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News Notes
E. Willey | Sr. M. Gabrielle Therese
Excavations in Jerusalem.
On the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, slightly below Robinson's Arch, there is an ancient Hebrew inscription chiselled into the Herodian stones:
At the sight your heart will rejoice, and your bones flourish like the grass.
The context of this quotation is Isaiah 66 with its exhortation to 'Rejoice, Jerusalem, be glad for her, all you who love her" because "towards her [the Lord sends] flowing peace". Professor B. Mazar of the Hebrew University dates this inscription to A.D. 361 when Emperor Julian decreed that the Temple should be rebuilt. However, the debris of centuries that concealed the inscription silenced the enthusiasm of that scribe at the Western Wall and re-instated the nostalgic laments of Tesha b'Av.
Nothing remains of the first Temple except the debris of the Babylonian destruction in 587 B. C. and that is buried for ever in the fill which supports the enlarged temple platform, built by Herod nine centuries after Solomon's death. The only remnants of the second Temple that survived Titus' destruction in A.D. 70 are Herod's retaining wall and a pavement bordering it.
Flavius Josephus did not mention the pavement; it was Charles Warren who discovered it in 1867 when he dug narrow, horizontal shafts adjacent to the Southern Wall of the temple compound. Further exploration to this level waited a century; then Professor B. Mazar was requested by the Israel Exploration Society to head the expedition which would carry out phase one of the masterplan for excavations in Jerusalem, namely, excavations at the Southern and Western Walls of the Temple Mount. The dig began on February 28, 1968, and so presently has completed only two of its anticipated five seasons. And yet, Professor Mazar's team can already see a living picture emerging of the daily routine of the 5•,000 pilgrims who thronged the temple courts 2,000 years ago for the three agricultural feasts — Pessah, Shavuot, and Succot.
The recent excavations have focused principally on a section south of the Southern Wall, between the southwestern corner of the wall and the Double Gate (*). Here the work began in three locations: a 75-meter strip adjacent to the wall and two trenches which go down to the Herodian pavement. These trenches revealed strata of four periods: Arab, Byzantine, Roman, and the period from Herod the Great to the destruction of the second Temple.
The Arab period.
The constructions found on the earliest Arab stratum have been associated with Caliph Abd el Malek (685-705). Distinctive of this stratum is the very typical Omayyad palace, a large two-storied building with a central courtyard, surrounding cloister, adjacent rooms, and ornamented eastern gate. This edifice, however, lacks the circular towers characteristic of such palaces elsewhere and possesses an additional northern gate. Between the building and the Southern Wall of the Temple, there is a cobbled street which is contemporary with the palace. The series of rooms west of the palace is thought to be a bathhouse with the geometric frescoes of the Omayyad style. Another building fragment to the west consists of two plastered basins with a connecting pipe and exterior channels leading east and south; it has been identified as a set of dyeing vats.
The obvious repair to the Herodian wall at this level supplied another clue to the date of the stratum. The repair was no doubt necessitated by the Persian conquest of the city in A.D. 614, which terminated the previous Byzantine period.
Later phases of the Arab period left evidence of alterations to the basic structures described above. On the sixth stratum, however, life seems to have come to a standstill. Professor Mazar suggests that the Seljuk conquest of Jerusalem in 1071 may have been responsible for this phenomenon.
The Byzantine period.
Excavation of the four strata representing the Byzantine period failed to reveal buildings but the coins and pottery discovered on the site facilitated dating. The earliest stratum is associated with Constantine the Great and his successors. Here the archeologists unearthed a lamp of the type common in the fourth century but distinctive for its ornamentation. Just above the spout there is a nine-branched menorah in relief, to the right of it a shofar, and to the left what appears to be a goblet. This may be additional evidence of the presence of Jews at the Temple Mount in the time of the Emperor Julian. Excavation of the latest Byzantine stratum produced a pottery pipe which runs along the Southern Wall from the Double Gate and then turns south at a point about 30 meters from the southwestern corner of the wall. Construction of this pipe and of a subterranean channel a little to the west have been attributed to Justinian I (527-565).
