extraordinary sym the distinctive beliefs, religious For two decades since the end of bol of an extraordinary development practices and spirituality of the World War II, Isaac had devoted his in our time. Prefatory to the Holy Jews, and conversely that the life to a scholarly examination of this Father's visit were the celebratory Jews try to know the beliefs and question: Why was the Christian events marking the 20th anniversary practices and spirituality of world so apathetic and silent con of Nostra Aetate. In that historic docu Christians. cerning the fate of European Jews? ment, promulgated by Vatican II, Such seems to be the proper His research had concluded that the within 15 Latin sentences, 2,221 way to dispel prejudices. But answer could be found in certain ele Council Fathers committed the Ro also to discover, on the Christian ments of the doctrines of Christian man Catholic Church to an irrevoca side, the deep Jewish roots of ity. In his monumental, The Teaching ble reconsideration of its relationship Christianity and, on the Jewish of Contempt: Christian Roots of Anti with the Jewish people. side, to appreciate better the spe Semitism (published the year before Pope John XXIII had laid the irre cial way in which the Church, the Vatican II), he wrote versible groundwork for the recon since the day of the Apostles, What, then, remains of the myth sideration by the Council of the had read the Old Testament and of the deicide people and their received the Jewish Heritage. 2

crime of crucifixion? Nothing but the one hand, the approach of Evan dozen years a pronounced right wing the perversity of habit. gelists and Fundamentalists to Juda thrust manifested itself in the emer Jesus died the victim of Roman ism parallels that of the Roman Cath gence of a new Fundamentalist block authority, sentenced by Pilate, olic Church during the centuries among the Orthodox, which is re crucified by Roman soldiers. preceeding Vatican II. That is, the flected in the controversy about Nothing, not even the coopera historic Fundamentalist approach to "who is a Jew." He described the tion of the Jewish authorities, Judaism, in many respects, follows Jewish Fundamentalists in Israel as can extenuate the significance of the philosophy of the teaching of "nondemocratic, noncommitted to this historical fact, whose cer contempt. From that perspective, Ju pluralism, and concerned only with tainty is beyond question. daism is regarded as the first stage of their own religious interest." Pro Such are the conclusions of an God's plan, a way of preparing the phetically, he pointed out, "the at investigation conducted on a world for Jesus. Therefore, according mosphere of religious extremism is purely historical level-conclu to that school of thought, Judaism fueled and fuels a corresponding sec sions which are limited but es does not have a mission to witness ular extremism, which is just as sential. All the rest is the product God. The attitude of historic Funda destructive." of Christian catechism-whose mentalism, in general, toward Juda Concern about Jewish Fundamen orientation we know-which, ism is that of friendship and curios talism is not limited to religious aca because of its orientation, was ity, but also a desire for fi nal demicians. Barely a month after Ro too often exploited to foster and acceptance of Jesus. sen spoke, Leila Seigel, president of support the worst prejudices. What complicates the relationship the International Council of Jewish with Fundamentalism for some Jews Women, addressing the European In his chapter on "The Crime of is the special relationship between conference of the organization, said, Deicide," he concludes "What has the Fundamentalist movement and "We are disturbed by the progress of not been done in the last 1,900 years Israel and its Jewish population. Fun religious fundamentalism, whatever in an effort to conjure away Pilate!" damentalists have avowed their total its o