Other articles from this issue | Version in English | Version in French

Perspectives - Jews and non-Jews: What Are the Differences? A Research Essential for Mutual Understanding
Fernando Terracina

Introduction
The Guidelines and Suggestions far Implementing the Conciliar Declaration "Nostra Aetate" (no. 4) of 1974 recommend that:
"Christians must strive to learn by what essential traits the Jews define themselves".
We bave no intention of attempting to supply such a definition, but merely to make it easier to do, by looking for observable differences in behavior in the broadest sense of the word between Jews and non-Jews, without being limited by time or space. Thus we shall follow the way which for at least three centuries has qualificd the progress of every type of knowledge, the way of humble observation and of the patient effort at synthesis, a way which must substitute or at least precede the quest for the definitions of essences and of identities. In following suda a course we may be criticized far having neglected important elements, but not for having stressed the differences rather than the similarities, because we consider that it is not possible to search for similarities with total sincerity if we do not acknowledge what differences there are.
The search for differences implies a fair and brotherly attitude, and so it seems a good way to "foster and recommend that mutuai understandiug and respect" called for by the Declaration Nostra Aetate; and in this way also, by replacing false differences by true ones, to combat deplorable feelings of contempt and hatred.
Differences can be sou.ght by comparing the Jewish people with any other people or group; we are natura1y mainly interested in comparing the civilizations which have gravitated around the Mediterranean. Because of the rnagnitude of the subject, rather than going into the various comparisons in more detail, we shall have to limit ourselves to showing examples and ideas capable of stimulating memories and reflections. References which we shall have occasion to make to a few famous Jews have no further significance than this.
Once admitted that differences exist, one of them becomes obvious irnmediately: the length of time these differences have endured, their permanente. The case of a people which has preserved itself (within certain limits even its own language) for four thousand years is unique. In the biblical story of the exodus from Egypt to Canaan, a non-Jewish prophet indicated that they were to be "a people dwelling alone and not reckoning itself among the nations!" (Num 23:9). This prophecy has proved itself to be true.

Monotheism
Monotheism, as everybody knows, is the basis for this permanence, a monotheism which wants to remain what it was meant to be in the past: botti a principle and also a goal to be reached; thus, a way of life.
But how was monotheism attained? Theologians more or less agree that Abraham must have reached it by dine of bis own searching. Indeed, it seems Bear that the idea of one God must have preceded the hearing of God's words and the reception of the revelations which they contained. Thus monotheism must have been preceded by a search for unity. What then was the special way towards unity which Abraham would have to take? How does one go from chaos to order? Certainly not by denying the differences, but by discovering the laws that bind them together. Each concept, each entity is nothing but the expression of an experimental law, and as such, law should be as general and as few as possible. This accords with the recommendation made by one of the fathers of modem thought, Roger Bacon: enti4 non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatemi (entities must be limited to those strictly necessary); polytheism and monothcism could then be seen as suited to subjectively different necessitics. To the unity of God are linked the unity of the origin and of the goal of all men, as also the unity of man within himself. Essentially, Judaism asks of man the .strength to accomplish this unity in his own life.
Abraham's meeting with God is not, however, dominateci by a search for truth, but rathcr by emotional elements: the faith with which the invitation to "go forth from your father's house" is accepted togetha with the assurance that: "by you, all the families of the earth shall bless themselves" (Gen. 12:1,3). Abraham, far from seeing God passively as philosophers do, felt him personally present within himself: a living God, acting in all men. The story of the beginnings, of the birth of the Jewish people, very clearly indicate both a separation and a unification, which are the two signs of Israel's destiny.
Unlike the spread of Christianity and Islam, we are not dealing with an opening to a religious idea that has been developed by others: conversion, in Judaism, is self.initiation and perseverante. On a natural level, one which is not, however, out of harmony with the Scriptures, it is conceivable that it was this monotheistic concept, however reached (perhaps even by only one man), which generated, so to speak, the Jewish people. Perhaps in this way we can thus explain the unique phenomenon of the existence, that is, the permanente, of Israel, being given the impossibility of tracing any adeguate ethnic or environmental basis for it.
Because God is unique, it is impossible to define him, to relate him to known concepts; hence too, the rcjection of every perceptible symbol, especially a visible one. Visible symbols have always been judgcd by the Jews tu be !inadeguate, therefore misleading, according to what is for Jews the second commandment of the decilog,ue: "You shall not make for yourself a graven image or any hkeness of anything . . and you shall not bow down to them or serve them" (Deut 5:8; Ex 20:5). The messengers of the Lord always have a transitory nature. An effort is thus necessary (as has been said in the above mentioned Guide/Wes):
"to understand the difficulties which anse for the Jewish soul — rightly imbued with an extremely high, pure notion of the divine transcendence — when faced with the mystery of the incarnate Word".