The Roman period.
Two strata constitute this period on the site. The coins, pottery, and bricks with the stamp of the Legio X Fretensis indicate that together these strata span almost two centuries of occupation, from the Aelia Capitolina era to the end of the third century. One outstanding discovery relevant to this period was the Latin inscription carved into a stone slab a meter long and almost a meter wide. The slab's size and shape indicate that it must have been a part of the Herodian pavement originally, however Professor M. Avi Yonah of the Hebrew University dates the inscription to 202-205. Though the inscription is evidently a fragment from a dedication to Septimius Severus (193-211) and his family, the nature of the dedication is not clear.
From Herod to the destruction of the second Temple.
Beneath the Roman strata and strewn on the Herodian pavement bordering the wall lay two meters of debris, the mute yet eloquent witness to the destruction of the second Temple nineteen hundred years ago. Among these ruins were: fragments of ornate sundials that once adorned the temple wall, Corinthian capitals which had crowned the pillars on the Temple Mount, ashlars wrenched from the top of the magnificent Herodian wall, coins from the time of Alexander Janneus through the Herodian period and to the fourth year of the First Revolt, as well as multiple samples of typically Herodian pottery. Three stone courses below the Herodian pavement, in the midst of pottery and coins dating to the same period, the archeologists found mina and quarter-mina stone weights along with the leg of a stone vessel, which is decorated with figures of birds and is inscribed with the Hebrew word qorban (sacrifice).
Despite the excitement of these discoveries at the Southern Wall, one can now appreciate more deeply the nostalgic laments of Tesha b'Av and can understand a little better the short-lived enthusiasm of that fourth-century scribe who engraved the hope of his people into the Herodian stones.
E. Willey
Rome, Fifth Biblical Conference.
From September 22 to 27, 1969, the 5th biblical conference took place at the Antonianum Athenaeum in Rome, on the theme "The Destruction of Jerusalem and its biblico-archeological repercussions".
An article announcing the conference, in the Sept. 17 issue of L'Osservatore Romano, placed the session in this context: the commemoration of an event that marks "the removal of the last obstacle to the unimpeded expansion of the Gospel to all nations". Because the Holy City had failed to recognize the day of the coming of the Messiah, "it made itself unworthy to enter the Messianic Kingdom". With the sack of Jerusalem we can see "the decline of Judaism and of the Mosaic cultural [cultic? S.G.T.] institution which brings to an end the course of the Old Testament... By its very occurrence, the Dispersion of the People of God was to be a witness to the promises, to the messianic prophecies, to the human and historical origins of Jesus, to his teaching, to the opposition of his people culminating in his wicked condemnation to suffering on the cross, and to the legitimacy of the establishment of the Church of the Gentiles". Heir to an Israel that was unworthy, the Church can inaugurate "the new, definitive, eschatological age".
These statements show how slowly the spirit of the conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate is bringing about a change of mentality, for example Section 4 which stresses "the spiritual bond linking the people of the New Covenant with Abraham's stock", and which says with St. Paul "the Jews still remain most dear to God for he does not repent of the gifts he makes nor of the calls he issues" even if "Jerusalem did not recognize the time of her visitation".
Many experts addressed the conference. This report is intentionally limited to only a few of the topics discussed.
Fr. Testa inaugurated the series of conferences by placing his own in an Old Testament context. "The Hebrews", he explained, "firmly believed that their religion was the ultimate revelation of God, valid for eternity. Jesus preached against this dogmatic assurance, recalling different prophecies, speaking of a 'New Covenant', a new people, gathered from the East and from the West, of an eschatological kingdom promised to the meek. He preached moreover the destruction of Jerusalem, its Temple and its priesthood".
