Is anyone following the recent story about the rift between Catholicsand Jews over bringing back a prayer that includes a line aboutconverting Jews? It's a bit hard to make sense of the story. From what I can tell,last year the Pope had recommended/allowed some old Latin prayers toreturn to the Catholic Mass. One of these prayers is a unique onesaid on Good Friday. In the prayer there are references to the "blindness of Jews"regarding Christ and some other remarks that Jewish leaders have found anti-Semitic. The biggest controversy, however, seems to be a reference calling upon Jews to find Christ and convert. It seems like the Catholic Church was willing to revise some ofthe "offensive" language but kept the part about conversion.This is at least what I've been able to figure out after reading somestories - I'm sure it's not completely accurate. If anyoneunderstand the issue better please help!!!!!
Anyway, here is my question...should we get that upset at other religions who pray for us to find their savior? I know that sounds like a crazy question at first, but hear me out. In the Aleinu don't we pray that the entire world recognize God's greatness and "all creatures of flesh call on your name that to you each knee must bend, each tongue swear oath...let all of them take upon themselves your rule." Pragmatically, I understand that calls to convert Jews or help them find their way to Jesus have been used to justify pretty horrific events and actions. So, perhaps that is why there is the concern.But in the grand scheme, is our call in the Aleinu that different? There are some passages in the bible that talk about dealing with non-Jews in equally barbaric ways.
How would we justify those statements to a non-Jew? One article quotes Rabbi Jacob Neusner making a similar point, "But the Pope received support from a prominent Jewish scholar on Saturday. Rabbi Jacob Neusner of New York wrote in the German Catholic daily Die Tagespost: "Israel prays for non-Jews, so the other monotheists - including the Catholic Church - should have the same right without anyone feeling hurt."
Does anyone have thoughts, clarifications or perspectives on this?I'm trying to make sense of it
1 comments:
I've been following this story a bit too and your description of it is pretty much how I've understood the issue as well.
I'm not really surprised that these Latin prayers are creeping back into the mass because conversion is a fundamental mission of Christianity. This is what they are about and so I don't know why any of us should be surprised with these sentiments. I don't like them, I'm just not surprised. What bothers me more than these remarks is the ongoing efforts in this country to erode the separation of church and state and the ignorance of the United States Constitution.
Judaism isn't a prostelytizing religion...we don't actively recruit new members. In fact, we pretty much tell people to go back to their home faiths to find their answers unless they truly believe that the distinctive beliefs in Judaism resonate for them.
You don't have to be considered Jewish to be "holy." You aren't getting a first class ticket, first to board on United airlines by converting. So that's one point. The second point is that we don't think we are "right" and everyone else is "wrong." We see ourselves as being given a specific role but that doesn't mean that everyone else doesn't have their roles to play. As Shmuley Boteach wrote in his book, "Judaism for Everyone: Renewing Your Life Through the Vibrant Lessons of the Jewish Faith", "Judaism is unique among the world's religions in that it claims no copyright on, or exclusivity to, truth. It does not denounce other faiths as misguided or heretical...Judaism is a path, not the path." And so I guess my point is that it's one thing to pray for everyone's wellbeing and another to pray that they'll wise up and see things my way.
And so, everyone is capable of , "that which you hate, never do unto others".
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