Already to the Romans the Jewish faith appcared bare, ignoble even, but Tacitus, brief and to the point as usual, positively specifies: Judaei sola mente numen, unumque intellegunt (The Jews with their mind alone concave a divinity, and one only) (Hist. 5, 6).
By his very nature this one God is jealous; every deviation is to be combatted, punished, so that it could be said that religious intolerance was invented by Jews; indeed, the tolerance of pagans facilitated the spread of Christianity.

Myths and Rites
Myths and Rites represent the sum of historic and ancestral experiences. Jews have a tendcncy to keep them clear of magie and of superhuman apparitions in order to limi[ them, often explicitl
Y, to the funetion of memory.
This is already evident, for example, when we compare the events of the Jewish calendar with that of the Christian, the latter being rich with theological concepts and miraculous personalities.
It is well known that, according to Jewish tradition as ft is traced in the Bible (Deut 8:1), the life of the devout Jew is sprinkled with Goda blessings, enjoying every good thing; but the blessings are never directed to the things themselves, which remain unchanged by the formula. Thus for example, God is blessed "who makes bread spring from the earth". This blessing is pronounced by only one of those present, and then the loaf is shared among everybody (Deus 27:35), as a sign of communion of life and of feeling, and not as an appropriation of a quality acquired by the bread, which is not blessed. In other words, Judaism does not bless things, but blesses God for having given the things for which blessings are pronounced.
The blessing which is called down upon the people is never "given by men" but always asked from God; such is the form of the priest/v Nessing for Jews and for Christians. IT is clear therefore that the other Jewish blessings differ from Christian ones. The Jewish Passover is suffused with a historic memory and with the people's sense of continuity, while the liturgy of the Mass is motivated by the remembrance and repetition of a Supper and of a fractio panis in order to bring about the salvific effectiveness attributed to the col
ebration of Christ's sacrifice. We must point out, though, that highly respected theologians have expressed the opinion that the vast divergences in the interptetation of the Eucharist can only be clarified .by more deeply examining the meaning of the Jewish blessings.

The Sabbath
The observance of the Sabbath irnposes a rhythm on man's 11fr different from any natural cycle: with li, the Jew commemorates the creation, recognizes himself as a creature, remembers divine omnipotence and tram scendence, abstaining, as a very special imitatio Dei, from any activity conneaed with the appropriation of external resources.
The Sabbath is the day of peace between man and nature, but also for man to be at pcace with himself as well as with others; it anticipates the messianic era as far as .possible. Indeed, the Sabbath is also the greatest eelebration and realization of freedom and dignity for everyone: abstention from any kind of work is extended to "your servants and animals, so that they may test as well as you" (lleut 5:14). This idea of a weekly day of rest was rejected .by the Christians of the first centuries. The Sabbath is considered by Jews to be a gift from God; it has even been called the Jews' masterpiece in the art of living. In the Sabbath there are clear signs of the absence of perceptible references, of unification and universality; hence there has been some difficulty in undcrsranding it fully, but at the same time these are the very reasons for its appeal. Even though the Sabbath has been subjected to mistaken interpretations, such as the reference to laziness (Tacitus, Hist. 5, 4), there is much evidente that it become more and more widcspread in the Mediterrancan world during the last century before Christ. The Sabbath break has sine become almost an ecumenical sign as far as it has been adopted by Christians and Mosdems, even though the actual day has changed and been given different meanings. For Moslems, it is essentially a day of prayer, while for Christians it has its own theological significane to the detriment of the direct reference to creation. The observance of the Sabbath is now more or lesa respected also by many other peoples whose religion ie very far removed from Judaism, certainly because of the valve it has of imposìng on the chaos of our days a simple, perpetuai rhythm of work and rest comparable to that imposed by physiological or astronomical cycles.

