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A Time for Recommitment: An Educational Guide Building the New Relationship between Jews and Christians Jewish-Christian dialogue 70 years after war and Shoah An Educational Guide by Dr S Copeland edited by Dr D Weissman and Dr P Cunningham Introduction to the educational guide We are offering for your programmatic purposes an educational guide to the Berlin Document, "A Time for Re-commitment: Building the New Relationship between Jews and Christians" which has been developed by Jewish and Christian scholars and educators In developing the material, we had in mind the local CCJ's around the world, but it can be implemented by individuals or groups, youth or adults, unireligious or inter-religious settings, congregations and schools, etc Although the guide focuses on the 12 Calls, we sincerely suggest that you read through the entire document - the narrative history, "The Story of the Transformation of a Relationship," as well as the various prefaces, appended essays, and, especially, the "Ten Points of Seelisberg" referenced in the first educational unit of the guide As many of you know, the writing of our Berlin Document began to mark the 60th anniversary of that pioneering statement The material presented here can be used over the course of time for study and discussion You can take the 12 Calls and study them in small groups of two or three (in traditional Jewish contexts, this method is called "Chavruta", the Aramaic word for a "study partner.") The small groups can then be re-convened for a plenary conversation, in which insights and questions are shared You can take a paragraph or two, put them in the center of the page, and put various commentaries/interpretations around the margins (as in a classical Jewish text), alternate formulations, objections and questions For each of the 12 Calls, we will provide additional material for reflection and discussion, suggestions for background reading, practical ideas for programs, etc We are proud of the Berlin Document, but we recognize that it was produced by human beings and is, therefore, by definition, partial and imperfect You may find yourself disagreeing with parts of it Some readers have already shared these disagreements with us and we appreciate that The Berlin Document represents a specific peak moment in what has been - and continues to be a very dynamic process It is possible that in the future, the Document may be changed or updated on the occasion of another important anniversary for Christian-Jewish relations But for now, it is much more important to us that people around the world should know about the statement, study it and use it, rather than that they should be satisfied with every single formulation in it Opening Reflections 1947 Seelisberg Conference particitpiants & commissions The questions a photo can pose Who were they? - This is what we may think to ourselves when reading for the first time of the religious leaders who crafted the Seelisberg declaration And we may want to see a photograph of them Here they are before us And the faces of these Christians and Jews may remind us of that key question - the truth that is the most important of all the truths one can, as Bob Dylan sings, "tell and think and speak and breathe - reflecting it from the mountain so all souls can see it." We mean the question of why some members of one of the cultures of our human species care and feel responsible for the well-being of the members of cultures, even of religious traditions, not their own What is it in the personal experiences of these good people in this photo that set them on their caring path to Seelisberg? Where does active compassion and social responsibility for the stranger in need come from? And then there is another question we are asked: "Is it worth risking oneself for this? And if so, how and to what extent?" Reflect on an experience when you were impressed with someone's compassion or concern for another person, esp if the other person was different in some way "I met one man who was wounded with love, I met another man who was wounded with hatred." Bob Dylan - from "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" - in the album The Freewheeling Dylan (1962) & in Bob Dylan Live 1964 The Fragility of Goodness Probably one of the worst times in human history was the Shoah (Holocaust) when compassion and concern for those in some way different from the majority seemed to have vanished While it is true that most European Christians under Nazi occupation did not significantly intervene to aid their fellow Europeans who happened to be Jews - most were apathetic to their fate, too many collaborated energetically with their murderers - still there were those who helped, who saved lives Because there were so few who did intervene on behalf of their Jewish neighbors, and they did so under threat of the greatest risk to themselves, the question of who these good and brave people were - what led to their being able to take such action - does not leave our ethical imagination, but rather accompanies us always This is a crucial question for the ethical development of all humanity Talmud Babli Order Mo'ed ~ Masechet = the 'weave' of a Talmud volume ~ here, two pages from Masechet Eruvin Printed by Gershom ben Moses Soncino ~ 1510? 1515? in Pesaro left: The three Magi see the new star and are astonished by its magnitude~ in a 15th century manuscript of the Speculum right: Early 12th century 'New Testament' part of the Christian Bible with interpolations & commentaries from the writings of Bede, Jerome, Gregory & other Church Fathers inserted at various times in the century following the biblical text's writing - probably in Geneva First two pages of Genesis in the 'Rabbinic Bible' known as the Mikra'ot Gedolot ~ literally: the Biblical Texts Enlarged/ Amplified This first printed edition ~ in 1525, Vienna ~ published by Daniel Bomberg, himself a Christian ~ born in Antwerp What you think enabled the rescuers to act as they did? How might such behavior be encouraged today in our interactions with others? During the Shoah, the Nazi regime effectively monopolized all social discourse Differing opinions or dissenting views were discredited or marginalized by the majority But core aspects of both Judaism and Christianity resist such