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DABRU EMET: A JEWISH STATEMENT ON CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY
September 10, 2000

This statement, the result of a scholarly dialogue which began five years ago, was signed by 172 Jewish scholars: 159 from the USA, 13 from the United Kingdom, Canada and Israel. They include Jewish thinkers and leaders from all four branches of Judaism: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist. The statement was co-authored by Dr. Michael A. Signer, University of Notre Dame; Dr. Tikva Frymer-Kensky, University of Chicago Divinity School; Dr. David Novak, University of Toronto; Dr. Peter W. Ochs, University of Virginia. The Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore, MD provided the educational setting in which the work of the project was conducted. The phrase “Dabru Emet” comes from the verse: “These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to one another, render true and perfect justice in your gates.” (Zech 8:16) The statement appeared on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2000 as full-page paid advertisements in The New York Times and The Sun of Baltimore.


In recent years, there has been a dramatic and unprecedented shift in Jewish and Christian relations. Throughout the nearly two millennia of Jewish exile, Christians have tended to characterize Judaism as a failed religion or, at best, a religion that prepared the way for, and is completed in, Christianity. In the decades since the Holocaust, however, Christianity has changed dramatically. An increasing number of official church bodies, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, have made public statements of their remorse about Christian mistreatment of Jews and Judaism. These statements have declared, furthermore, that Christian teaching and preaching can and must be reformed so that they acknowledge God’s enduring covenant with the Jewish people and celebrate the contribution of Judaism to the world civilization and to Christian faith itself.
We believe these changes merit a thoughtful Jewish response. Speaking only for ourselves – an interdenominational group of Jewish scholars – we believe it is time for Jews to learn about the efforts of Christians to honor Judaism. We believe it is time for Jews to reflect on what Judaism may now say about Christianity. As a first step, we offer eight brief statements about how Jews and Christians may relate to one another.

JEWS AND CHRISTIANS WORSHIP THE SAME GOD.
Before the rise of Christianity, Jews were the only worshippers of the God of Israel. But Christians also worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; creator of heaven and earth. While Christian worship is not a viable religious choice for Jews, as Jewish theologians we rejoice that, through Christianity, hundreds of millions of people have entered into relationship with the God of Israel.

JEWS AND CHRISTIANS SEEK AUTHORITY FROM THE SAME BOOK – THE BIBLE (WHAT JEWS CALL “TANAKH” AND CHRISTIANS CALL THE “OLD TESTAMENT”).
Turning to it for religious orientation, spiritual enrichment, and communal education, we each take away similar lessons: God created and sustains 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.

CHRISTIANS CAN RESPECT THE CLAIM OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE UPON THE LAND OF ISRAEL.
The most important event for Jews since the Holocaust has been the reestablishment of a Jewish state in the Promised Land. As members of a biblically-based religion, Christians appreciate that Israel was promised – and given – to Jews as the physical center of the covenant between them and God. Many Christians support the State of Israel for reasons far more profound than mere politics. As Jews, we applaud this support. We also recognize that Jewish tradition mandates justice for all non-Jews who reside in a Jewish state.

JEWS AND CHRISTIANS ACCEPT THE MORAL PRINCIPLES OF TORAH.
Central to the moral principles of Torah is the inalienable sanctity and dignity of every human being. All of us were created in the image of God. This shared moral emphasis can be the basis of an improved relationship between our two communities. It can also be the basis of a powerful witness to all humanity for improving the lives of our fellow human beings and for standing against the immoralities and idolatries that harm and degrade us. Such witness is especially needed after the unprecedented horrors of the past century.

NAZISM WAS NOT A CHRISTIAN PHENOMENON.
Without the long history of Christian anti-Judiasm and Christian violence against Jews, Nazi ideology could not have taken hold nor could it have been carried out. Too many Christians participated in, or were sympathetic to, Nazi atrocities against Jews. Other Christians did not protest sufficiently against these atrocities. But Nazism itself was not an inevitable outcome of Christianity. If the Nazi extermination of the Jews had been fully successful, it would have turned its murderous rage more directly to Christians. We recognize with gratitude those Christians who risked or sacrificed their lives to save Jews during the Nazi regime. With that in mind, we encourage the continuation of recent efforts in Christian theology to repudiate unequivocally contempt of Judaism and the Jewish people. We applaud those Christians who reject this teaching of contempt, and we do not blame them for the sins committed by their ancestors.

THE HUMANLY IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JEWS AND CHRISTIANS WILL NOT BE SETTLED UNTIL GOD REDEEMS THE ENTIRE WORLD AS PROMISED IN SCRIPTURE.
Christians know and serve God through Jesus Christ and the Christian tradition. Jews know and serve god through Torah and the Jewish tradition. That difference will not be settled by one community insisting that it has interpreted Scripture more accurately than the other; nor by exercising political power over the other. Jews can respect Christians’ faithfulness to their revelation just as we expect Christians to respect our faithfulness to our revelation. Neither Jew nor Christian should be pressed into affirming the teaching of the other community.

A NEW RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JEWS AND CHRISTIANS WILL NOT WEAKEN JEWISH PRACTICE.
An improved relationship will not accelerate the cultural and religious assimilation that Jews rightly fear. It will not change traditional Jewish forms of worship, nor increase intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews, nor persuade more Jews to convert to Christianity, nor create a false blending of Judaism and Christianity. We respect Christianity as a faith that originated within Judaism and that still has significant contacts with it. We do not see it as an extension of Judaism. Only if we cherish our own traditions can we pursue this relationship with integrity.

