The gift that Jews can give Pope Leo XIV

• Jews and Christians worship the same God … while Christian worship is not a viable religious choice for Jews, as Jewish theologians we rejoice that, through Christianity, hundreds of millions of people have entered into relationship with the God of Israel. The relationship between Christianity and Judaism is neither competitive, nor hostile, but partnership. Judaism was how Adonai got to Europe, and the rest of the world! The modern Jewish thinker Franz Rosenzweig had referred to Christianity as “the rays of the star of David.”
• Jews and Christians seek authority from the same book — the Bible (what Jews call “Tanakh” and Christians call the “Old Testament”). Notice the words — the statement affirmed that Jews call the Hebrew Bible the Tanakh and that Christians call that same book “the Old Testament.” I am among those Jews who believe the term “Old Testament” is a subtle and “soft” remnant of an older anti-Judaism in the church. It implies that the covenant at Sinai is the “old” covenant/testament — which the “new covenant”/New Testament would replace. 

In the decades since this statement, many Christian churches have dropped the term “Old Testament,” substituting “first testament.” But there is a generosity of spirit in this statement from “Dabru Emet” — it basically says: We Jews have a term for our book; you Christians have a term for that book.

But several more controversial statements follow:

Christians can respect the claim of the Jewish people upon the land of Israel. The most important event for Jews since the Holocaust has been the re-establishment of a Jewish state in the Promised Land. As members of a biblically based religion, Christians appreciate that Israel was promised — and given — to Jews as the physical center of the covenant between them and God. Many Christians support the State of Israel for reasons far more profound than mere politics. As Jews, we applaud this support. We also recognize that Jewish tradition mandates justice for all non-Jews who reside in a Jewish state.

For Jews, the covenant is not merely spiritual, but it is rooted in soil. There are many Christians who have their own theological reasons for supporting Israel (the exact implications of that support are a matter of ongoing debate). It affirms, as well, that Judaism cares for the stranger, especially in the land of Israel.

But notice one small word here: “Christians can respect … ” I hope that “can” will become “will.” Christians might understand that for Jews, the Holocaust was “Good Friday” (in fact, the Protestant thinker Franklin Littell referred to the Holocaust as “the crucifixion of the Jews”) and the establishment of the state of Israel was “Easter” — the resurrection of the Jewish people, a symbol of hope.

I save the most controversial for last.

Nazism was not a Christian phenomenon. Without the long history of Christian anti-Judaism and Christian violence against Jews, Nazi ideology could not have taken hold nor could it have been carried out … But Nazism itself was not an inevitable outcome of Christianity. If the Nazi extermination of the Jews had been fully successful, it would have turned its murderous rage more directly to Christians …

This is an amazing statement. Yes, there is a clear link between Christian anti-Judaism and the acts of the Nazis (yes, many Christians resisted, but far more collaborated). “Nazism was not a Christian phenomenon.” As to whether the Nazis would have turned against Christians, that is very difficult to say, and even to ponder.

If this is a “bully pulpit,” let him use it wisely.