absolute state power over human beings The all pervasive visual character of classical Jewish texts - as well as the layout of many of Christianity's sacred works -presents us with a format that breaks the monopolizing single body, single column, single - as Genesis 11 represents it - tower Indeed, this is one of the readings of The Tower of Babel drama - that what the Divine saw in its building which called to be disrupted was the striving for one language; not meaning Hebrew or whatever other of our human languages per se, but rather a drive ~ for perfect understanding between people! But what could be wrong with that?! It is certainly true that understanding one another is a vital & at times even wonderful event But if communication were such that we all understood one another with really absolute clarity of comprehension, then meaning would be a one-dimensional totalitarian truth that every person would merely accept - without having to strive for genuine understanding and thus without having to add himself/herself to its ongoing development These pages that give us multiple towers, columns, voices & views - teach us diversity, nuance; inclusion of a differential that celebrates the impossibility of THE One & Only ~ Final ~ Meaning, Final Answer Indeed, this impossibility is associated by such pages with nothing less than the sacred We are struck by two countries - two societies in their entirety, that organized their political and religious leaders and lay adherents, labor unions, people of all walks of life to protect their Jewish neighbors One was Denmark and the other was Bulgaria In her monumental study Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt spoke to the wonder before such outbreaks of goodness how when the Soviet army was advancing toward Bulgaria 'not a single Bulgarian Jew had been deported or had died an unnatural death - I know of no attempt,' she wrote, 'to explain the conduct of the Bulgarian people, which is unique in the belt of mixed populations.' ~ And then there was Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a Protestant farming village in the mountains of southcentral France - whose pastor organized from the church pulpit the entire community of five thousand who consequently saved the same number of Jews; a feat accomplished not by hiding them, but by integrating them into every aspect of their public lives 'Not a single Jew who came there was turned away, or turned in But it was not until decades later that the villagers spoke of what they had done and even then, only reluctantly.' Some research studies, as well as individual stories, accounts rendered by people who have acted to help others in need - including the homeless, the hungry, those isolated and alone, facing different kinds of threats and dangers for a variety of reasons - in a variety of circumstances some evidence suggests that these are people who in the earlier stages of their lives had known personal hardship, crisis, trouble And yet it is indeed complicated to identify the causes, the experiences that forge the spirit in people that moves them to act on behalf of their fellows Conscience and Courage: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust~ by Eva Fogelman (Anchor Books, Doubleday, New York, 1994) For some further reading see: The Courage to Care: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust ~ edited by Carol Rittner & Sondra Myers (New York University Press, 1999) & The Compassionate Instinct: The Science of Human Goodness ~ edited by Dacher Keltner, Jason Marsh, and Jeremy Adam Smith, (W.W Norton & Company, New York & London, 2010) What other resources exist in your own religious tradition that resist the lure of power? Have there been times in the history of your own community when it instead succumbed to the temptation? How can religious communities be encouraged to promote humanity and resist the corruption of power? The very same experience can affect different people in different, even opposing, ways One person experiences suffering and from undergoing that they emerge with a sense of identification with others in need, while another person takes from the same experience a drive to see to it that he or she is not alone in such indignities - by feeling confirmed in what they have had to confront by seeing others likewise having to struggle and suffer! Shimon ben Azzai - known simply as Ben Azzai, a teacher of the first third of the second century - during the Mishnaic period - in the Land of Israel - reflects his awareness of this disturbing alternative response to suffering - in his teaching: 'This is the book of the lineage of Adam - in the image of the Divine He made him - the human being' (Genesis 5:1) Ben Azzai has said: This is a great principle in the Torah, such that you not say, 'It being the case that I have been disgraced - let my fellow be disgraced with me Since I have been accursed, let my fellow be accursed with me.' - But rather know! Who is it that you are disgracing? None other than the One of Whom it is said 'In the image of the Divine He made him' [ - It is the Divine Whom you disgrace - since your fellow, every fellow human being is in His image]! Midrash Genesis Rabbah - section 24, passage 7/8 See if you can investigate what kind of experiences might contribute to the development of compassion and caring, identification and a sense of responsibility to help others who are in need You might interview people in your community who are such activists Also in books and in film, think of such defenders of human dignity - whether historical or storied - and see what experiences, influences, personal backgrounds might be identified as making the difference - as conditions that form the ethical conscience and the will to act upon it in one's actual lived life with others For more - see: The Fragility of Goodness: Why Bulgaria's Jews Survived the Holocaust By Tzvetan Todorov (Princeton University Press, 1999) And see the film The Optimists: The Story of the Rescue of the Bulgarian Jews from the Holocaust - Information at http://www.theoptimists.com A Conspiracy of Decency: The Rescue of the Danish Jews during World War II by Emmy Werner (Basic Books, 2004) And see the film The Power of Conscience: The Danish Resistance and the Rescue of the Jews And see Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of