JEWS AND CHRISTIANS MUST WORK TOGETHER FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE.
Jews and Christians, each in their own way, recognize the unredeemed state of the world as reflected in the persistence of persecution, poverty, and human degradation and misery. Although justice and peace are finally God’s, our joint efforts, together with those of other faith communities, will help bring the kingdom of God for which we hope and long. Separately and together, we must work to bring justice and peace to our world. In this enterprise, we are guided by the vision of the prophets of Israel:
“It shall come to pass in the end of days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established at the top of the mountains and be exalted above the hills, and the nations shall flow unto it...and many peoples shall go and say, ‘Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob and He will teach us His ways and we will walk in his paths.’” (Is 2:2-3)



THE POWER OF WORDS: A CATHOLIC RESPONSE TO DABRU EMET
The United States Catholic Conference, Nov. 1, 2000


In Seelisberg, Switzerland, in 1947, in the immediate wake of World War II, a group of Christians, Protestants and Catholics, gathered together to ponder the implications for their churches of the devastation visited upon the Jewish people by the Holocaust. They issued, together, ten simple points on how Christians should speak about Jews and Judaism. Though they represented only themselves and not their official institutions, their words had weight and over time have born much fruit, reflected in numerous powerful statements by Christian groups on all levels ranging from the World Council of Churches and the Second Vatican Council (Nostra Aetate, 1965), on the one hand, to national and local Christian bodies on the other. In 1947, the ten words of the Seelisberg statement, while seen by some of their fellow Christians as bold and visionary, were deemed by many others to be marginal and even eccentric. Yet they carried the day and, in retrospect, can be said to have been truly prophetic in its most profound sense.
In Baltimore, as the turning of the Third Millennium drew near, a group of Jewish thinkers gathered from around the United States to formalize a response. Four drafters were chosen, and a work that was to consume many minds for many months began. By the time the resulting statement, Dabru Emet (“To Speak the Truth”), was published simultaneously in Baltimore and New York, some 170 leading Jewish figures, both academic and religious, had signed on. It is a remarkable achievement, as those of us in the Catholic community who best know the Jewish community through years of dialogue can attest. We welcome this gesture of reconciliation offered on the eve of Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) in the spirit of repentance and humility modeled for us by Pope John Paul II during his historic visits to the Great Synagogue of Rome and to Jerusalem itself.
For our part, as representative Catholic leaders involved in the dialogue, we wish to urge Catholics throughout the United States to read it with care and loving respect. Through dialogue, we have come to understand something of the pain of centuries of Jewish suffering at the hands of Christians that lies just underneath the surface of this document and why, therefore, it is such a significant contribution to further progress in Jewish-Christian relations. We hope it will be used as the basis for ongoing conversations between parish and synagogue congregations throughout the country. There is much in it with which Catholics will agree instantly and whole-heartedly, and much that will spur further consideration and dialogue between our two communities, and, we daresay, within each faith community as well!
Like Seelisberg and Nostra Aetate, the text is short and seemingly simple. Like them, however, each carefully crafted phrase is pregnant with meaning challenging us as Christians to careful and prayerful meditation. One test of such statements addressed to one’s own community but with an awareness that another community is, as it were, looking over our shoulder as we write, is whether the onlooking community will see themselves validly portrayed there. By and large we do, and we are grateful for and respectful of the immense scholarship and religious openness that is required to do such a thing just right.
Dabru Emet will surely and quite rightly be the first item on the agenda of many a dialogue in the years ahead. It is already on the agenda, for example of the ongoing dialogue between our Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the National Council of Synagogues. It covers a range of issues from the theological to the practical that merit further exploration between us. It is a great gift to have as we Christians and Jews move together into what is, after all, the third millennium of our too-often troubled history. May we say to the drafters and to all the signers, “May you go from strength to strength!”


His Eminence William Cardinal Keeler,
Archbishop of Baltimore
Episcopal Moderator, Catholic-Jewish Relations, NCCB


The Most Rev. Tod D. Brown,
Bishop of Orange in California
Chair, Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs



JUBILEE: RENEWING OUR COMMON BONDS WITH THE JEWISH COMMUNITY AN INVITATION TO MEMBERS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN CANADA
Episcopal Commission for Ecumenism, CCCB, October 13, 2000


Declaring a Jubilee
It shall be a jubilee for you:
you shall return every one of you, to your property
and every one of you to your family. (Lv 25:10)
As members of the Catholic Church, we are celebrating this year a “Great Jubilee”, marking the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Christ. The book of Leviticus highlights the commitment of such a jubilee: to reflect on our life as a community, to return to the origins of our faith, and to renew our faith experience itself. Remembering leads us to celebrate the abundant signs of God’s gifts. In remembering we are called to refocus; this spirit of jubilation within and among us invites a renewed commitment to follow Jesus Christ more courageously and coherently.1
Jesus of Nazareth was born of the Jewish people, and was rooted in the tradition of Moses and the prophets. Although his teaching had a profoundly new character, in many instances Christ took his stand on the teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures and often employed the methods of the rabbis of his time. “Jesus was and always remained a Jew.”2 The Jewishness of Jesus, the fact that he was a man of his century and environment, “cannot but underline both the reality of the Incarnation and the very meaning of the history of salvation, as it has been revealed in the Bible.”3 Thus, the more familiar we become with Judaism, particularly in its traditions but also in its lived experience, the better we will understand Jesus.


A Time to Remember

Celebrating the Christ event truly invites remembering – remembering the two thousand years that comprise the story of the Christian community, from its beginnings within the Jewish community in Jerusalem, through the dramatic evolution that occurred as the Church took root in Gentile communities of other cultures, to its present situation as a worldwide faith community. In the expression of Christian self-understanding, however, the continued presence and inspiration of the Jewish tradition cannot be denied. In fact, “Christians must strive to acquire a better knowledge of the basic components of the religious traditions of Judaism; they must strive to understand by what essential traits Jews define themselves in light of their own religious experience.”4 The Jewish people are “dear to God”. Their election and mission have a permanent validity and they play a decisive role in the religious history of humanity.
As it is from Judaism that the Church has learned the practice of the Jubilee Year, should not this year mark a further step forward in our attitudes toward the Jewish people? In this year, could we not take some concrete steps towards a new relationship marked by understanding, peace and mutual respect? As we continue to heal the wounds that divide Jewish and Christian communities, we will contribute to healing the wounds of the world which the Talmud describes as a necessary action in preparing for “the kingdom of the Most High.”


