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Annual Jewish-Christian Dialogue and Breakfast
Nov. 3 and 4 1998

by Garth Wehrfritz-Hansen

The evening Dialogue was held at Beth Tzedec (Conservative) Synagogue and the Breakfast was held at the Calgary Jewish Centre. Both events were well attended (Dialogue over 300 people, Breakfast over 100 people). This year the keynotes were Rabbi A. James Rudin and Bishop Fred Henry. Rabbi Rudin is director of National Interreligious Affairs, American Jewish Committee and past chair of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations. He is one of the leading Jewish experts on Jewish-Roman Catholic relations and has participated in seven meetings with Pope John Paul II. Bishop Fred Henry is the Roman Catholic bishop of Calgary. The Dialogue this year was dedicated to the memory of Bertram Promislow, an active Jewish board member of the CCCJ, AB, (a personal friend of mine) who died of cancer in October. The topic of the evening Dialogue was the March 16, 1998 statement issued from Vatican City, 'Perspectives on "We Remember - A Reflection on the Shoah.'".

Rabbi Rudin began his remarks by stating that this century has proven to be one of the worst in history in relation to intergroup relations, wars and destruction. However, in the last third of this century, beginning with Vatican II, a new journey has emerged for Jewish-Catholic relations. We are beginning to witness a reversal of the terrible history of antisemitism and anti-Judaism, expulsions, pogroms, etc. In the past 30 years, Jewish-Catholic relations have been better than in all of the previous centuries.

It took the Vatican 11 years to issue "We Remember - A Reflection on the Shoah." The document is very short - only 12 pages, along with a letter from the pope. Rudin believes that the letter is stronger than the document itself, since it is more serious about contrition. The Shoah is an indelible stain on this century, said the pope in the letter to Cardinal Cassidy. Jews at first were worried that John Paul II would be an antisemite because he is Polish and antisemitism is widespread in that country. However, that is not the case: the pope, speaking in a synagogue in Rome insisted that the Jews have an irrevocable covenant with God. Also, when he visited Auschwitz, he said that no one can visit or pass here and remain indifferent to what happened here in WW II. The pope has also officially "normalized" relations with the Jews, no longer taking the stance that Jews must be converted to Catholicism. The pope has said that antisemitism is a sin against God. He has permanently affirmed the historic fact of the Shoah.

In the document, the Hebrew word Shoah is used instead of the word Holocaust to emphasize the uniqueness of this historic tragedy, unprecedented in Jewish-Christian relations, a word which the Jewish people prefer. (Lutheran scholar and bishop, Krister Stendahl has said that when we write the word Holocaust it should always begin with a capital H and should never have an s on the end of it, in order to prevent us from comparing it with other genocides in history.)

According to Rudin, the document has four Rs to it: Remembrance, Repentance (the Hebrew word teshuva, turning, is used), Resolve, and Responsibility. Remembrance: the need to never forget the Shoah on the part of all Christians. Repentance: The need for Catholics and other Christians to enter into repentance and change the whole education process of history in relation to Jews and Christians. Resolve: The need to change the future based on learning from the tragic mistakes of our historical past, by not repeating our mistakes. Responsibility: Rudin found a little ambivalence about Catholic guilt of the Shoah. Did Catholics do enough to speak out, hide, feed, shelter, protect, save Jews during WW II? The overwhelming majority was indifferent to the fate of their Jewish neighbours. We need to focus on the necessity of dealing with and resisting evil.

Problematic is the defense of Pius XII. Both, his defenders and accusers, are operating with inadequate primary source material - the evidence is incomplete. Rudin continues to call upon the Vatican to open up the Nazi period archives to Jewish and Christian scholars. Many scholars say that the world, the church and the Jewish people will be better off if the Vatican would open up the necessary documentation.

The "We Remember..." document states that the Shoah was the work of a neo-pagan regime, with its roots outside of Christianity. It also makes the distinction between antisemitism and anti-Judaism - according to Rudin, there is not a clear enough distinction possible, because Christian anti-Judaism created the atmosphere in which neo-pagan hatred of Jews was able to develop.