After an historical sketch of the attack and triumph of Titus, the speaker observed that the bas-reliefs on the Arch erected on the Via Sacra in Rome preserve for posterity the fulfilment of Jesus' preaching about "the end of Judaism as a source of salvation for humanity". Should not such a judgment call for some reservations? Fr. Testa then emphasized the repercussions of this event in Hebrew and Christian literature of the first two centuries, drawing out three prevalent themes: Hebrew writers dreamt of a restoration, a theocratic nation, rebuilding of the Temple, a new priesthood and a newly thriving cult. Those for whom, under the influence of the JudeoChristians, the redemption of Israel was "eschatological, spiritual and perfect" while still a part of this world, spoke of a transformation; but the Hellenist Christian authors developed the theme of a spiritualization, emphasizing the superiority of Christ over Moses and the Hebrew priesthood, over the Temple and the cult, and presenting the Christian faith as the only way to salvation.
Fr. Francesco Cucchi quoted texts from the post-exilic Prophets on the "glorious destiny of the New Jerusalem" and "the future glory of the New Temple" to stress that the mission of Jerusalem was not only messianic, but that it involved a heavenly reality: the New Jerusalem coming down from God like a bride prepared for her Spouse.
For Fr. Lorenzo Gari-Juane the Temple, in all religions, is the holy place where man experiences the presence of the divinity. The Temple of Jerusalem was considered the sign of the presence of God in the midst of his people —but it was only a conditional sign. This presence, like the sign of the Sinai Covenant, remained conditioned by the fidelity of the people to the divine will. Outside this fidelity and an authentic cult, the Temple loses all its religious meaning.
On the third day of the conference, Fr. Ortensio da Spietoli provided a reflection on the unfathomable mystery of the tears shed by Jesus over the Holy City which had been the scene of his miracles and his preaching. His emphasis was on the great humanity of Jesus. Fr. Gaetano Stano recalled the 70 weeks of Daniel to which the mysterious eschatological discourse in Matthew refers, when the Apostles asked Jesus not only for "the sign" of the destruction of the city and Temple, but for the sign also of his own coming and of the Parousia. The quotation from Daniel cited by Jesus refers not merely to the irreparable evil which was to overcome the Tern-ple and the city, but is intended also to recall the great promises of God's mercy which will be realized in the new kingdom which is to come with the fulness of the messianic gifts.
The lecture by Fr. Dalmazio Colombo was devoted to the penitential celebration of the 9th Av. "The destruction of the Temple — first by the Babylonians and then by the Romans —produced an indelible scar in the memory of the Jews. This is renewed, in its bitterness and hurt, in the liturgical celebration of the Synagogue, and in the private and public selikhot recited on the day of penance and fasting". It is this penitential celebration which, according to Ben Zion Bokser, quoted by the speaker, has kept alive in the Jewish people the consuming desire to return. For the faith and deep feelings of every Jew today, the two essential elements of this commemoration are: repentance for the sins which caused the evil of the 9th Av, and conversion/ return to God, whose punishment of Israel was to purify, to deepen Israel's sonship towards him, in the line of thought of the prophet Hoseah.
It was then the turn of the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Prof. Alfredo Toaff, to speak. He attributed the destruction of the first Temple to three crimes: idolatry, immorality, and the shedding of blood. The destruction of the second Temple was caused by fratricide, a crime involving all three. But rather than remain concerned with the painful side of the event, Prof. Toaff preferred to look upon it as a parenthesis, remaining always open to hope, and to a return, because the Shekhinah which accompanied Israel into exile will return with it to its homeland.
The destruction of Jerusalem meant the loss of independence and political freedom. The destruction of the Temple meant the disappearance of the possibility of expiation. The only means left to the Hebrews of avoiding both assimilation and disappearance as a people in Babylon as in the Diaspora, was the strict observance of the Torah. From this conviction was born the Synagogue. According to Midrash, the stones of the destroyed Temple were dispersed to the four corners of the world and on them rose the synagogues where the word of God was studied and understanding of it deepened. The Rabbi of Rome still sees in the destruction of the Temple and exile a proof of God's mercy for his people scattered among the nations, there to foster the idea of monotheism. The Shekhinah — and the term appears only after the exile —would thus have as its mission, like the dove of the Ark to which it is often compared, to guide the exiles toward "loyalty" and "righteousness", fundamental elements for the return to Jerusalem and the reconstruction of the Temple.