Common Spiritual Bonds

The Church of Christ discovers her “bond” with Judaism by “searching into her own mystery”.5 In the scriptures but also in theology and liturgy, Christianity remains vitally linked with the Jewish religion. On his 1986 visit to the Synagogue of Rome, Pope John Paul II stated: “the Jewish religion is not ‘extrinsic’ to us, but in a certain way is ‘intrinsic’ to our own religion. With Judaism therefore we have a relationship which we do not have with any other religion. You are our dearly beloved brothers and, in a certain way, it could be said that you are our elder brothers.”
Jews and Christians find in the Bible the very substance of their liturgy. The prayer of the Hours and other liturgical texts have their parallels in Judaism as do the very formulas of our most cherished prayers. The eucharistic prayers, so central to our worship, also draw their inspiration from the great berakhot or blessing prayers of the Jewish tradition. It is important that we appreciate the riches of our faith for which we are indebted to Judaism, and to affirm the insights that can come from an awareness of Jewish liturgy and Jewish commentaries on scripture.
In coming to know members of the Jewish community, we want to appreciate their history and traditions without taking over. While much can be learned through participating in Jewish festivals, care must be taken to avoid any semblance of appropriation or re-staging of events in Jewish history. Words and symbols have a coherence and meaning within the whole of a tradition and can be distorted if they are simply imported into another tradition.


Ambiguities of a Shared History

The early Church and Rabbinic Judaism both took shape about the same time, both rooted in biblical Judaism. In spite of, and to some extent because of, their close association, the original first century separation became a rivalry, then an alienation, and finally a centuries-long hostility. While “the history of relations between Jews and Christians is a tormented one,”6 the spiritual bonds and historical links binding Christianity to Judaism condemn, as opposed to the very spirit of Christianity, all forms of anti-semitism and discrimination.”7 The profoundly un-christian character of anti-semitism has been clearly affirmed in the teaching of recent popes from the statement of Pius XI that “Spiritually, we are all Semites”8 to the unqualified declaration of Pope John Paul II that “Anti-semitism has no justification and is absolutely condemnable.”9
Concerning the charge of “deicide” (responsibility for the death of Jesus), which has been a major factor in the history of “tormented” relations between Jews and Christians, the Second Vatican Council clearly asserts: “neither all Jews indiscriminately at that time, nor Jews today, can be charged with the crimes committed during his [Jesus’] passion.”10 In the teaching of the Catholic Church, Jesus went freely to his death for the sins of the world. Thus, there is no theological or scriptural justification for the accusation of deicide. This calumny should never again be repeated, and “the Jews should not be spoken of as rejected or accursed.”11 Further, the Council’s Declaration on Religious Liberty is clear in its teaching that faith is a free gift of God which may never be commanded or coerced.


A Call to Reconciliation

On March 12, the first Sunday of Lent in this Jubilee year, Pope John Paul II led the Catholic Church in a prayer for pardon that made specific reference to the sins of its members regarding the people of the first covenant, Israel.12 By placing the confession of sins within the context of the liturgy, the pope wished to demonstrate the inner meaning of this act: purification of memory and reconciliation. During his recent pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Pope John Paul II became the first pope to pray at the Western Wall, the most sacred place in Judaism. There he placed a written prayer for forgiveness. Prayer is central to the repentance and reconciliation to which we are called.
The call to reconciliation is an essential part of Jesus’ message. It is a primary category for understanding God’s work in the world as well as the Church’s mission to participate in that work. “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself in Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, ...and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” (2 Cor 5:18-20) According to Pope Paul VI, the gospel is to influence and even upset human values, points of interest, lines of thought and models of life which are in contrast with God’s word and plan of salvation. Christian witness means “bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity, and through its influence, transforming it from within and making it new.”13 Thus, Christian commitment to a life of reconciliation will have an impact not only on personal relations but also on human society as a whole.
Reconciliation begins with repentance, a firm commitment to turn away from the sources of division and from attitudes of rejection. Repentance may occur in response to a sudden insight or as a result of a more gradual growth in understanding. In either case, it will lead to a basic change of life, a complete abandonment of former attitudes and practices. The Scriptures remind us that remembering is central to our fidelity to God’s covenant: “He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth. Remember his covenant forever.” (1 Chr 16:14-15) Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, (Lk 15:11-24) highlights remembrance as a key factor in the individual’s recognition of the need to repent. Is this not the kind of remembrance to which we are called in a time of Jubilee?