The Prophets
The prophet M the Bible is neither an exemplary man nor a master of the Torah; he is a man who felt himself overwhelmingly called, often against his will, to deal with the problema of the moment (even prohlems of a political nature), but always within the divine framework which directs ali men along a common path, the only path able tu procure divine love: "to do justice and to love kìndness, and to walk humbly with your God" (Mie 6:8); "is not this the fast 1 choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness?" (Is 58:6). The prophets faccd temporary problema as well as the perennial ones: to 'rum the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers" (Mal 4:6); to "judge between many peoples" so that "rhey shall beat their swords into ploughshares... and neither shall they learn war any more° (Mde 4:3).
The prophets are considered intermediaries between God and men but only through their messages: they have never become permanent intercessors to whom prayers may be addressed, for which, moreover, Jews do not feel the need.

Hearing and Sight
It is well known that sight, of ali the senses, because of the exceptional fineness of distinction which it allows, is particularly valuable in the progress of knowledge; whence also the specific importane of the remembrance of visual sensations and of the "objects" which make quick and precise recali possible. This is not possible, though, in the world of sound:. It is on sight (as well as on touch) that the elementary concepts of form and number are based. All the while however, that the development of knowledge is imposing the formation of more abstract concepts, the remembrance of concepts through the word hecomes more important: a fleeting sound or a brief sign is able to evoke any concept whatsoever in its purity, although not without difficulties and dangers. Hence the extraordinary destiny of the "word". God creates the world by uttering his word: "God said: "Ler there be light', and there was light" (Gen L3); and the fourth Gospel begins by affirming that "in the beginning was the Word" (Jn 1:1). Visual remembrance and its objective materialization, a visible symbol, can become deforming, misleading for more abstract concepts, particularly for the concept o( the one God. The Jews have always attached a special importante to this danger. To see God is to die (Ex 19:21; 20:19; 33:20). On Sinai visible signs are scarse and vague: "You heard the sound of words but saw no form; uhere was only a voicc" (lleut 4:12). In other cases tao, what is seen is always transitory. For Christians as it has been said rightly, the audible God has become visible. "Ile who sees me sees him who seni me" (Jn 12:45). Christ is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15). Jews feci no necd for this vision, they f ind it misi cading; this is trae to an even greater extcnt for the images of the image.
In the light of the preceding comments, we can appreciate that the prevalente among Jews is for artistic expressions of an auditory rather than a visual kind. This !atter is maintained permanendy by an object which can be contemplated; the former, on the contrary, flows on down the tide of time so that recollection is possible by memory alone.
Contrary to what has been said sometimes, it seems that this preferente might not be a consequence of the prohibition of images but rather, both qualities might proceed from a single primary difference.

Scientific Work
An aptitude for some hranches of science such as applied physics, applied chemistry, engineering and anatomy, surgery, etc., are rarely found among Jews. On the contrary, marked aptitudes for mathematics, theoretical physics, physiology, psychology, psychiatry, cconomics, law, etc. are recorded. These preferences, in our opinion, can be explained by the above comments.
Generally, for the progress of knowledge, the tendency to preserve laws already known, extending their application as much as possible, has as much value and importante as the tendency to substitute them for new laws and concepts when opportune. It seems that Jews are particularly active in the second domain; a historical examination of the work of many, among whom, Marx, Freud and Einstein, seems to bear out this hypothesis. As for the most famous, Albert Einstein, it was certainly the faci that he dared to abandon the autonomous and absolute concepts of the measurements of space and time, which enabled him to selve the problem of the constancy of the speed of Iight, thus reaching that most original synthesis which proved so extraordinarily fertile.