According to Fr. Angelo Lancellotti, the first generation of Christians saw in the, declaration of the sack of Jerusalem "a prophetic sign of the coming of the Son of Man in power at the end of time". The fact that primitive catechesis connected these two events shows that the destruction of the Temple has to be considered on a higher level. The ruin of Jerusalem is presented as a decisive event heralding the Parousia. "All seemed to end" concluded Fr. Lancellotti, "with the fall of Jerusalem, but on the contrary, it was the opening of a new era. The preaching of the catastrophe became a song of victory".
(All citations are translated from reports on the conference given by L'Osservatore Romano.)
Sr. M. Gabrielle Therese
Guidelines for Catholic—Jewish Relations.a sub-committee of the U.S. Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs in March 1967. Introduced by a preface dated November 18, they consist of general principles, recommended activities, areas of special interest and themes for dialogue, besides suggestions for the formation of committees and councils for Catholic—Jewish relations at diocesan and local levels.
These guidelines are the work of members of ecumenical commissions in the dioceses of New York, Rockville Center and Brooklyn, in close collaboration with the committee for Catholicewish relations in Brooklyn and prominent members of the Jewish community.
The outstanding points in these "Guidelines", as compared to the 1967 document, are the suggestions and permissions given on several practical topics: mixed marriages, participation of priests or rabbis at Jewish or Catholic weddings, assistance of priests at Jewish funerals, knowledge of Jewish dietary laws for social occasions at which Jews assist. Also recommended is the creation of diocesan commissions for Catholic—Jewish relations, so that dialogue may have consistency and continuity. Suggestions are made both for their composition and programming, and for the formation of local councils which will work in close collaboration with the "parent" diocesan commission. Like the 1967 directives, this document encourages and recommends dialogue at all levels, prayer in common and collaboration in social action.
Last December the leaders of the three dioceses of New York, Rockville Center and Brooklyn: Cardinal Cooke, Monsignor Kellen-berg and Monsignor Mugavero, published for their dioceses "Guidelines for the advancement of Catholic—Jewish Relations". It is to be noted that in these dioceses there is one of the largest Jewish communities in the world — almost 21/2 million people.
These new guidelines complement the directives for Catholic—Jewish relations drawn up by
Study-meetings on Jewish—Christian Relations
I. "The root of the good olive tree". Under this eneral title the Pius XII Religious Education Center of Detroit, in collaboration with the American Jewish Committee, organized a series of eight lectures in Jewish—Christian studies, running from November 5, 1969, to February 25, 1970. The Pope Pius XII Religious Education Center is the American branch of the International Lumen Vitae catechetical movement of Brussels and is a major Roman Catholic center for the training of Christian educators in the United States. The series of lectures, given by prominent Orthodox, Conservative and Reform scholars, covered a large range of important topics concerning the relations between Christians and Jews, such as "Scripture, Law and Authority in Judaism", "The Pharisees and Early Christianity", "The Rabbinic Tradition and the New Testament", "Israel, Religion, Nation and Peoplehood", "Jewish Liturgy and Christian Worship". On the day following each session, seminar discussions took place between the scholars and groups of Catholic theologians, catechists, textbook writers and editors, and religious teachers.
II. "The Epic of the Jewish People" was the title of an eight-week course held at Seton Hall University, South Orange, N.J., from November 11, 1969, through January 20, 1970. The course was sponsored jointly by the university's Institute of Judaeo—Christian Studies and the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and directed by Msgr. John M. Oesterreicher and Dr. L. Lichten. Catholic school teachers and other people interested in education and ecumenism were given the opportunity to be thus informed by prominent Jewish scholars about self-understanding of Judaism from its beginnings through the talmudic period, Islamic rule, the Middle Ages, emancipation of West European Jews, East European Jewish Community, Zionism and the American experience. "Without this knowledge" Msgr. Oesterreicher declared, "the dialogue between Christians and Jews will be sterile and their cooperation slight".