Practical Steps

Over the past number of years, the Church has come to an acknowledgment of God’s call to profound change in our relations with Judaism and with the Jewish people. How can we express our Jubilee commitment to this?
C Prayer: In light of our shared spiritual heritage, Christians and Jews may find it appropriate to pray together on certain occasions. Shared prayer which is faithful to both traditions may be a powerful stimulus to mutual understanding and reconciliation.
C Visits and Social Events: Understanding may be fostered through combined or separate visits to places of worship, schools, museums, or other similar sites. Joint social events might provide a good opportunity to meet Jewish neighbors.
C Conversations: Group conversations and home dialogues in which participants discuss various topics or themes in openness, candor and friendship, may be a concrete step in promoting understanding. This is the beginning of a process in which we hope to engage respectfully.
C Study of Church Documents: Diocesan and parochial organizations, schools, and especially seminaries might plan programs to explain and implement Nostra Aetate and subsequent official documents. The liturgical season of Lent with its focus on repentance and reconciliation seems a particularly appropriate time to offer such programs.
C Preaching and Teaching: The goal in preaching and teaching is to present Jews and Judaism not only in an honest and objective manner, free from prejudice and without giving offence, but also with full awareness of our sharing in a common heritage of faith.
C Printed Texts and the Media: School texts, prayer and hymn books, must reflect the content and spirit of Church teaching. Of particular importance is the Jewish tradition of not saying aloud the Holy Name of God which is usually printed as YHWH or Yahweh. Thus, where it appears in Bible translations or hymns, an appropriate replacement such as “The Lord”, “The Eternal One”, or simply “God” should be said instead.
C Cooperation on Issues of Justice and Peace: Founded on the word of God, Jewish and Christian traditions are aware of the unique value of the human person. Wherever possible, cooperation is to be encouraged in social endeavors designed to promote public welfare and morality, especially in issues related to peace, justice, and human rights and dignity. Participation in programs to commemorate the Holocaust (Shoah) may help to raise consciousness of these issues and promote joint Christian and Jewish commitments to them.


Hope for the Future

At Pentecost, the first disciples of Jesus were suddenly caught up in an amazing, even bewildering, outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4). The divisiveness of the tower of Babel gave way to an astonishing experience of unity in the Spirit through the diversity of language and culture. In our own time we too are called to recognize the wonders of God across linguistic and cultural diversity.
As children of Abraham, Jews and Christians are called to be a blessing for the world. (Gn 12:2 ff) This promise and call of Abraham invites a common commitment to the promotion of peace and justice among all peoples. In the words of Pope John Paul II, “Jews and Christians share an immense spiritual patrimony flowing from God’s self-revelation. Our religious teachings and our spiritual experience demand that we overcome evil with good... For us, to remember is to pray for peace and justice, to commit ourselves to their cause.” 14





STATEMENT FROM AMERICAN RABBIS AND RABBINICAL ASSEMBLY
USA, March 14, 2000


The Central Conference of American Rabbis (Reform) and the Rabbinical Assembly (Conservative), representing 3,000 rabbis, wish to recognize and acknowledge the growing bonds between the Jewish and Catholic communities. We praise Pope John Paul II’s courageous strides in working to heal the historic breach that has separated our communities. The Pope has affirmed the irrevocable nature of God’s covenant with the Jewish people. He has condemned anti-Semitism as a “sin against God.” He has forged diplomatic relations with Israel, recognizing the Jewish State’s right to exist within secure borders. He has called upon Christendom to engage in teshuva for the atrocities of the Holocaust. He has apologized for the excesses of the Crusades and the Inquisition. He has opposed Christian missionizing toward the Jews, instead urging the intensification of Jewish piety. In this context, we welcome and applaud Pope John Paul II’s historic liturgy of forgiveness, presented to the global community of Catholics this past Sunday.
Borrowing from the Pope’s terminology, we call upon our rabbinic constituents to engage in intensified dialogue and fellowship with our Roman Catholic neighbors. At this historic moment of the first papal pilgrimage to the sovereign Jewish State, may the inspiring leadership of Pope John Paul II lead us toward greater reconciliation, friendship and partnership in effecting tikkun olam.


Rabbi Charles Kroloff, President;
Rabbi Paul Menitoff, Executive Vice President
Central Conference of American Rabbis


Rabbi Seymour Essrog, President;
Rabbi Joel Myers, Executive Vice President
The Rabbinical Assembly



PRESENTATION OF LETTERS OF CREDENCE TO THE HOLY SEE
Ambassador of Israel, Yosef Lamdon, September 18, 2000