the Village of Le Chambon & How Goodness Happened There by Philip Hallie (Harper, 1985, 1994) For the opposite - representative of the fate of the overwhelming majority of European Jewry under the Nazis and their more than willing collaborators, see the meticulous study - Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland by Jan Gross And yet despite widespread anti-Semitism in Poland before and during the Holocaust, many individual Poles saved their Jewish neighbors Indeed, Poles constitute the largest national group within the Righteous Among the Nations recognized by Yad Vashem - Israel's Holocaust Memorial Museum See the book They Were Just People: Stories of Rescue in Poland by Bill Tammeus & Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn (University of Missouri Press, 2009) Point To combat religious, racial and all other forms of antisemitism Biblically   By recognizing Jesus' profound identity as a Jew of his day, and interpreting his teachings within the contextual framework of firstcentury Judaism By emphasizing that recent scholarship on both the commonality and gradual separation of Christianity and Judaism is critical for our basic understanding of the Jewish-Christian relationship  By presenting the two Testaments in the Christian Bible as complementary and mutually affirming rather than antagonistic or inferior/superior Denominations that use lectionaries are encouraged to choose and link biblical texts that offer such an affirming theology  By speaking out against Christian misreadings of biblical texts regarding Jews and Judaism that can provoke caricatures or animosity Liturgically    By highlighting the connection between Jewish and Christian liturgy By drawing upon the spiritual richness of Jewish interpretations of the scriptures By cleansing Christian liturgies of anti-Jewish perspectives, particularly in preaching, prayers and hymns Catechetically    By presenting the Christian-Jewish relationship in positive tones in the education of Christians of all ages, underlining the Jewish foundations of Christian belief and accurately describing the ways Jews themselves understand their own traditions and practices This includes the curricula of Christian schools, seminaries and adult education programs By promoting awareness of the long-lived traditions of Christian anti-Judaism and providing models for renewing the unique Jewish-Christian relationship By underscoring the immense religious wealth found in the Jewish tradition, especially by studying its authoritative texts Point 1(A): The Jewishness of Jesus The tensions between power and dominance vs compassion and caring are particularly intricate for Christians and Jews because of the religious and historical interconnections between the two traditions In calling for Christians to combat antisemitism, Point of the Berlin Document draws attention to the Jewishness of Jesus Over the centuries for diverse reasons, both Jews and Christians have sometimes tended to deny that Jesus was an authentic Jew This reached a bizarre crescendo in the Nazi era when some Christian theologians claimed that Jesus was really Aryan (see: Susannah Heschel, The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008.) Jesus' life and teachings as a Jew of his day Much of Jesus' teaching can be seen as part and parcel of the same weave, the same textured textile or give-and-take that characterized the discourse of the first-century Jewish context in which he developed and undertook to announce that God’s reign, the Age to Come, was beginning to appear Many scholars today understand that the primary features of Jesus’ activity all relate to firstcentury Jewish expectations about the coming rule of the God of Israel: • The choice of an inner circle of twelve, symbolically restoring the Twelve Tribes of Israel • Frequent table fellowship to give a foretaste of the celebratory banquet of the Reign of God • Healings demonstrating the healing power of God's in-breaking Reign • Preaching about the arriving Reign of God in parables and metaphors that related to people’s everyday lives Although the historical fact that Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew was downplayed or even denied in the tensions between Jews and Christians of later centuries, current research leaves no doubt about this Regarding the “table fellowship,” in Deuteronomy 11:13-14, we read: 13 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul 14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil From grain, we bake bread On the ritual table of a traditional Jewish celebration of Shabbat or any of the major festivals, there are three major symbols: candles, wine and challot (special Shabbat loaves, often braided.) Candles, wine and wafers also form a major part of Christian ritual They symbolize the oil, wine and grain (in reverse order) of the universe; God established a covenant with the people Israel, God's revealed word guides Israel to a life of righteousness; and God will ultimately redeem Israel and the whole world Yet, Jews and Christians interpret the Bible differently on many points Such differences must always be respected "Dabru Emet: A Jewish Statement on Christians and Christianity" (2000) by the National (USA) Jewish Scholars Project See: www.jcrelations.net The Bible both connects and separates Jews and Christians Some Jews and Christians today, in the process of studying the Bible together, are discovering new ways of reading that provide a deeper appreciation of both traditions While the two communities draw from the same biblical texts of ancient Israel, they have developed different traditions of interpretation Christians view these texts through the lens of the New Testament, while Jews understand these scriptures through the traditions of rabbinic commentary "A Sacred Obligation: Rethinking Christian Faith in Relation to Judaism and the Jewish People" (2001) by the Christian Scholars Group on Christian-Jewish Relations See: www.jcrelations.net A useful exercise may be to compare the role that the Psalms play in Christian and Jewish liturgies Select a favorite psalm   When are they recited? Which ones on which occasions?  Are they read, intoned, chanted?  