Despite all of the problematic, ambivalences, etc., nonetheless, the document is not going to crush Jewish-Catholic relations. We have come too far since Vatican II. The document can spur us on to better relations. The hope of Rudin is that the Catholic church would establish a commemoration once a year of the Shoah in the liturgical life of the Roman Catholic world. Rabbi Rudin ended his presentation with the hope for Christians and Jews in the words of a Robert Browning poem: "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be."

Bishop Henry began his remarks by confessing that he has had very little experience or exposure to Catholic-Jewish relations. However, he said that Calgary has a good history of Catholic-Jewish relations, which we can all continue to build on. According to Henry, the document, from the beginning has not been handled properly because it hasn't had the prominence that it deserves in the church's life. It was designed, Henry believes, to broaden the horizons of believers, to purify hearts and to lead to repentance. Henry agreed with Rudin that the pope's introductory letter is better than the document itself. The document was issued with the hope of healing. The prayer of the pope for better Jewish-Catholic relations needs to be taken seriously. The document should be read with prayerful reflection.

The document raises questions more than it gives answers; it promotes discussion, according to Henry. He believes that the acknowledgement in the document of collective Roman Catholic guilt is very important for the repudiation of antisemitism and anti-Judaism and healing in the future.

Henry, too, would like to see the Vatican archives opened up. As to the hope of Rabbi Rudin that the church would include a commemoration once a year of the Shoah in its liturgical life, the Bishop remarked that the recent canonization of Sister Edith Stein would give Catholics the opportunity to commemorate the Shoah annually in the month of August. Edith Stein was born Jewish, became a Catholic nun, but was killed by the Nazis because of her Jewish origin. The Bishop concluded his remarks with a Talmudic story, which basically communicates the moral that we all need humility before God in our relationships with "the other;" after all we Christians are, as Paul says, the wild olive branch, grafted onto the solid trunk. Jews are our elder brothers and sisters.

At the next morning's Breakfast with Rabbi Rudin, the rabbi's topic was: "Jewish-Christian Relations. As We Approach The Millennium: Unfinished Business."

He saw the breakfast more as a working session for the Council than an academic presentation. Rabbi Rudin began with the following hypothetical scenario: If we all had a 3 x 5 inch card and were asked to write down issues of great concern dear to our hearts; what are those issues? List on the front of the card 3 or 4 issues most pressing to you in your life. On the back of the card, list your 3 or 4 favourite Jewish-Christian issues. He said, in most cases when he's done this exercise with people, that the issues on the front of the card are the same among both Jews and Christians. However, on the back of the card, most Jews and Christians differ.

For 2,000 years, Jews and Christians have disagreed on basic theological issues, and probably will continue to do so for another 2,000 years. Yet, those differences shouldn't keep us apart. For Jews, the issues are: the Shoah and will Jewish children and grandchildren remain Jewish. It is important, however, for Jews to listen to issues which Christians are troubled with and struggle with.

Jews and Christians today both want to talk about the first century CE and "the parting of the ways;" what really happened ca. 80 CE? Jews and Christians also want to talk about relations in the 20th century and beyond.

In interreligious groups, people need to work for modest successes and build brick by brick upon them. There will always be people who resist dialogue and who are critical of it, but, Rudin counseled, don't worry about them. Saul Olinsky said you only need 2% of committed people to move, inform and inspire the larger population.

We'll never know for sure, according to Rudin, if religious pluralism may be God’s will for our time. It may well be that God doesn't want devout Muslims to convert to Judaism or Christianity, etc. Theologians need to develop a theology of pluralism. In North America we're in the forefront of Jewish-Christian relations because of our multi-religious context. Is there anything in Judaism that affirms Christianity? Or vice versa. This is the question to ask to develop a theology of pluralism.

In five U.S. cities, Catholic priests teach in Jewish High Schools and Rabbis in Catholic ones. Priests would present how Catholics interpret different biblical texts like Isaiah 53. Rabbis would, for example, discuss the hidden antisemitism in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. What we always have to remember in our dialogues is that each respective religious tradition has the absolute right to define itself.