Your Holiness,
Yours was a pilgrimage unlike any witnessed by our ancient Land. Yours was a sojourn without parallel in our “old-new” State. You walked, in humility, over mountains. On a very personal quest, you embraced mankind. Sinai, Nebo, the Beatitudes – Moriah and Zion. Peace, faith and human dignity – brotherhood, reconciliation and collaboration: these were your themes. So many telling moments and images stand out – a Royal Jordanian aircraft flying Papal and Israeli flags, a joyful Mass by the Sea of Galilee, meditation in the Holy Sepulchre, a solitary figure by the Western Wall. On behalf of the government and People of Israel, Jews, Christians, Muslims and Druze alike, I thank you for your visit.
In word and deed, you warmly re-affirmed Israel’s sovereign equality among the nations. You called on the President of Israel; you visited the Chief Rabbis and the Heads of the Eastern Orthodox Communities. You brought benediction and inspiration to local Catholics and you sought to strengthen the bond which binds believers to the three Abrahamic religions.
To our Jewish citizens – indeed, to Jews everywhere – you re-iterated a special message: elder brothers, chosen of God, who remain the People of the Covenant never revoked. You grieved with us visibly at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and, in a certain sense, you rejoiced with us as you moved around the Land in which the Lord chose to “pitch his tent” – whither, as you have remarked, we returned as of right, after a long and painful exile. On behalf of the Jewish People, I wish to convey our deep appreciation.
Above all, Your Holiness, you touched hearts, you opened minds and you offered a vision – of new peaks to ascend, new avenues to explore. In our relations on all planes, much has been attained in a short of time. Yet, against a backdrop of two uneasy millennia, so much more remains to be done. Your visit served to illuminate and consolidate, but it was also a call to take stock, to re-engage and to work together purposefully, in mutual respect and cooperation, towards a new and fruitful future, for the benefit of all.
On the bilateral level, one guide in this joint endeavor needs to be the “Fundamental Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Israel”, signed in December, 1993. It behooves us to look afresh at what we are doing inter alia to protect religious and other freedoms, to combat anti-Semitism and all forms of racism, to educate and re-educate at all levels, to deepen the cultural and scholarly exchanges between Catholic institutions worldwide and parallel ones in Israel, to better acquaint Christian pilgrims with the peoples and religions in Israel, and to advance the continuing negotiations between us. We would do well to re-examine the modalities and mechanisms required to achieve these aims. We may wish to improve the lines of communication and consultation between us. And, in this context, we might consider how to re-activate the wider dialogue between us on issues of common interest and import in today’s troubled world.
In the matter of the “Status quo”, also addressed in the Fundamental Agreement, we would wish to repeat Israel’s continuing commitment to maintain it in the Christian Holy Places to which it applies and to uphold the respective rights which the Christian communities enjoy under it.
On the question of Jerusalem, we have noted Your Holiness’s prayer, voiced in your letter of 4 April, 2000 to the President of Israel, that all concerned “speedily commit themselves to appropriate negotiations in order to guarantee access and proper conditions of worship”. I can assure Your Holiness that Israel shares these aspirations for its capital and indeed has already inscribed them into law. In fact, recognizing that Jerusalem is also sacred to Christians the world over, Israeli law goes further. It ensures the protection of the Holy Places in general from desecration and violation, and to Christians, together with believers of all faiths, it guarantees freedom of thought, conscience, religion and worship, as well as equality of civil and political rights – wholly in keeping with the Fundamental Agreement.
In the broader perspective, I would also wish to reassure Your Holiness of the earnest commitment of Israel to the Middle East process in all its aspects. In essence, we seek the self-same security and tranquillity which Your Holiness invoked for us in Redemptionis Anno, as “the prerogative of every nation and (the) condition of life and progress in every society.” Indeed, our deepest desire is to live at peace with our neighbors, in mutual respect, dignity and harmony, while preserving the vital interests of all sides. With regard to the realization of legitimate Palestinian aspirations, we subscribe to the sentiment expressed by Your Holiness in Bethlehem, that a just and lasting peace – “not imposed, but secured through negotiation” – is called for. Moreover, as the Prime Minister put it only a fortnight ago at the UN Millennium Summit in New York, “the opportunity for peace in the Middle East is now at hand, and must not be missed.”
There is, of course, another dimension to our unique and special relationship and that is the process of reconciliation between Catholics and Jews, and Israel’s involvement therein. Israel trusts that this truly extraordinary process, made possible at the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council through Nostra Aetate, will continue. In the wake of your visit, Israel intends to play a more active part in it, both as representative of a large segment of the Jewish People and as the spiritual and cultural center thereof. We see merit, therefore, in developing the various channels which have been opened, including the ongoing dialogue through the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee.
In this connection, consideration may be given to broadening that dialogue’s agenda in the hope that it might contribute moral leadership on some of the more daunting challenges facing humankind on the threshold of a new millennium. Your Holiness has often observed that our respective spiritual heritages have much in common and that there is much that we can do together to help create a more humane and fraternal world. We would suggest that ways be sought to translate our shared ethical values into meaningful direction for concrete social and humanitarian action, in such fields as the preservation of the family, the fight against famine and disease, the eradication of terror and the prevention of substance abuse, to name but a few. Like Your Holiness, we are of the view that in this undertaking we should at all times be inspired by the awareness that every human being is created in the image of God.
Your Holiness, this is no small agenda, but if I may be permitted to say so, we cannot shirk it. With the full support of my Government, I shall spare no effort in trying to carry it forward. Personally, I see the task as an immense historical, intellectual and diplomatic challenge, and I approach it with no little awe and humility – in the spirit of a prayer from the upcoming Jewish Day of Atonement: being dispatched to represent Israel and the People of Israel, albeit “scant of deed and meagre of worth” as I am. With God’s help, may we work together to take our relations, in every sphere, to the heights which Your Holiness envisaged in Israel.
It is thus with a distinct sense of honor and a measure of emotion that I present to Your Holiness the Letters by which the President of Israel has accredited me as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel to the Holy See.