Compare translations of some of the Psalms Another exercise that is made much easier for us through the proliferation of music on the Internet would be to compare and contrast not only liturgical texts but also liturgical music It is not always clear what elements - in this case - both of liturgical music and liturgical text - can be identified as 'Christian' and which as 'Jewish' And if you find this at times to be so, how might we understand why this can be? Point To promote interreligious dialogue with Jews   By understanding dialogue as requiring trust and equality among all participants and rejecting any notion of convincing others to accept one’s own beliefs By appreciating that dialogue encourages participants to examine critically their own perceptions of both their own tradition and that of their dialogue partners in the light of a genuine engagement with the other Promoting Interreligious Dialogue with Jews One of the most wonderful passages in literature is the dialogue between the bishop and the revolutionary in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables Wonder involves surprise, and surprise might indeed be the potentiality that most defines genuine dialogue This former member of the French Revolutionary Convention, ostracized under the changed political climate of the Napoleonic regime, has lived out his post-revolution days in solitude, just outside the truly good bishop's village One day the boy who has been the old man's only contact with society passes the news of his master's imminent death The bishop decides to go out to the old man with the hope, however slight, that he might wrest from him a confession and therefore win for him salvation They speak outside, as the old man's life wanes with the setting sun He sits calmly and quietly, recounting his life and his credo And in the face of all the bishop's heavy charges, the old revolutionary's words, despite their modesty, cannot but betray an extraordinary life of dedication and decency, courage and sensitivity Even the bishop's charge of atheism proves false For the old revolutionary professes, in simple rapture, his communion with that highest light which is reflected in lived commitment to justice and beauty and mind expanded In a final exquisite précis of his life's deeds and values, the old man again expresses himself, confidently and without regret – with a sense of compelling integrity and wisdom And at the end of his defense that has no defensiveness in it, the old revolutionary challenges his prosecutor, 'Now at the age of eighty-six I am on the point of death What then you ask of me?' 'Your blessing,' answers the bishop as he falls to his knees with lowered head, right there by the chair of the revolutionary But when this unforgettable bishop, now by his own turning become a parishioner, looks up, he finds the old man has died – with a beatific look of fulfillment, acceptance and peace on his face The title of this passage in Hugo's masterwork: 'The bishop confronted by a strange light.' According to this striking passage genuine dialogue is most defined by the potentiality of reversal, by the possibility that under some circumstances one, on other occasions both/all parties to dialogue might come to see things – to some significant degree – in a different way than before they entered into genuine conversation What is it about Hugo's bishop that makes possible for him, that makes him prepared, for such responsiveness, for such a responsibility? Does this passage tell us that the bishop has now embraced the old revolutionary's credo – that he has been converted, we might say, to the old revolutionary's life orientation and way of daily translation of that faith into lived acts, practiced works? Not necessarily Authentic dialogue perhaps cannot so affect the other in the encounter that he/she/they cease to be themselves, but absolutely instead become me/us To so to such an extent would no longer or not at all be dialogue, but rather imposition of one side on the other such that this other's difference is obliterated; or a total surrender of the self for and into the other  By contrast, engaging in authentic dialogue involves a meeting of differences – which for sure comes to likewise identify commonalities But with this what is shared in common comes to appreciate that distinct particularity of personhood that is key in each of us being and becoming ever created and recreated in the image of the Divine Being-inBecoming Thus The-I-Am-Becoming-What-I-Am-Becoming of Exodus 3:14 allows, makes possible and charges human beings to imitate this characterizing quality by participating in the Genesis account of the seven days of Creation 'Let light and whatsoever, whosoever else be and become what it uniquely can be and become!' See: in Buber's Between Man and Man – Beacon Press, Boston, 1955, pp 19-20 and cited in an essay by Adam Seligman, 'Toward a Phenomenology of Religious Experience' – which is chapter four in Professor Seligman's Modest Claims: Dialogues and Essays on Tolerance and Tradition – University of Notre Dame Press, 2004 On Martin Buber see: http://buber.de/en & http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/buber For an essay by Martin Bertman that appeared in the journal Judaism (Winter 2000) on Buber's 'Mysticism Without Loss of Identity' – which could be titled 'Dialogue Without Loss of Identity' – http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0411/is_1_49/ai_61887410/?tag=content;col1 And see Buber's Two Types of Faith: A Study of the Interpenetration of Judaism & Christianity (Syracuse University Press, 2003.) You might try closing dialogue with this work by the American Jewish artist Ben Shahn: "The artist absorbed in thought, his chin in one hand and a colorful paint brush 'bouquet' in the other" by Ben Shahn with Hillel's teaching: 'He was wont to say: If I am not for himself, who is/will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, [then] when?' 1968, lithograph in colors Appears in Kenneth W Prescott's The Complete Graphic Works of Ben Shahn (Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Company, 1973) [ Copyright for picture: please see here ] Try sharing ~ entering into dialogue, engaging the question of dialogue ~ with others in these ways: You might want to read the passage about the bishop and the revolutionary It's the tenth chapter of what's called Book One, running the length of just over ten pages – in the