A statement by a group of Orthodox rabbis calls Christianity part of a divine plan in which God would have Jews and Christians work together to redeem the world.
Although signed so far by 28 rabbis mostly from the more liberal wing of the most traditional branch of Judaism, the statement marks a turning point for Orthodox Jews, who until now have limited interfaith cooperation to working on social, economic and political causes. But this statement puts Christianity in a distinct Jewish theological perspective — and an extremely positive one.
‘Divine outcome’
“(W)e acknowledge that Christianity is neither an accident nor an error, but the willed divine outcome and gift to the nations,” the seven-paragraph statement, issued Dec. 3, asserts. “In separating Judaism and Christianity, God willed a separation between partners with significant theological differences, not a separation between enemies.”
‘Willed by God’
Rabbi Irving Greenberg, a signatory to the statement, said, “We understand that there is room in traditional Judaism to see Christianity as part of God’s covenantal plan for humanity, as a development out of Judaism that was willed by God.”
The signatories to the statement, “To Do the Will of Our Father in Heaven: Toward a Partnership between Jews and Christians,” include Orthodox figures who have been at the forefront of interfaith dialogue efforts, such as Rabbis David Rosen, of the American Jewish Committee, and Shlomo Riskin, founding rabbi of New York’s Lincoln Square Synagogue.
Still, Greenberg conceded that most Orthodox rabbis will not sign on to the statement because they reject the idea that it is the will of God to reach out to gentiles through Christianity, and that Christianity is a divinely willed phenomenon.
“There are still groups which have as their mission the evangelization of the Jewish people,” he said.
The rabbinical statement begins with a reference to the Holocaust as “the warped climax to centuries of disrespect, oppression and rejection of Jews and the consequent enmity that developed between Jews and Christians.” It then goes on to praise Nostra Aetate, the 50-year-old Vatican declaration that repudiated the idea once common among Christians that the Jews killed Christ and were deserving of the centuries of persecution they had suffered.
“Now that the Catholic Church has acknowledged the eternal covenant between God and Israel, we Jews can acknowledge the ongoing constructive validity of Christianity as our partner in world redemption without any fear that this will be exploited for missionary purposes,” the statement reads.
The Orthodox statement includes no reference to Islam, which, with Judaism and Christianity, also traces itself back to the biblical patriarch Abraham.
Greenberg said he believes Islam is not ripe for such a statement because too much of Islamic culture currently is steeped in anti-Semitism and “almost genocidal hostility to Israel.”
Model for Islam, Judaism
But as the evolution of Christian-Jewish relations has shown, hatreds need not last for all of history.
Greenberg said he hopes one day the statement can serve as a model for one on Islam and Judaism.
(RNS, TAB)
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