Response by Pope John Paul II


Mr. Ambassador,
I am very pleased to welcome you to the Vatican and to accept the Letters accrediting you as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel to the Holy See. My thoughts at this moment are of a deep and abiding gratitude: gratitude to God who in this year of the Great Jubilee led my pilgrim steps to the Holy Land and its peoples; gratitude to the civil and religious authorities for the welcome and attention they gave me during the intense days of my visit in March.
The Holy Land will always occupy a central place in the minds and hearts of Jews, Christians and Muslims. The Year 2000, with its commemoration of the birth of Jesus, could not but draw the loving attention of millions of Christian people in every corner of the earth to the places where Jesus lived, died and rose again. The vivid experience of my pilgrimage to the Holy Places lives on in my spirit as an extraordinary grace of God and a kind of testimony that I would like to leave, especially to the younger generation, as an invitation to build a new era of relations between Christians and Jews.
I hope above all that the religious nature of that visit will not be forgotten. My overriding purpose was to go from one Holy Place to another in a spirit of prayer, knowing that this “helps us not only to live our life as a journey, but also gives us a vivid sense of a God who has gone before us and leads us on, who himself set out on man’s path, a God who does not look down on us from on high, but who became our travelling companion” (Letter concerning Pilgrimage to the Places linked to the History of Salvation, 29 June 1999, No. 10).
The Church is fully aware that “she draws sustenance from the root of that good olive tree onto which have been grafted the wild olive branches of the Gentiles” (Nostra Aetate, 4). The spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is so great and so vital to the religious and moral health of the human family that every effort must be made to advance and expand our dialogue, especially on biblical, theological and ethical matters. And a fresh mutual and sincere attempt must be made at every level to help Christians and Jews to know, respect and esteem more fully each other’s beliefs and traditions. This is the surest way to overcome the prejudices of the past and to raise a barrier against the forms of anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia which are reappearing in some places today. Today as always, it is not genuine religious faith and practice which give rise to the tragedy of discrimination and persecution, but loss of faith and the rise of a selfish and materialistic outlook bereft of true values, a culture of emptiness. Therefore your words, Mr. Ambassador, about the need for moral leadership in responding to some of the more daunting challenges facing mankind in the new millennium find a ready echo in the convictions of the Holy See.
A continuing source of sadness is the elusive character of a definitive peace in the Middle East. We all rejoice every time a step forward is announced in the complex negotiations which have become an essential feature of relations between Israel and its neighbors, especially the Palestinian Authority. The continuation of dialogue and negotiation is itself a significant development. And it is important to acknowledge just how substantial is the progress made so far, lest those involved be discouraged at the size of the task still ahead. Sometimes the obstacles to peace appear so great and so many that to face them seems humanly impossible. But what seemed unthinkable even a few short years ago is now a reality or at least a matter of open discussion, and this must convince all concerned that a solution is possible. It must encourage everyone to press forward with hope and perseverance.
Concerning the delicate question of Jerusalem, what is important is that the way forward be the path of dialogue and agreement, not force and imposition. And what is of special concern to the Holy See is that the unique religious character of the Holy City be preserved by a special, internationally guaranteed statute. The history and present reality of interreligious relations in the Holy Land is such that no just and lasting peace is foreseeable without some form of support from the international community. The purpose of this international support would be the conservation of the cultural and religious patrimony of the Holy City, a patrimony which belongs to Jews, Christians and Muslims all over the world and to the entire international community. In fact, the Holy Places are not mere memorials of the past, but are and must continue to be the nerve-center of vibrant, living and developing communities of believers, free in the exercise of their rights and duties, and living in harmony with one another. What is at stake is not just the preservation of and free access to the holy places of the three religions, but also the free exercise of the religious and civil rights pertaining to the members, places and activities of the various communities. The end result must be – as I said during my visit – a Jerusalem and a Holy Land in which the various religious communities succeed in living and working together in friendship and harmony, a Jerusalem that will truly be a City of Peace for all peoples. Then we shall all repeat the words of the Prophet: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, ... that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths” (Is 2:3).
Mr. Ambassador, my prayers are with you as you begin you mission as Israel’s diplomatic representative to the Holy See, and I am certain that you will do everything in your power to increase understanding and friendship between us, in the spirit of the Fundamental Agreement and the other documents which are intended to guarantee its application. Likewise, the various offices of the Roman Curia will willingly cooperate with you as you discharge your high duties. May goodness and kindness follow you all the days of your life (cf. Ps 22:6).



THE FAULTS OF THE CHURCH: LETTER OF THE BISHOPS OF LITHUANIA
April 15, 2000 – Day of Repentance and Pardon15


In the year 2000 the whole world is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is the year of the Great Jubilee, a time of special grace. However, that grace of Redemption is acceptable to us only after sincere repentance and the resolution not to fall again into the same errors. The Church is faithful to the mission confided to it by her Lord; nevertheless, because of the weakness of its members, it it has not been able to avoid error. It is precisely for these faults that the church wishes to express her repentance and in this way purify her memory. The Holy Father was the first to give us an example of this last Mar. 12, and during a celebration of repentance asked pardon for the faults of Catholics in the past.
We, the Bishops of Lithuania, in communion with the Holy Father and the whole Church, profiting by the grace for the Jubilee Year, a gift of God, decree a day of repentance and pardon. On this occasion we wish to mention several faults of the past.
We express regret for the unworthy means which the children of the Church have sometimes used to defend the faith and to spread it, forgetting that God is love and that it is only through love that the nations can be guided toward the truth. In the past, force and hatred were used, in contradiction to the teachings of the Church, and thus became a burden to the memory of the church.
We regret that in past centuries the Church allowed itself to become involved in national conflicts and did not react adequately when national pride was placed before Gospel values. The Church’s memory bears the burden of militant nationalists who relied on religious sentiment to mutually destroy one another.
We are pained that, during World War II, some of the Church’s members were lacking in their duty of love toward the persecuted Jews, that they did not exhaust all possibilities to defend them, and above all, that they were not determined to stop the followers of Hitler. The Church’s memory bears the burden of all manifestations of anti-Semitism in the past and the present which support people in irresponsible actions and lack of Christian love. We regret that members of the Church, through weakness, fear or desire for gain, supported criminal regimes of occupation. They failed in their religious, moral and patriotic duty. They helped the oppressors. The memory of the Church is burdened by the thought of those lay people and clergy who collaborated with the occupying forces, oppressors of the Church and country.
We ask pardon for those members of the church who, in spite of the Gospel command to serve and to share with the poorest, lacked sensitivity in the face of destitution and misery and the absence of social justice. The Church’s memory is weighed down with the unheeded tears of the oppressed.
We also regret that some members of the Church have lacked respect for unborn human life, thus causing great harm to the nation and the Church. This blood was shed with the consent and by the hands of members of the Church.
May the confession of these faults awaken our Christian conscience. We must avoid similar failings in the world today in which people are encouraged to engage in an increasing number of compromises. While asking pardon for the faults of the members of the Church, we pardon them. While regretting the faults committed in the past and in the present, we hope that the Jubilee Year will be a year of renewal and sanctification. May the 100 years before us be a century of peace, unity, collective responsibility and of Christian love!


Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius, President
Msgr. Jonas Boratu, Secretary General
The Bishops’ Conference of Lithuania


LIVING WITH ONE AND THE SAME HOPE: ON THE MEANING OF THE MEETING WITH JUDAISM FOR CATHOLICS
The RC Bishops of the Netherlands, Nov. 1, 1999


We stand on the eve of the third millennium. A proper moment to reflect on the past. It is not possible to renew the present without rendering account for the past.
In our 1995 episcopal letter entitled Levend uit één en dezelfde worte, 16 [Living from One and the Same Root] we focused on what has taken place between Judaism and Christianity. To learn from the past, we wanted to examine the wrongs against Judaism done on the Catholic part. We noted then and repeat now, that “a tradition of theological and ecclesiastical anti-Judaism contributed to the rise of a climate in which the Shoah could take place.” We condemned anti-Judaism and issued a call to get to know Judaism as it sees itself. We are aware that much still needs to be done before ignorance and prejudice are eliminated completely.
For Christians, however, Judaism means more than only guilt and a painful past. Our generation is experiencing a new, profound meeting between Jews and Christians. That Jews, after years of diaspora and after the Shoah can again live in their own state, has greatly facilitated this meeting on the Jewish side. Moreover, pilgrimages and study trips to Israel provide a special introduction to the many-faceted Jewish and Christian life there, including the complex political and social questions. The meeting with Judaism can inspire Christians to renew their faith. In 1995 we emphasized that “we Christians may never forget that Jesus of Nazareth is a son of the Jewish people, rooted in the tradition of Moses and the prophets. Through the meeting with Judaism we come to understand Jesus better. We remain vitally linked with the Jewish religion not only in the Scriptures but also in our theology and liturgy.” In this spirit, the present letter wishes to be a sequel to that of 1995. We wish to see in what areas familiarity with Judaism can be especially fruitful for Christian life. 17
It is evident that there can be no question of a thoughtless adoption or even annexation of Jewish traditions by Christian practice. This would display a lack of respect for both the Jewish and the Christian traditions. True meeting illuminates one’s own identity and respects the other in his or her own religious convictions. Nor do we wish to idealize Judaism, or to suggest that Judaism has tailor-made answers for problems that arise within the transition of Christian faith. Each faith tradition bears its own responsibility in this area. Yet this does not deny that the basic structures of the Jewish faith have much to teach us. It involves a re-appraisal of our own foundation that ultimately will bring us closer to Jesus Christ and the Jewish life in which He was rooted.
The Vatican Guidelines and Suggestions for Implementing the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate (4), (1975) distinguish three areas in which discussion with Judaism can be fruitful for the faith of the Church: 1. The Use of Scripture, 2. Liturgy, 3. Ethical and Social Questions. Looking forward to the approaching third millennium, we add to this: 4. The Future as Messianic Hope.
The Use of Scripture. The Synagogue can teach us much about the use of the Word of God. Every Sabbath the Torah of Moses resounds in synagogue worship. It is the unchanging Word of God, of which no dot or iota is altered. On the other hand, the Torah speaks in many languages and in many ways to each person. Jewish wisdom tells us that the Torah is revealed in seventy languages, so that each one can hear it in his or her own way. Thus experiences of many generations resound in the explanation of the Hebrew Bible and belong to this explanation. We recognize the simultaneous presence of faithfulness to God’s Word and respect for each one’s personal questions and experiences as an authentic way of transition of faith and as mark of Jewish biblical spirituality. This is the spirituality in which Jesus is rooted.
In addition, the texts are explained and questioned in the house of study. In studying Scripture together, the participants’ questions even precede over the answers. For it is only thanks to the questions that we can understand and appreciate the answers tradition offers. Reflecting this centuries-old Jewish learning model, Christian houses of study have arisen here and there over the past decades. In them the Old and New Testament are studied with great love and dedication. This is a gratifying development. A spirituality that is anchored in the gospel continually seeks to nourish itself in ‘Moses and the prophets’ (Cf. Lk 16:29-31; 24:27,44-45).
It is befitting here to express a word of appreciation for our Reformed co-believers who have often been at the forefront of such efforts. Houses of study are ideally suited for an ecumenical approach. It is enriching when there are also Jewish participants in such a house of study. But even when this is not the case, a house of study has much to offer as a model for transition of faith.
Next to the synagogue and the house of study there is another place where Judaism passes on its tradition intensely: the home. Within the structure offered by the commandments of the Torah, the family circle provides the most primary introduction to the faith. For Catholics, the home situation is also the foundation for experiencing and passing on the faith. Now, we must admit that the role Scripture plays here is sometimes minimal. Although there are families – and we should not forget here the communities and individuals – which give Scripture a place in their daily lives, practice is often different. It seems as if many Catholics do not experience the Bible as their book. Perhaps part of the fault lies with a too patronizing attitude within the Church in the past.
Luckily many deanery and diocesan workers encourage daily use of Scriptures in our community. Connecting faith and life may not be limited only to the Sunday liturgy, but applies to seven days a week! Reading schedules can be a good guide for daily reading. Although the faithful can initially feel lost in a maze – the Bible is not simple –gradually paths take shape, not only in the texts but also in daily life: on the way with God’s Word.
Liturgy. Coupled with daily, studious use of the Torah is the fulfillment of God’s commandments. What inspiration can Christians derive from the Jewish sanctification of life through the mitzvot, the commandments? A first element to note is that the Jewish liturgical tradition lies at the origin of the Christian liturgy. The Jewish background of the Christian feast days Easter and Pentecost as well as the sanctification of time by devoting one day a week to ‘rest’, are essential for Christian experience. But what is particularly striking in the Jewish liturgical experience is the permanent concern to connect liturgy and life. The Jewish Passover Feast, Pesach, commemorates liberation from oppression and slavery, in the past and the present.
Pesach is a model for actively experiencing hope in the future. The family is responsible for this celebration of the Seder, which is an excellent example of home liturgy. Imitation of this impressive Jewish celebration by Christians seems to us, despite all good intentions, an undesirable annexation of Jewish ideas. Rather, Christians can seek inspiration by becoming familiar with the Jewish rites and symbols on how to experience and develop ways and moments of sanctification, especially at home. The sanctification of life is not limited to Church buildings! We think in this regard of prayers and blessings through which numerous moments – such as awakening, meals, births and separations – can be dedicated in gratitude to God.
Ethical and Social Questions. Learning must ultimately serve action. The biblical book Exodus tells how the people of Israel answers God: “All what the LORD has said we will do and hear.” (24:7). The deed even precedes the hearing! Put differently: in doing you learn to understand. Only when the word is acted upon, it is kept alive. In it unfolds, in addition to the religious meaning of the sanctification of life, also an ethical and politico-social dimension.
In modern society, the influence of religion is on the wane. For this very reason it is extremely important that religious voices in ethical and social questions not become silent. The sanctity of human life – from its earliest beginning to its last moment – is for Jews and Christians a common concern. The fundamental approach manifest in Jewish ethical reflection is very meaningful for us. Medical expertise must, of course, be fully respected and used. But it is the conviction of Judaism and Christianity that medical-ethical questions ultimately touch the heart of human existence and cannot be answered only from the point of view of medical science and technology. We believe that here the voice of religion is indispensable for society. A joint ethical reflection, preferably in cooperation with medical experts, seems very meaningful to us.
We also think of calling attention for spiritual values where economic motives threaten the human. In the recent past, Christian and Jewish denominations argued side by side in favor of the rhythm of a fixed day of rest in the week. This day of rest is a gift from the Bible to modern society; a gift that, in our opinion, is often treated shabbily. Despite different views on this – Judaism keeps the biblical seventh day, the Sabbath, Christianity has chosen the first day, the Lord’s day, as day of rest – we have been quite successful in having our joint voice heard.
From the prophetic call for justice and righteousness, we seek to give shape and meaning to our concern for the widening gap between those who can and those who cannot participate in social life. Among these are the many refugees who come to our country. They are a special appeal to both Jews and Christians. The biblical charge to “love the foreigner” (Lv 19:34) may not be spoken in vain. It is obvious that the painful experiences undergone by Jewish refugees before and after the Second World War only strengthen this appeal.
The Future as Messianic Hope. Judaism and Christianity differ in the expression of the messianic hope. Judaism sees the arrival of messianic time as future. For Christians, looking forward to God’s dominion has become an immediate reality in the person and teaching of Jesus Christ. The joyful cry on Christmas Eve: “Today a Savior is born to you, Christ the Lord” (Lk 2:11), is the starting point of Christian identity.
These differences need not be disguised. They are one reason why early Christianity was seen as a separate sect and they lay at the basis of the schism between Judaism and Christendom. Rather, it is important to recognize that these differences in the past were for many Christians a reason to see Judaism only as negative and superseded. Thanks to dialogue, we Catholics have come increasingly to realize that we share a common messianic mission to make the earth inhabitable; that we live in an incomplete reality. In this we are linked to Judaism; Judaism keeps us mindful of this. Tanakh, the Jewish Bible, ends with the call to set out for Jerusalem: “Whoever is among you of all his people — the LORD his GOD be with him and let him go up!” (2 Chr 36:23). The New Testament ends with the desire for the ultimate completion: “Maranatha, come, Lord!” (Rv 22:20). Both Jews and Christians bear a messianic perspective, witness to God’s Kingship, to His Shalom. That not slavery and death have the last word but liberation and life in God’s presence, is our common conviction. Here more than anywhere else we meet the only element that really convinces, acts of humanity and loving-kindness.
Jews and Christians live from one and the same hope. With this hope as a solid basis, modern man does not necessarily have to experience the future as an ominous void. Rather, at every moment the loving invitation of the living God to do full justice to all his creatures resounds. Judaism and Christianity each answer this invitation in their own unique way. In this way they each help shape His Kingdom on earth, looking forward to the day of which it is said: “And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: on that day the LORD shall be one, and his name One” (Zec 14:9).


