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Editorial

"Jews and Christians often look at events from toally different viewpoints". This comment is strikingly true in the case of the Cross, which is a sign of redemption and love for the Christian and an object of horror and threat for the Jew. The Cross is a keypoint in the Jewish-Christian theology and worship but at the same time it is often cited as being at the root of Christian anti-semitism. It has surfaced in the dispute about the Carmel at Auschwitz but the issues underlying the question of the huge cross erected there have not really been made explicit. Perhaps this is because of the fear of touching emotions that lie very deep in the psyche of both Christians and Jews. Yet if God's summons to a new relationship is to be heeded we must find the courage and faith to face up to this. This issue of SIDIC begins to do so.
Christians are often totally unaware of the effect of the Cross in the life of the Jewish People in Christian Europe, and the consequences of a negative theology with regard to the People of the First Covenant, on whom the weight of the false accusation of deicide has fallen. Rabbi Michael Hilton reveals some of the unspeakable events in this story in his article "Shadow of the Cross". Reverend E. Flannery reflects on this shameful history. If Christians can accept with him responsibility for this history - and this is only possible in the light of the ever-open gates of divine mercy - then the future can be different.
The White Crucifixion (p.16) of Marc Chagall evokes the Cross of Christ in the midst of the crucifixion of the Jews. Events like those of the Shoah and the recent dispute about the Carmel at Auschwitz ought to call Christians - Catholics above all - to deepen and rectify even their theology of redemption. Perhaps they are so used to the sign of the Cross that they forget the horrific aspect of this instrument of Roman punishment and death. Do they take Paul's teaching of the Cross as a means of reconciliation too much for granted and turn too soon to the resurrection? It might surprise readers that, as Pere Dujardin suggests, the Cross is not necessarily THE sign of Christian identity. If, as in the first three centuries of the Church, the Cross speaks in the way Christians live their lives rather than by public exhibition, it could be more effective in drawing men and women together in compassion and in justice.
Jews and Christians cherish common biblical texts concerning the mystery of suffering. Yet differences between them remain. Some of these cannot but divide for they touch the heart of their separate identities. If each grows in truth, in mutual respect and ever deepening understanding of the other, then they can acknowledge this separateness without fear and move together towards the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.