III. From December 7 to 9, 1969, "A Duologue on the image of the Jew in Contemporary Culture" took place at Loyola College, Baltimore. Arranged by the Consortium of Catholic Colleges, the Archdiocesan Commission on Christian Unity and the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, the Duologue was expressly designed for academicians in the fields of sociology, psychology, history, literature, theology and philosophy, to-gether with administrators, members of curriculth committees and representatives of the archdioces, Catholic and Jewish scholars discussed "Religiot Prejudice and Education", "Sociology of the Coi temporary American Jewish Community", "Theological and Philosophical View of the Jewis Community" and "The Jew in Literature". Cardin: Shehan made the closing remarks.
IV. Different aspects of "Judaism and Christianit viewing the technological future" were pr( sented and discussed at a three-day meeting, frog February 8 to 10, 1970, in Princeton, New Jerse3 The consultation was sponsored by the Unite Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the Amer can Jewish Committee. Concerning the purpos of this first national conference of thirty leadin, representatives from the major Presbyterian the ological seminaries and from the Orthodox, Con servative and Reform branches of Judaism, joint statement declared:
Judaism and Christianity have been the historic custodians of moral and spiritua values in the Western World which hay, constituted the ground out of which con temporary ideologies and technologic have arisen... The purpose of this con sultation is to try to close the gap between the bearers of moral value systems an( scientists with a view toward ascertaining how religious leadership can play a morn creative role in the moral decision-makini that is the heart of the future of techno logical man and society.
I.C.C. Meeting at Luxembourg.The annual meeting of the International Con sultative Committee of Organizations for Jewish—Christian Cooperation (I.C.C.) was held al Luxembourg on November 13 and 14, 1969. Ir attendance were representatives from England Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany France, Switzerland, and Austria, as well as the Papal Nuncio to Belgium, Msgr. Igino Cardinale
The following subjects were discussed:
1) the desirability and possibility of an international conference on religious education and prejudice, probably to be held this year or in 1971. It was decided to convoke first a small group of experts in this field, before the end of 1970, and later to organize a larger conference with educators, authors of textbooks, and publishers.
2) the Oberammergau Passion Play, which will take place again in May 1970. Much discussion and publicity have already been devoted to the question of the more or less anti-semitic passages in the text. Since opposition towards a radical change of the text comes from the people of Oberammergau, who according to reports are ready to make minor changes, a letter was sent to the organizers of the play to urge them to eliminate from the text all anti-semitic traces.
3) the Middle East. The Committee voiced its concern for a just and lasting peace between Israel and the Arab countries, and expressed recognition of the specific links between the Jewish people and the land of their fathers.
Amitie judeo-chretienne Congress. The French annual Amitie judeo-chretienne Congress took place in Strasbourg from November 28 to 30, 1969. The following proposals were drawn up at the conclusion of work of the different commissions:
1. Alarmed by the recrudescence of anti-semitic propaganda in France, the national Congress of the French Amitie judeo-chretienne calls the attention of the people of France to the danger of a propaganda similar to that which, in the past, gave rise to the Dreyfus Affair and the Nazi genocide.
The Congress deems it necessary to show up the imposture of "anti-zionism". The character of its spokesmen, the nature of their writings, their arguments and the fame of their victims,
notably in eastern Europe, show clearly that, in most cases, it is only the latest form of an ideology which has remained unchanged from Drumont to Eichmann, whose objective is none other than the disappearance of the Jews, or even their extermination.
The Congress calls upon all men of good will, religious leaders and public authorities, to react forcefully against any anti-semitic propaganda or manifestation, experience having shown that any weakness in this respect points to complicity, and, in the end, incitement to murder.
