July 3, 2008

Earlier this year, Jewish leaders objected when Pope Benedict XVI reinstated a Good Friday prayer that appeals for the conversion of the Jews.

In response to Jewish objections, two practicing Catholics, Steve Whitson and Robert Barnett, wrote letters to the editor of the New Jersey Jewish News saying the pope had been judged harshly. Mr. Whitson, in particular, suggested that Jews themselves ought to proselytize — if they did not want to enlighten others about their faith, he wrote, “I would really question their compassion for their fellow man.”

In a much-belated — though fully relevant — response to Mr. Whitson, I would like to explain that since the time of the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans, and the expulsion of the politically defeated “Children of Israel” from their ancestral homeland, Jews had to abandon the practice of active proselytizing (though there were other reasons, as well, determining that move). The most important of them, as I see it, must have been the early realization on the part of our Sages that “the righteous of all nations and all faiths have [on account of their righteous behavior toward others] a share in the world to come.” The validity of this realization was given ample evidence, in our own time, in the heroic lifesaving activities of the Righteous Gentiles, coming as they did from different nations, though predominantly Christian.

Sometime before the destruction of the Temple, Jews accomplished the gigantic task of passing on the essential core values of their faith — centering, as they do, on love of God and love of neighbor — onto the “nations of the world” in the form of Christianity (in fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham: “I will make your name great and in you all nations of the world will bless themselves”).

Jews have also “entrusted” Christianity with the task of continuing that mission of proselytizing, or outreach to the uninitiated. The missionaries assumed this duty under the banner of Christianity, and under a new appellation, that of “evangelizing.” Such outreach was more befitting for that time and place, and the “culturally determined” mind-set of the prospective converts.

I would like to remind you, dear friends, and this is in answer to Jewish concerns, that evangelizing as an outreach to the uninitiated Gentiles is not meant to be extended to the Jews: It never was. For all the immense benefits evangelizing to Gentiles confers on the new adherents to Christianity, for all the comfort it provides to millions and millions of souls thirsting for meaning or the “light of revelation,” this revelation is not meant to be extended to Jews.

The children of Israel became privy to that “light” at the foot of Mount Sinai, centuries before the spectacular advance of Christianity. That is why the title of “our elder brothers in faith” was lately conferred on the Jewish people by Pope John Paul II. Also remember that the Jews are urged by Jesus in Matthew 22:1-3 to follow the teachings of their own sages, the Pharisees, and practice them as they are embedded in the Bible: “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciple, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it.’”

We might also remember Paul’s injunction to Christians, in Romans 11:18, to remember their rootedness in Judaism: “Do not become arrogant,” says Paul. “If you do boast, remember that it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you” — referring to Judaism — “so do not become proud, but stand in awe.”

But best of all, it seems, would be for all of us to remember and practice the seemingly simple formula pronounced by Jesus himself. This dictum constitutes a most concise summary of the life-enhancing collective teaching of the Bible, demanding that we, each of us, “in everything do to others as [we] would have them do to [us],” for, as Jesus continues, “this is the law and prophets” — the same “law and prophets” that, as Jesus claims in Matthew 4:17-20, “I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

The solution to many of our own sorrows may be found in the ability of both of our faith communities, Jew and Christian alike, to act in accord with this seemingly simple formula, as proven possible on a small scale by the heroic activities of the righteous throughout the ages.

Bat-Yah Horn is the author of A Measure of Brotherly Love and Other Stories (Image Designers). She lives in West Orange.

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