Penguin Classics edition – pages 49 to the top of 59 ~ so that you'll want to yourself abridge it somewhat Choose key passages and then make copies for everyone You might want to look at the shortened chapter in small groups And you might want to so reading aloud – which is how all premodern reading was engaged – universally, across cultures; even when a person was reading alone Let people in the small groups know that they should read a part of the tale and then look up from the text and talk about the part they just read - or they should stop if someone in the group finds something in the text that was evocative in some way for him or her After some discussion of that part, the group proceeds ~ returns to reading the text and then again stops to look up and share thoughts that that passage has brought up for one or more of the group's participants After a while the small groups can come together again as one and people can share some of what they 'came up with' in their small groups And as part of your sharing this passage from Les Miserables ~ invite and join your colleagues in sharing some of what participants in this dialogue and in past dialogues have experienced Here's yet another passage, another text, you might want to share with others in a similar way as we just considered Dialogue should strive for a really honest addressing of issues that really matter to the participants, concerning which so much is at stake in really trying to understand one another Even if in the end it will not be the view adopted by all or even one day by any ~ to give it its say perhaps reflects a willingness to truly try & understand the other; which in & of itself can make a difference From Merold Westphal, 'Thinking about God and God-Talk with Levinas' in The Exorbitant: Emmanuel Levinas Between Jews & Christians ~ edited by Kevin Hart & Michael Signer (Fordham University Press, New York, 2010), pp 217-220 And here's yet one more idea for a text – this time another story – your dialogue group might want to talk about together ~ It's all of four & a half pages – so a great short story to read aloud – again You might want to initially to so in small groups ~ Then to come together again as one group & hear from each of the small groups "how they found" the story ~ what ideas the story evoked in the participants of your dialogue group The story is "Mr Andrews" by E.M Forster ~ from his The Eternal Moment and Other Stories (My edition is published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, copyright 1928.) It's about two souls rising up toward heaven – a Christian and a Moslem ~ and how as they converse in their ascent they are at first full of compassion for the other; since each is certain that his newfound fellow will not be admitted when they reach heaven's gates – each being an infidel to the other A passage from the story's opening: The two souls floated upward, hand in hand Mr Andrews did not speak again, for he was filled with horror at the approaching tragedy This man, so godless, so lawless, so cruel, so lustful, believed that a he would be admitted into Heaven And into what a heaven – a place full of the crude pleasures of a ruffian's life on earth! But Mr Andrews felt neither disgust nor moral indignation He was only conscious of an immense pity, and his own virtues confronted him not at all He longed to save the man whose hand he held more tightly, who, he thought, was now holding tightly onto him And when he reached the Gate of Heaven, instead of saying, 'Can I enter? as he had intended, he cried out 'Cannot he enter?' And at the same moment the Turk uttered the same cry For the same spirit was working in each of them The entire story is accessible online at http://www.amazon.com Either use this link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/Eternal-Moment-Other-Stories-Harvest/dp/0156291258/ref=sr_1_1? ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268030486&sr=1-1 or access amazon's website and then enter the category 'books' for Search Once that 'page' is before you, place your mouse's cursor on the picture of the book where it says Look Inside, though without clicking on it A small window opens Click on Front Cover Now on the left hand side there's a menu, on the bottom of which there's a box for Search Inside This Book Enter the word 'andrews.' Seven 'results' of the search will appear Skip the first one – which is the name of the story among the book's Table of Contents The next five results are the pages to 'our' story (The last of the seven results is mention of this story on the back cover of the book.) Clicking on the arrow on the left of each page or on the box above the arrow that says Next Result brings up the next page till the story's end on page 61 Dr Christopher Leighton's marvelous 'Presentation Before the Performance of Bach's Passion of St John' ~ which includes the story of the spiritual giant of Lithuanian Jewry and its academies of advanced Talmudic learning, Rabbi Chayim of Volozhin (1749-1821) ~ of how 'when he died there was great excitement in heaven The host of angels came out to greet him and told him there would be no need of a trial He would be admitted to heaven immediately, so rich was he in good deeds But Rabbi Hayim brushed aside the invitation and insisted that there had to be a trial for him, just as there is for everyone else He cited the passage in the Talmud which says that all must be treated equally by the law At the trial, he was told that, of course, he should be admitted and given a seat of honor in heaven for having established this mighty academy But Rabbi Hayim argued, on the basis of a passage in the Talmud that deals with the laws of partnership, that if he were entitled to a reward, then surely the students of the Yeshiva were as well, for he could not have accomplished what he did without them The court confirmed that he was right, that the students were also entitled to a share of his glory But Reb Hayim then argued that he would not enter heaven unless and until all the people of Volozhin were admitted too, for they had taken the students in and supported them so that they could study Without them, he said, the Yeshiva could not have succeeded Therefore, they, too, deserved a share of the reward The Heavenly Court conferred, checked all the references that the Rabbi cited on