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Religious teaching in Israel
E.H. - Haifa | M.G. - Jerusalem

The situation of Christians in ISRAEL is quite different from that of other countries. Christians who live there as a small minority amidst a predominantly Jewish population have a unique opportunity. Brought into contact with the origins of their faith by the circumstances of daily life, they are forced to purify their attitudes and conceptions, and to return to the original simplicity of Christian life. Here, more than anywhere else, can grow a new awareness of the reality of Jewish life through daily contacts both on an official and an unofficial level. Consequently a new understanding of relations between Christians and Jews will develop.and grow.

The first article in this section will be a more detailed presentation (with an-historical background) of the present state and the future possibilities of religious teaching in Israel.

For the first time since the dispersion of the early Christians, the Church finds herself face to face with the task of announcing the Gospel to Christians living amidst a predominantly Jewish population.

Until very recently, the Church was rooted within an Arab structure of culture and language, and the word of God was preached, excluding a few exceptional cases, in a foreign tongue. Teachers and ministers were European and the Church was presented in a European framework. However, with the return of the Jews to Israel, there arrived thousands of families in which one of the parents (most often the wife), was Christian. According to Ottoman law, which remained in force all during the Pritish mandate and up to the present time, a person's citizenship coincides with his position as enunciated in the religions law of the confession to which he belongs. Thus, according to Halakah (Jewish tradition), it is the mother's religion which determines that of her children. If the mother is Christian, the children are considered Christian, even if they have not been baptised.

The Church was not prepared for a large immigration of European Christians. Some of these families emigrated again, others assimilated to the majority of the population, the greater part wished to remain members of the Church, but did not know how to adapt themselves to a different form of society. As a result, mistakes were made. Because of her reserve towards Israel as a new religious phenomenon in the Holy Land and new political factor in the, Middle East, the Church was uncertain about how to meet the situation.

In the beginning there were nothing but difficulties. No one knew the language of the country sufficiently well to teach or to preach. The necessary theological terminology to express truths of the faith did not exist in Hebrew. Except for the Tanakh (Old Testament), there were no catechetical or liturgical manuals in this language. (Even today there is no satisfactory translation in Hebrew of the New Testament; the two which exist: Delitsch and Salkenson date from before the time when Hebrew once more became a living language.)

The home atmosphere was most often antireligious or areligious, or else the practice of religion was purely exterior, according to the rite of the country of origin, and insufficient to respond to the demands of Christian life, sometimes even opposed to it. Many of these Christians had no contact with the Church; when they did seek out such a contact, it was only through nostalgia for the mother country. They were neither prepared nor able to face a diaspora situation. The children quickly learned the language of the country and integrated into it. Sooner or later, they became aware that they were Christian. Their usual reaction to this discovery was: Since we belong to a Christian minority, we must consciously live as such". But, here again, they had no idea how to act in this situation. Often their parents were unable to help; but instead, hesitated to make decisions, to procure for their children religious instruction, for example, or reception of the sacraments. Young Christians, therefore, looked to the Church for help. The problem they most often encountered was: "How can I be at the same time a member of this society and a Christian in Israel"? Traditional precendents or decisions were of no use in dealing with these problems, and it was only to the life of the first Christians that the Church could refer for enlightenment.

She began to search for new possibilities and new ways in which to express herself. In this quest the Church was helped by certain external factors. Christian children who attend Israeli schools know the Bible not only through short summpries, but through the original text. The study of the Bible occupies an important place in their education, for it is not only a religious book, but also the history of this people. Most of the events took place in this country. The children realising this, love the country and are proud because the land of the Bible is their homeland. They study the Bible in the language in which it was written, their own language. The fact that the Bible is thus so predominant creates a certain atmosphere, the starting point of a kind of natural interest in Religion. At school, the Bible is studied with the help of traditional and scientific commentaries. A few passages, but fewer than Christians are inclined to believe, need further explanation. Christians are too accustomed to see the Old and the New Covenants in separate categories and to bring out their differences, instead of seeing them as a whole, as did the Christians of the first centuries.

The biblical background is a good basis for Christian teaching. Places where Christ ministered become familiar through a study of Geography and through excursions. The literary forms and predominant themes of the Bible are readily assimilated. Not only are the names and places much more familiar to the children, but the symbolism retains all its former meaning: the desert, the olive tree and the vine, wells, shepherds...all these images used by the inspired writers speak from their mysterious and powerful depths.

Again, there is the manner in which God speaks to us in the Bible, intervening in the concrete events of the history of men; all this is con-natural to the mentality of the young:. God does not seek to prove or indulge in apologetics... He speaks gently, by signs; and through His works, tangible realities, we glimpse His nature.

Christ acted thus when he lived in this country.... He retained the same symbols, the same movement from the concrete to "the things of the Father". Christ, Mary and the apostles were all Jews, as are the children of today.

The Church in Israel is seeking the way back toyer sources. The Kerygma of the Gospel was born in the concrete and specific conditions of this country and of this people. It is the task of the Church not only to see where she has been at fault towards Israel, but also to realise what she can learn from Israel. We have forgotten our origins, or we have willingly put them aside, and in so doing, we have ignored an indispensable source of self-understanding. "To be able to understand herself, Christianity needs Judaism, whereas Judaism has no need of Christianity". (Prof. Zwi Werblowsky in a symposium held in Jerusalem".

For most Jews, Christianity is associated with forced Baptism, unwilling conversion and myth. Neither Jews nor Christians know their common ties. A Jew in Israel is surprised when he notices in a Catholic Church inscriptions borrowed from "his".Tanakh; or, if, assisting by accident at a Mass in Hebrew, he hears the words of "his" Prophets or "his" sages.

The surprise of Christian children becomes wonder when they discover that Christianity instead of estranging them from their Jewish environment, unites them more closely with it. Living in Israel, then, sbould actually help Christians deepen their understanding of Christianity. But, very often, the catechism is still learned by rote. In the future, a renewal and a deepening must be evolved from already existing positive traditions. It seems, therefore, that catechetical instruction should not be completely separated from Jewish feasts, since the rhythm of life follows the Jewish calendar. This is an excellent means of showing how the liturgy is rooted in Judaism and how Christ lived His life of worship of the Father. This would permit the children to gain a deeper understanding of their own Christian life, and also inspire interest and respect for those with whom they live, and who practise the religion of Israel.

On the level of the liturgy, the marvellous profoundly biblical symbolism of the sacraments takes on new life: bread and wine.... the paschal meal, and so on. These symbols could be made more relevant to young people because they see being lived here every day the realities which were the origins of our own liturgy. When religious teaching is freed from patterns of thought•to which we have become attached, and seeks new forms of expression, all problems will not have been solved, but a beginning will have been made.
E.H. - Haifa
M.G. - Jerusalem