Autonomy and Toleration
The tolerance which, it seems, Jews show towards expressions of thought, including religious thought, except of course basic principles, is connected with the observations mentioned above. The lack of an ultimate authority is the consequence and the confirmation of this. In the biblical canon we find diyersified and contrasting attitudes.
The Gospels in their rum witness to this openness: together with the crowd's support, they do indeed report the more or less hostile aiticisms and comments of individuala and of groups, but we find no Brace of obstacles to prevent Jesus from speaking freely everywhere: he was "glorified by all" (Lk 4:15). The exception proves the rute when we consider the episode at Nazareth (Lk 4:14-30) in which his teaching was followed by a bitter encounter. This must appear all the more significant, as well as being extremely providential to whoever attributes a supreme innovative value to Jesus' words.

Faith and Action
The Bible begins by recording an action as does the Decalogue; any affirmation of existence in Uscii appears superfluous. The fourth Gospel, reflecting almost a century of hellenistic elaboration, begins with the affirmation of the primary existence of the Logos.
At the foot of Sinai the Jews promise: "All the words which the Lerci has spoken we will do" (Ex 24: 3). The heart of the Jews' religiousness lies in their trust in God, in the sanctification of the Name, in the imitation o/ God, in the fulfilment of the laws according te justice and mercy; theological details vere always less important.
The synoptic Gospels (Mt 22:36; Mk 12:34; Lk 10:25) witness the perfect accord of Jesus with the masters of the Torah (the Pharisees), about the decisive value of the love of God and of one's neighbour: "Do this, and you will live" (Lk 10:28); neither the Sbema nor the Pater Noster ever divided the Jews from the
Christians; on the contrary, the petition: "Thy kingdom come on earth..." is essentially the same in the Pater and in the Kaddish2. This great petition was joined and then almost substituted by the hope of being able to ascend into heaven by merit acquired through faith in Christ, and the Credo was added to the Pater. It had, however, already been announced that "he who does not believe is condemned already" (Jn 3:18), and would not have "power to become children of God" (Jn 1:12). This message was a bad one for many, irreconcilable with Jewish xeligious thought, logical only for whoever sees a diabolic blindness in the refusal of a given faith 8:44).
The Torah does contain special laws also, to whose observance the Jews commit themselves. Its perpetua] validity was never doubted, not even at the meeting in Jernsalem about the year 50. If at that time Paul had said that with the death and resurrection of Jesus the Torah had lost irs worth, it would have aroused more astonishment than scandal in those who baci listened to the words of Jesus. Discussion arose instead whether fullilment of the Torah should be asked for non-Jews, and h ended on a negative note (Acts 15). This first stage in detachment was thus temporarily concluded. Only later, speaking in Greek in hellenistic circles, was the conrrast between the "works of the law" and faith announced by Paul,' who declared faith in Jeans, the risen Messiah, as the decisive condition for salvation. He freed everyone from the yoke of the law, transforming Torah into Nomos, a source of conaupiscence, hence of sin, hence of aurses (cf. Gal 3:10). he also said, however: "Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law" (Rom 3:31).
We know to what and to how many contrasts and sufferings the passionale and penetrating theories of Paul owe their origin, beginning with his contemporary, James, the head of the Jerusalem community, known as "the brother of the Lord", who declared that: "faith by itself if it has no works, is dead" (Jas 2:17). But if one is dead without the other, it means that they must coexist. This, however, would have confirmed the value of the Torah, and thence there would have been two kinds of Christians. Paul, who wanted to eliminate this at all cost, could only conclude that, free from the Law: "All things are but not all things are helpful. Alt things ape but not alt things build up" (1 Cor 10:23), deferring in this way to partly autonomous criteria.

___________
Dr. Terracina has been a helpful friend of SIDIC for many years. On Nov. 4, 1981 he gave a lecture at the Center in Rame. The present article is its resumé.
1- (or "in you . shall be blessed")
2- Magnified and sanctified be his great Name, in the world which he has created according te his will, May he establish his Kingdom during your fife and during your days, and during the lif e of all the house of Israel, even speedily and at a near time, and say ye, Amen".