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A Resolution between Christians and Jews for Reconciliation in the Third Millennium
The Koppelman Holocaust/Genocide Resource Center

Representatives of The Julius and Dorothy Koppelman Holocaust/Genocide Resource Center, Rider University, Lawrence, New Jersey, presented this Resolution to Pope John Paul II on November 18, 1998 “with the earnest hope that the words and sentiments contained herein will be of use to His Holiness in His profound efforts to affect positively the relationship of Christian and Jewish men, women and children in the Third Millennium.”


“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Lv 19:18



We, Christians and Jews, uniquely addressed and created in the living word and divine image of eternal God, do here affirm our adherence to His loving guidance and His revealed truths to each of our communities that - above all else - we love one another and together bring peace and justice on earth to all of His creatures.

We, Christians and Jews, and especially in the Third Millennium of the Modern Era, owe this fraternal bonding not only to the Creator of us all, but to the untold millions of children who will and must live together in peace and justice in this coming and new one thousand years.

We, Christians and Jews, have seen too often in our past and tortured history, that children have been horribly destroyed because the profound lessons of each of our testaments have gone unheeded by unholy and ungodly interventions: indeed, one of the most terrible of these tragedies, in the memory of many of us alive today, destroyed one and one-half million innocent Jewish children.
We, Christians and Jews, commit to our God, to each other, and to these yet unborn children - that such wanton destruction of human life will never happen again anywhere on earth. We bow down at each of our places of worship, we take each other by the hand, and we swear to Him who made us that we will live together as brothers and sisters. We will strive to understand each other, and we will seek strength from those thousand joyous things that bond us and observe abiding tolerance of those few that separate us.

We, Christians and Jews, mindful of the gift of human dignity and hope for a new heaven and a new earth each singular life has received from our common Creator, resolve to hear again and act upon the profound and resonant cries of the ancient prophets for mercy, compassion, peace, liberty, justice, and righteousness: that together - We, Christians and Jews - take upon ourselves the alleviation of poverty, misery, violence, and ignorance from all of humanity in the Third Millennium.

We, Christians and Jews, in the Third Millennium, resolve:

To know the other as we each understand and define ourselves: that is, for Christians and Jews to learn to appreciate the religious self-definition of each other.

To avoid the extremism and indifference that leads to self-righteousness and a minimalist approach to each other: that is, for Christians and Jews to be open to the religious richness of the other.

To remember the suffering of the Jews while avoiding simplistic attempts at blame, and for Christians and Jews to repudiate jointly anti-Semitism, xenophobia and racism whenever they occur.

To develop a sensitivity to the suffering of the other while not establishing a hierarchy of suffering, that is, for Christians and Jews to recall the sufferings of each other - and most especially the Shoah - with the goal of preventing such atrocities in the future, for all humanity.

To learn the complexities of the other and to realize the variety that exists within Christianity and Judaism.

To know and confront with understanding the deepest concerns of each other, that is, for Christians and Jews to be aware that they may differ at times, but most often, properly understood, can be seen as mutually supportive.

To promote knowledge within both Christian and Jewish communities of the official statements on Jews and Judaism of world and national Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox authorities, and the reception among the Christian communities of these statements.

To encourage joint efforts at education in Christian and Jewish communities, and especially in seminaries, so the revelation to and the traditions of both communities are fully understood and appreciated.

To foster the development of covenantal relationships and joint statements by Christian and Jewish groups throughout the world, working together to commit both to a positive and active evaluation and respected collaboration with the other.