the laws of partnership and came to the conclusion that he was right: the people of Volozhin were entitled to a share of the glory Then Reb Hayim argued that all Jews should be admitted with him, since all Jewish householders everywhere contribute in some way to the maintenance of the Torah But even this did not satisfy him He argued further that gentiles too have provided a home for Jews, and therefore they too have a share in the Torah This time he was told that he had asked for too much, that there simply was not enough room in heaven for all, and that what he was asking was not possible until the Messiah comes "In that case," said Rabbi Hayim, "I will stay outside with them and wait." And until this day his great soul waits patiently at the portals of heaven, studying the law with intensity and praying for the ultimate redemption of all humanity.' Here is Dr Leighton's complete talk: http://www.doubleclicked.net/ICJS/bachpass.html Here are some additional sources addressing key issues that challenge the possibilities & impossibilities of Christian-Jewish dialogue: To see pages 197-205 of David Hillel Gelernter's new book on Judaism: A Way of Being (Yale University Press, 2009) ~ two appendices – Appendix B on 'What Makes Judaism the Most Important Intellectual Development in Western History?' !? and Appendix C on 'Jewish and Christian Ethics' ~ once again 'go to' amazon's website and proceed as we set out here immediately above except that this time, of course, enter 'gelernter' and the book will appear first in the list Click on that and then again place your mouse's cursor on the book and then click on Front Cover In the box for Search Inside This Book enter 'christian.' This will bring up most of 'our' pages For the skipped page 200 again 'go' to Search Inside this Book ~ this time entering the word 'sukkah.' Page 200 will appear To see page 202 enter the word 'authenticity.' As for page 205, just click at the bottom of the search results for 'christian' – just click on Show more results Here is Rabbi Soloveitchik's 1964 essay 'Confrontation' as well as papers and further discussion at a conference held at Boston College in 2003 In the essay 'the Rov' – 'The Rabbi' as he was and is known to so many – argues against Jews and Christians coming together to discuss their religious perspectives He does encourage their cooperation on issues of social ethics – working towards a more justice society What is most often missed here is the more than plausible reading or highlighting of the reason(ing) of his argument He does not say that the problem really entails the reality or the question of the absolute or even relative truth or falsehood of Christianity for Jews – or of Judaism for Christianity On the contrary! The thrust of his concern can be understood to involve the distinctly independent and unique truth value of the religious experience of the adherents of each faith tradition ~ distinctly independent and unique ~ personal though obviously in a communal way indeed relating, committed to a tradition, but yes is so distinctly independent and unique that there is a certain kind of futility and confusion not given to sufficiently significant amelioration in trying to accurately articulate and understand the religious experience, each of the other So that while this is not our view on Jewish-Christian dialogue – that it should not be engaged in regard to religious or theological categories of meaning and experience – such a reading of Rabbi Soloveitchik's argument against it offers a distinctively compelling kind of affirmation or respect for the irreducible incontestable truth value of the religious experience by the adherents of different traditions For his essay and the responses at this conference and more ~ see: http://www.bc.edu/research/cjl/meta-elements/texts/center/conferences/soloveitchik On 'The Controversy Surrounding the 2008 Good Friday Prayer in Europe: The Discussion and its Theological Implications' ~ see: http://www.jcrelations.net/ & A Dictionary of the Jewish-Christian Dialogue – Expanded Edition ~ edited by Leon Klenicki & Geoffrey Wigoder (Paulist Press, 1984 ~ 1995 by The Stimulus Foundation) And also ~ Leo Baeck, Judaism and Christianity (translation by Walter Kaufmann, Jewish Publication Society, 1958) Some readers may know of Jane Clements, founder of FODIP, (The Forum for Discussion of Israel and Palestine) in the UK At their Web site (www.fodip.org) you can access: Ten Principles of Dialogue on Israel/Palestine: http://www.fodip.org/ten_principles.pdf To what extent you think these principles are useful in the Jewish-Christians dialogue? How would you adapt or amend them? Point To develop theological understandings of Judaism that affirm its distinctive integrity   By eliminating any teachings that Christians have replaced Jews as a people in covenant with God By emphasizing the common mission of Jews and Christians in preparing the world for the kingdom of God or the Age to Come  By establishing equal, reciprocal working relationships with Jewish religious and civic organizations  By ensuring that emerging theological movements from Asia, Africa and Latin America, and feminist, liberationist or other approaches integrate an accurate understanding of Judaism and Christian-Jewish relations into their theological formulations  By opposing organized efforts at the conversion of Jews Develop Theological Understandings of Judaism that Affirm Its Distinctive Integrity Throughout this guide to The Twelve Points or Challenges of Berlin, we have been affirming that much is shared in common between our two civilizations and life orientations, but we have also significantly departed from the overreach that the hyphenated construct 'the Judeo-Christian tradition' can entail For a summarized history and varied senses of this suggestive and at times provocative term see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judeo-Christian A case-in-point ~ of a divergence in perspectives: The role of history in Christianity & Judaism respectively ~ with particular attention to the Jewish experience vis-à-vis the Sacred Character of the Land of Israel An in-depth comparative study of this topic takes us far beyond the scope of the present Guide, but we recommend visiting the website of Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations, the online journal of the Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations (ICCJ’s member organization in the USA) at http://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/scjr/issue/view/129/showToc The New York Times' excellent obituary of Levinas: http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/27/world/emmanuel-levinas-90-french-ethicalphilosopher.