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Jewish World Review March 27, 2000 / 20 Adar II, 5760
BECAUSE ORTHODOX JEWS define their
Judaism positively, they care far less about the theological
pronouncements of others.
The media love conflict and exoticism. Best of all are
stories that combine elements of the two.
No surprise, then, that the world media has conjured up a
fervently -Orthodox public (the exotic) preparing a hostile reception for
Pope John Paul II (conflict).
Thus The Washington Post reported last week, "some,
especially the most observant religious Jews, are actively
hostile [to the pope's visit]." The principal source for that
perspective was David Rosen, the Israel director of the
Anti-Defamation League.
For good measure, Rosen, whose organization's raison
d'etre is combatting slurs against Jews, quipped that those
same rabbis would affirm that the world is flat if instructed
to do so by the Council of Torah Sages.
Rosen's charge that the fervently -Orthodox world was looking for
confrontation will not bear scrutiny. Long before the pope's
visit, United Torah Judaism left the government over the
issue of government-sponsored Shabbat desecration. The
issue is clearly one of great importance to the Torah world.
The request to the pope to alter his schedule to minimize
Shabbat desecration was made with the full expectation
that the pope, as a man of faith, would be sensitive to the
religious sensibilities of the Jewish people, and the pope
was in fact responsive to these concerns.
One of the guiding principles of the Torah community from
time immemorial has been to avoid any action that might
provoke the nations of the world and thereby increase
enmity towards Jews. The rabbinic leaders of the Torah
community view the protection of Jewish lives as one of
their paramount responsibilities. They would never
deliberately court confrontation with the spiritual leader of
one billion Catholics.
Thus fervently -Orthodox groups have stood on the sidelines in recent
years as relations between the Church and secular Jewish
defense organizations grew increasingly testy.
Not long ago, the president of the Vatican's Commission on
Religious Relations publicly rebuked Jewish agencies for
their "aggressive attitudes" and announced it was severing
its 30-year relationship with the International Jewish
Committee for Interreligious Consultation.
The rabbinic leaders of the fervently -Orthodox community fear that
insistent demands by the Jewish community for an even
more detailed list of the sins of the Church and ever more
abject requests for forgiveness will inevitably trigger a
backlash among Catholics (something already happening in
certain Church circles.)
While acknowledging the legitimacy of historical inquiries
by Christian and Jewish scholars alike into theological
antisemitism and its often violent consequences, the
Orthodox view them as largely beside the point. Nothing
will bring back to life the hundreds of thousands
slaughtered or forcibly converted in the name of the Cross.
Neither the pope nor anyone else - no matter how
well-intentioned - has the power to seek forgiveness on
behalf of others. Nor is it within the power of those living
today to grant forgiveness for all those victims. By the
same token, Orthodox Jews do not hold Catholics today
responsible for the atrocities of the past.
The two groups have worked closely together on such
issues as school vouchers. Cardinal John O'Connor's open
letter last September in which he praised the Jewish people
"as a model of faith for all mankind" was a reflection of the
warmth of those relations.
Unlike many of their secular brethren, Orthodox Jews do
not, for instance, get the heebie-jeebies around deeply
religious Christians. Because they define their Judaism
positively, and not in terms of what others say about them,
they are far less likely to concern themselves with the
theological pronouncements of others.
If the president tells a Sunday school class that Jews do
not have a share in Heaven (as Jimmy Carter once did), or
presidential candidates boast of having been "saved,"
Orthodox Jews do not become hysterical.
Because the fervently -Orthodoxm continue to live in ways that
distinguish them from their non-Jewish neighbors, they
never harbored the illusion that Judaism and Christianity
could somehow be reconciled. Interfaith theological
dialogue is, in their eyes, pointless. They are content to let
others live with their beliefs so long as those beliefs do not
lead to hostility and discrimination against Jews.
Viewed in those terms, Orthodox Jews have every reason
to treat Pope John Paul II with respect. Under his
stewardship, there has been a sea change in the attitude of
the Church to the Jewish people. Time after time, he has
sent an unmistakable message that antisemitism is no
longer Church doctrine, and that the Church condemns all
expressions of antisemitism in word and deed. He will no
doubt forcefully reiterate that message while in Israel.
So while fervently -Orthodox Jews will not line the pope's route to catch
a glimpse of him, the Orthodox world is not unmindful of all
that he has done to lessen the scourge of antisemitism -
and honors him for
The ADL's latest imaginary enemy: Religious Jews
By Jonathan Rosenblum
At a March 8 press conference, Rosen charged that the
2,000 rabbis who expressed their concern to the Vatican
over the Shabbat desecration occasioned by the pope's visit
were seeking a pretext to sour the atmosphere surrounding
the pontiff's visit and score "brownie points" within their
own constituency.
In 1998, the Anti-Defamation League dismissed the
Vatican's long-awaited "Reflection on the Holocaust" as a
hollow "apology full of rationalization for Pope Pius XII and
the Church."
In many respects, religious Jews are uniquely able to
forge close relations with people of other faiths. Over the
past 35 years, for instance, Agudath Israel of America, the
largest American grass-roots Orthodox organization, has
enjoyed the warmest of relations with Catholic groups on
the basis of mutual respect for other people of faith and
shared interests.
JWR contributor Jonathan Rosenblum is a columnist for the Jerusalem Post. He can be reached by clicking here.
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