Today, Rudin believes that there are two issues very important for Jews and Christians. 1. The Middle East peace process. This is a very difficult, long, painful, complex process in order to reach a just and lasting peace for everyone in the Middle East. Rudin urged us in our fast-paced North American culture to be patient with the peace process and not to give up in despair. 2. Mission, witness, and conversion. For many Christians, the only good Jew is a converted one. Witness and mission are terms that Jews need to look at in mature relationships with Christians. Both Jews and Christians have a mission and witness under the direction of the God of Abraham and Sarah. For Jews, the attempt to convert Jews to Christianity is an insult to 4,000 years of Jewish history. The Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr once said that it was morally wrong for Christians to convert Jews. Even Billy Graham has, of late, given up active conversion of Jews, Rudin said. The Jewish covenant continues to this day and is not inferior to the Christian covenant.

Rudin also stressed the importance of travel to Israel - study tours - and trying to visit there with Jewish people and Jewish guides and study leaders if you are a Christian and with Christian people, guides and leaders if you are a Jew. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel once said that Christians are our neighbours, not our enemies. Interreligious relations are not merely documents, it's also contact with people from the other faith tradition. Apparently a group of Jewish scholars interviewed many "Righteous Gentiles" who helped Jews during WW II. In most cases, when they were asked why they did what they did for the Jews, they gave two answers. 1. They did it because of the influence of parental teaching. This is instructive to us parents today in relation to our children. 2. They did it because they had all known Jewish people before the Nazi regime got into power, hence, they never bought into the Nazi ideology that Jews were vermin, sub-human, etc. They respected them as human beings, like themselves; treating them as their friends and neighbours.

The events both ended with question and answer periods and the singing of a short Shalom. After both events the participants engaged in lively discussions about the presentations.

The Beth Tzedec synagogue, its president, rabbi, cantor and staff and the Calgary Jewish Centre with its kitchen and staff were most gracious hosts of the events.

A Funny Thing Happened . . .

by Anna Tremblay

A bishop and a rabbi sat together in the sanctuary at Beth Tzedec Synagogue and acknowledged that, although all is not right in this world, God is in His heaven and, therefore, there is much reason to hope. The audience was enthralled by their exposure to two dynamic speakers, each of whom responded to the Vatican document, "We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah". The occasion was this year's fall dialogue sponsored by the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews (CCCJ), Alberta region. Rabbi Rudin, from the Department of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee and past chair of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultation, has met several times with Pope John Paul II and is familiar with the Holy Father's belief that we, as Roman Catholics, must acknowledge our weakness and "work with Jews and all men and women of good will for a world of true respect for the life and dignity of every human being, for all have been created in the image and likeness of God".

Rabbi Rudin gave a reasoned response to the document on the Shoah, a Hebrew word for the Holocaust, not to be confused with any other so-called "holocaust". Although he would have liked the document to be stronger in its presentation, he felt that a good beginning has been made. He noted, especially, the strong words in the Pope's personal letter which accompanies the document written by the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. Bishop Henry responded to the Rabbi by pointing out that the document's intent is to broaden the horizons of believers and to lead to understanding and repentance and healing. The prayer of the Pope for better Jewish-Catholic relations is to be taken seriously. The document repudiates antisemitism and calls for healing.

Both men recognized this document as a tool for promoting discussion in that it raises more questions than it gives answers. It was suggested that the celebration of the feast of Sister Edith Stein would be an opportunity for Catholics to annually commemorate the Shoah. Bishop Henry concluded his talk with a Talmudic story which teaches our need to be humble before God in our relations with one another. Jews, he reminded us, are our elder brothers and sisters.

I came away from this event with a certain sense of relief that, at last, leaders of our respective communities have come together to speak openly and constructively about a very sensitive issue, viz., the need to remember and to respond. All present had to appreciate the risks taken and the obstacles overcome for those who participated. The atmosphere was best summed up by a questioner who, while wondering why it took so long, expressed gratitude that a beginning is being made toward teshuva — a turning toward God, in prayer and repentance, that is accompanied by a turning toward one another. As we begin this teshuva let us become knowledgeable of each other's sensitivities, acknowledging our belief in one God, the God of Abraham, our common father in faith.

A new journey toward understanding has been opened, a map laid out. Are we ready to embark?