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all Rather than being neatly divided, sometimes 'things that are God's' make their demands upon 'the things that are Caesar's' – that belong to the state The vitally critical character of the Land of Israel and of the earthly Jerusalem for Judaism is integrally related to its love affair with the law, the deed, ethics and responsibility, social justice and the profound nobility of 'works.' But it is all about works engaged in the midst of the marketplace and in the contentious and complicated center of every other life context; in the thicket and thorns of this earthly hour just as we find it, this way and that, in its variegated variety Thus, without history – without the framework of the nation-state; not as end in and of itself, but as the necessary framework to live a life together that includes and affirms every dimension of the human experience ~ without history there is no possibility of genuine spirituality's striving to be realized The sacred and the profane are mixed in interaction, seeking their true destiny in the transforming encounter with one another Not as the sacred in and of itself, but as the only means by which our ideals can be applied and tested, tried out through being 'translated' into all the aspects, all the problems and possibilities that present themselves to human beings in their all too human mortal encounters with every life situation that comprise a human life Such a thoroughgoing participation in history, nation, country/land will adherently & inevitably result in many mistakes & failings ~ small, medium & large But the people continue to try and 'get it right' – try to make things more right, more just – via regular ongoing soul-searching, self-criticism and the criticism of friends There is no perfect, completely righteous person on earth that does not miss-the-bull’s-eye – does not err (First Kings 8:46 & Ecclesiastes 7:20) There is no perfect, completely righteous society/nation that does not miss-the-target, does not err You might want to check this out: Emmanuel Levinas, 'The State of Caesar and the State of David' in Beyond the Verse: Talmudic Readings and Lectures ~ translated by Gary Mole (Indiana University Press, 1994 ~ first published in France 1982 by Les Editions de Minuit) Most of this essay is accessible via Google Books – all but two of its pages: Google books Point To pray for the peace of Jerusalem   By promoting the belief in an inherent connectedness between Christians and Jews By understanding more fully Judaism’s deep attachment to the Land of Israel as a fundamental religious perspective and many Jewish people’s connection with the State of Israel as a matter of physical and cultural survival  By reflecting on ways that the Bible’s spiritual understanding of the land can be better incorporated into Christian faith perspectives  By critiquing the policies of Israeli and Palestinian governmental and social institutions when such criticism is morally warranted, at the same time acknowledging both communities’ deep attachment to the land  By critiquing attacks on Zionism when they become expressions of antisemitism  By joining with Jewish, Christian and Muslim peace workers, with Israelis and Palestinians, to build trust and peace in a Middle East where all can live secure in independent, viable states rooted in international law and guaranteed human rights  By enhancing the security and prosperity of Christian communities both in Israel and Palestine  By working for improved relations among Jews, Christians and Muslims in the Middle East and the rest of the world To pray for the peace of Jerusalem The 4th call to Christians and the 7th call to Jews are closely related Among the calls to Christians is: To pray for the peace of Jerusalem By critiquing attacks on Zionism when they become expressions of antisemitism Please note that we have chosen to spell the word thus: “antisemitism” and not as is more common: ”anti-Semitism.” Your computer spell-check may not approve, but is there really such a thing as “Semitism?” This is parallel to one of our calls to the Jews: To differentiate between fair-minded criticism of Israel and antisemitism By understanding and promoting biblical examples of just criticism as expressions of loyalty and love The Biblical models referred to include Abraham in Genesis 18:25; Proverbs 12:1, 13:24; and Ecclesiastes 7:5 You may want to look these up, using different translations, and discuss them as part of a study session We may distinguish among three entities: the Land of Israel, the State of Israel, and the government of Israel As stated in the Berlin document itself, we hope that Christians will “understand more fully Judaism’s deep attachment to the Land of Israel as a fundamental religious perspective and many Jewish people’s connection with the State of Israel as a matter of physical and cultural survival.” Similarly, the document calls upon to Jews to “help Christians appreciate that communal identity and interconnectedness are intrinsic to Jewish self-understanding, in addition to religious faith and practice, therefore making the commitment to the survival and security of the State of Israel of great importance to most Jews.” Thus, the Land of Israel is central to Judaism, and the State of Israel is central to the selfunderstanding of many, if not most, contemporary Jews But the government, as any democratically elected government, is open to criticism and to change One can criticize the government of Israel and its policies while affirming Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state The question of the appropriate channels for expression of criticism may be debatable But Jews and non-Jews ought to be able to freely criticize the government of Israel and its policies, without being accused of antisemitism or anti-Zionism On the other hand, when the criticism holds Israel up to standards never demanded of any other