2. The Amitie judeo-chretienne of France rejoices at the efforts being made by the Vatican in the hope of a peaceful settlement of the Near East conflict. It considers that recognition of the State of Israel by the Holy See would considerably strengthen action in this direction.
3. The Amide judeo-chretienne gratefully acknowledges the fact that the Holy Places are now open to all confessions, and recalls that in the tradition common to Judaism and Christianity a person is the most sacred of all realities.
4. The Congress is convinced that Jewish—Christian dialogue can develop into dialogue with all the Sons of Abraham in total respect of the beliefs of each spiritual family.
5. The Congress considers that the opinions expressed in a certain type of newspaper, particularly in a weekly such as Têmoignage Chrêtien, on the Israelo-Arab conflict, are not objective. The unjust and passionate stands taken can only be prejudicial to relations between Jews and Christians, and between Jews and Arabs, at a time when antisemitism so readily hides behind the mask of anti-Zionism. If contested, such a stand, based on politics, could give rise to religious anti-semitism.
6. The Congress unanimously approves all the interventions of the national offices of the Amide judeo-chretienne in regard to events in the Near East since the Six Days War. It affirms that Amitie judeo-chretienne (with all that "amide" implies of union and solidarity) took on all its meaning when the State of Israel was submitted to the trial which involved its very existence.
(Translated from La Documentation Catholique 1553, 21 decembre 1969, p. 1131.)
* * *
The Spiritual Diary of Cardinal Bea, translated into seven languages, is due to appear early in 1970. In this 400-page book, his secretary, Fr. S. Schmidt, S.J., publishes notes made by the Cardinal during his annual and monthly retreats between 1959 and 1968 — the period when he was president of the Secretariat for Unity. The book also includes a spiritual portrait of the Cardinal traced from his notes.
The English edition will be available from G. Chapman, London.
Prayer at Yad VashemThe following item was communicated to us this February by the Institute of Judaeo—Christian Studies, New Jersey.
"During a recent study trip to Israel, a group of Christian editors and journalists visited Yad Vashem, the monument on Mount Herzl that keeps alive the memory of the Jewish victims of Hitler's murderous plan. Msgr. John M. Oesterreicher who was a member of the visiting group recited the following prayer in their presence:
Lord, Rock of Israel, faithful and compassionate, God of the living and of the dead, we stand here on ground hallowed by the tears and prayers of a whole people. We are in your presence and in the presence of the millions slain by the hands of wickedness.
We trust that the murdered victims now live under the wings of your love. Still, the evil deed cannot be undone. What can be done is that we all live worthy of their memory. Their anguish must compel particularly us who are Christians to be on the side of the persecuted and never on the side of the persecutors.
May the day be near when you, Lord, 'will wipe away tears from all faces and remove the sorrow and shame from your people over all the earth'.
'Have mercy, 0 Lord our God, upon Israel your people, upon Jerusalem your city, upon Zion the abiding place of your glory'. Rakhem Adonai Elohenu al Yisrael amekha ve'al Yerushalayim irekha ve'al Tsion mishkan kevodekha.
Here, even as we hallow the memory of the dead, we are assured that You are Israel's Keeper: Am Yisrael khai! Israel — land, people, and state — lives and will live. Amen".
Study Tour in IsraelMarymount College (Tarrytown, New York) is organizing a study tour in Israel from August 3 to 31, 1970, for teachers of religion and social science in Catholic schools of the Archdiocese of New York and neighboring dioceses. The tour will be under the direction of Dr. Michael Zeik, chairman of the History Department and professor of History of Religion at Marymount College, and by Rabbi Asher Finkel of the Department of the History and Literature of Religion at New York University. The programme is designed to provide Catholic teachers with a knowledge of biblical geography and direct experience of modern Israel, the country, its achievements and its people.
After two weeks of intensive courses in Jerusalem, which will include the history of Israelite civilization, the archeology and geography of Israel, basic grammar and psychology of Hebrew and visits to historic and religious sites in the city, the participants will spend the remaining two weeks visiting the rest of the Holy Land.