__________________

1 A profound change in the Church’s attitude towards Judaism was initiated at the Second Vatican Council with its declaration on relations with other religions, Nostra Aetate. This direction has been continued and affirmed by authoritative post-conciliar documents issued by the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews: Guidelines and Suggestions for Implementing the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate (No. 4), (1974); Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church, (1985); We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah (1998).
2 Notes, 12.
3 Notes, 12.
4 Guidelines, Preamble.
5 Nostra Aetate, 4.
6 We Remember, III. 1.
7 Guidelines, Preamble.
8 Addressing a group of Belgian pilgrims in Sept. 1938, La Documentation catholique, 1938, col. 1460.
9 Nov. 1, 1997.
10 Nostra Aetate, 4.
11 Nostra Aetate, 4. Addressing Jewish leaders in Mainz, Germany on Nov. 17, 1980, Pope John Paul II acknowledged God’s covenant with the Jewish people that has never been revoked, recalling the affirmation in St. Paul’s letter to the Romans 11:29.
12 On Mar. 7, five days before the liturgical ceremony in St. Peter’s, the International Theological Commission issued its study, Memory and Reconciliation: The Church and Faults of the Past, which “clarifies the reasons, the conditions and the exact form of the requests for forgiveness for the faults of the past.” In this document, one specific section deals with the relationship between Christians and Jews which is identified as “one of the areas requiring a special examination of conscience.” See Origins 29 (2000), 625, 627-644, for the entire text.
13 Evangelii Nuntiandi, 18.
14 Yad Vashem, Mar. 23, 2000
15 SIDIC has translated this statement from Polish and French
16 Levend uit één en dezelfde worte; onze relatie met het jodendom. Published in Kerkelijke Documentatie, December 1995. A non-authorized English translation is provided in SIDIC 29/1 (1996) pp. 27-28
17 It is the task of the Catholic Council for Israel to develop these points further and propose practical applications