nation, or when antisemitic stereotypes and canards are used (e.g., as in the headline, "the Israelis are crucifying the Palestinians in Lebanon," As in stopcrucifyingpalestine.blogspot.com, accessed September 9, 2008) Jewish ears become sensitive to the criticism in the wrong way Some useful Websites: Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, Dr Gershon Baskin and Hana Siniora: www.ipcri.org Rabbis for Human Rights: www.rhr.org.il Inter-religious Coordinating Council in Israel: www.icci.org.il For weekly commentaries on the Torah portion that use traditional sources and often relate to peace in the Middle East: www.netivot-shalom.org.il The Union for Reform Judaism - www.urj.org - has a wonderful, free feature called “Ten Minutes of Torah” that you can receive on your e-mail Monday through Friday On Wednesdays, the topic is Israel and the content is usually “Galilee Diary” by Rabbi Professor Marc Rosenstein His wonderful writing often touches on some of the topics we have mentioned www.justvision.org www.btselem.org/English Some of our members objected to the wording of this call Instead of “fair-minded criticism of Israel, “they prefer: “of Israel’s policies.” They are worried that “criticism of Israel” may be misinterpreted as “questioning Israel’s right to exist.” What you think of their criticism? Here is a very partial list of some resources that may be helpful: - Hanan Ashrawi, This Side of Peace: A Personal Account, Touchstone Books: NY, 1995 - Shlomo Avineri, The Making of Modern Zionism: The Intellectual Origins of the Jewish State, Basic Books: NY, 1981 -Gershom Gorenberg, The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977, Times Press: NY, 2006 - David Hartman, Conflicting Visions: Spiritual Possibilities of Modern Israel, Schocken Books: NY, 1990 - Arthur Hertzberg, (editor), The Zionist Idea, Second Edition., Jewish Publication Society: Philadelphia, 1997) - Abraham Joshua Heschel, Israel: An Echo of Eternity, Farrar, Straus & Giroux: NY, 1967 - Rashid Khalidi, Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness, Columbia University Press: NY, 1997 - Seri Nusseibah, Palestine: A State is Born (Selections of Newspapers/Magazines articles between 1987-1990 ) Palestine Information Office: The Hague, 1990 - Seri Nusseibah, No Trumpets No Drums: A Two-State Settlement of the IsraeliPalestinian Conflict (with Mark Heller, ) Hill and Wang: NY, 1991 (Paperback 3rd.edition 1993) - Seri Nusseibah, Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life Autobiographical Reflections (with Anthony David) Farrar, Straus and Giroux: NY, 2007 - Aviezer Ravitzky, Messianism, Zionism and Jewish Religious Radicalism, University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1996 - Eliezer Schweid, The Land of Israel: National Home or Land of Destiny, Associated University Presses: Cranbury, NJ, 1985 - Haim Watzman, Company C: An American's Life as a Citizen-Soldier in Israel, Farrar, Straus & Giroux: NY, 2005 In January, 2009, as part of a larger statement in response to the fighting in Gaza, the ICCJ issued the following statement: Despite the political and ideological questions that may divide us, we re-affirm our common commitments to the sanctity of human life, the pursuit of peace as a religious imperative, and the importance of inter-religious and inter-group dialogue Of particular concern to us is the outbreak of antisemitic incidents, some violent, in different parts of the world, seemingly in response to the current difficult situation There have also been incidents of discrimination against innocent Muslims living outside the region We deplore this tendency to import the conflict into other regions Thus, one of the projects you may want to engage in is a campaign against antisemitism, Islamophobia and other forms of racism, in your own area Lord Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth, has just (2009) published another one of his fine books This one is called Future Tense (Hodder & Stoughton, London) and we highly recommend it, especially chapters and that deal, respectively, with Israel and Zionism Here is a quotation from p 98: A set of criteria distinguishing antisemitism from criticism of Israel was set out by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (now the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.) It includes the following: denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour; applying double standards by requiring of it a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation; using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis; drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis; or holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel Undoubtedly, the best program you could on this topic would be to organize an interreligious visit to Israel Contact Ophir Yarden at the Inter-religious Coordinating Council in Israel (www.icci.org.il) and see if such a trip can be planned You might even something along the lines of the 2009 ICCJ seminar, “From Two Narratives to Building a Culture of Peace.” Short of that, you might ask members of the Council who have visited Israel and/or the Palestinian territiories to share their experiences and impressions with the rest of the group The most important thing to bear in mind is that many of us have strong feelings about the issues and it’s important to maintain a civilized, respectful level of discussion One technique that may be useful is to ask people to get into the other person’s shoes and represent a point of view different from their own Hopefully, there will be no ridiculing or caricaturing other points of view You could bring in examples of criticism of Israel and see where they fit into these criteria It might be especially effective to this in the form of a Power Point presentation There are many films on the conflict in the Middle East, that could serve as triggers for discussion One in particular is a documentary called My Terrorist by the Israeli film-maker Yulie Gerstel Cohen (2002) that raises the question whether reconciliation is possible (www.wmm.com/myterrorist/about.html) Even more highly recommended is a documentary called Encounter Point (2006), (www.encounterpoint.com) It tells the very moving story of the Israeli and Palestinian Bereaved Families Circle (www.theparentscircle.com)