The Vatican, Israel, & `holy Zion':
Friedmann, F.G.
A JEW LOOKS AT CATHOLIC-JEWISH RELATIONS The Vatican, Israel, & `holy...
...ever, would such an action be wise considering the Vatican's And were not most of the great prophets critics of the rulers of task of safeguarding the interests of Catholics living in the vast the ancient State of Israel, pointing out what they regarded as Muslim world...
...acquire and to defend secure borders...
...And in a recent poll taken in the Austrian Tyrol, which raises its own new and awkward questions...
...longing for the homeland, holy Zion...
...between the religious relationship of the church and the Jewish No doubt, today's State of Israel is less an outgrowth of people and possible political ties of the Vatican and the State of basic Jewish beliefs (e.g...
...Howas the Jewish achievements in the modern sciences and arts...
...negative consequences of technological "progress...
...I am is expressed in the "Notes": "The permanence of Israel thinking particularly of the Holocaust and of today's dangers (while so many ancient peoples have disappeared without a to human survival...
...Wishes to be recognized and respected in its own identity, sing such questions as the recognition of the State of Israel and beyond any syncretism and any ambiguous appropriations," the significance of the Holocaust...
...Recognition could only be justified if it were the...
...Is it not necessary that Christians and Jews, Testament are tending towards a like end in the future: the regardless of their unhappy relationship in the past or their coming or the return of the Messiah - even if they start from different religious conceptions, combine their efforts to overtwo different points of view" ("Notes...
...Despite years of protest in Chile, and earlier this (Public Law 95-118), governs United States participation month a serious attempt on General Pinochet's life, that dicin seven international organizations, including the World tatorship appears still firmly entrenched...
...One of the land of their forefathers at the heart of their hope" and may rightly ask whether the large emigration of Jews from invite Christians to "understand this religious attachment Israel in recent years is not due to the recognition that in our which _finds' its roots in biblical tradition" or (as the U.S...
...world of resurgent nationalisms and of atomic power a small bishops put it in 1975) "this link between land and people state like Israel, despite its high degree of militarization, is which Jews have expressed in their writings and worship as a unable to offer the security originally sought by its citizens...
...In the past year alone, both the whose governments "engage in a pattern of gross violations of Organization of American States and the United Nations have internationally-recognized human rights...
...A design...
...FRIEDMANN is professor emeritus, University of Munich...
...The distinction him in the- presence of all the living...
...Like any nation-state it seeks to law...
...sian, Hellenistic, and Roman) for only half of that period...
...Section 701 of the Act, It has been documented in report after report by private and approved in 1976, requires U.S...
...In the light of this possibilspeak of "God after Auschwitz," and to the Jewish ones who ity, is it enough that Christians and Jews recognize a common speak of the "hidden God" and of "holy secularity...
...At the same time, the comprehensive character of Judaism and Jewish history...
...Jerusalem) and in every age venerate her memory, abundant 26 September 1986: 489 as she is in many remains and monuments from the time of it is embroiled in wars against other states and nationalities...
...where veneration of Andrea of Rinn as a victim of ritual Second, the traditional view that the Old Testament revela- murder was forbidden by Pope John XXIII, 24 percent of the tion has been superseded by the New...
...The "Notes for the Correct Presentation of Jews issued by the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) "were Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman disciplinary laws only and did not have doctrinal significance" Catholic Church" (issued June 1985) declare that Christians ("The Evolution of a Tradition: From Nostra Aetate to the are more responsible for the death of Christ than the Jews `Notes' " in: Christian Jewish Relations, Volume 18, because "we [Christians] sin knowingly," a formulation Number 4...
...or the "Jewish and come the absolute rule of instrumental reason in' favor of a Christian tradition, founded on the Word of God, is aware of ratio enlightened by faith...
...Will it continue to confer with the International Hebrew Bible) existed only during one-third of the total his- Liaison Committee as far as diaspora-Jews are concerned, tory of the - Jewish people, and that this state was totally while cultivating contacts with Israeli diplomats in matters independent from foreign powers (Assyrian, Babylonian, Per- referring to the State of Israel...
...How will the of the present State of Israel to point out that a Jewish state or Vatican deal with this twofold aspect of contemporary state-like entity (the stages of which are described in the Judaism...
...or "We must also accept our cautious in reacting to what the Nazis did to the Jews...
...A similar idea in great part due to the confluence of historical events...
...Secondly, a number of difficulties are likely to arise because The U.S...
...Its diplomatic reprecommandments to Moses...
...during the last three or four years, the Catholic church I wonder what effect the magisterium of the church has on has made great efforts to amend its traditional position the "praxis" of its followers...
...Vatican recognition of triarchs and of Moses, the activities of prophets such as the State of Israel could not militarily or economically help to Ezekiel or Jeremiah, the rabbinical literature, medieval create secure frontiers...
...Their primary concern must have been the question: What might be God's design for the continuing the relationship between Judaism and Jews, on the one hand, presence of the Jewish people...
...including torture, illegal executions, disappearances, mass If there is any government to which Section 701 is meant to arrests, and arbitrary imprisonment...
...A numerous Diaspora," we read in linked to a clear policy of persuading Israel to greater efforts in the "Notes," "allowed Israel to carry in the world a witness achieving peace with its Muslim neighbors (such as accepting - often heroic - of its fidelity to the only God and to exalt the borders existing before the war of 1967...
...teenage protestors with gasoline and set them on fire...
...The adversary at this moment for the human person, the image of God...
...It was responsibility to prepare the world for the coming of the likewise slow and cautious in expressing its regrets once the Messiah by working together for social justice, respect for the ordeal was over...
...David who chose her as the capital, and of Solomon who built Like other nation-states it sacrifices ethics for supposed secuthe temple there...
...The issue of diplomatic recognition of the State of Israel by the Vatican raises a number of questions...
...Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, that were The pattern of human rights abuses that has characterized established by the U.S...
...that we consider, as did Franz Finally, we should welcome certain statements by church Rosenzweig, Christianity and Judaism as two forms of salvaauthorities: "The people of God of the Old and the New tion history...
...influence in a number of European countries...
...Exception is made issued extensive reports on human rights violations in Chile --only for assistance that serves basic human needs...
...There is, and will continue to be, an intricate present State of Israel...
...On the other What is conspicuously missing from these statements, howhand, I doubt whether Jewish demands for ever new con- ever, is any mention of the problem of human survival - the fessions of guilt by the Christian churches are useful today...
...religious 'patrimony or...
...Again, in his April 13, 198.6 address to the Roman number of representatives of Jewish organizations, for examsynagogue, the pope pointed out that "each of our religions ple, have criticized church authorities for inadequately addres...
...History offers little consolation...
...The diplomatic recognition of a state by the Vatican peoples in close contact with a land whose gods they worship- serves primarily the religious interests of Catholics living in ped, but through God's call to Abraham and God's gift of the that state...
...He is a the city of Jerusalem, recent statements by the church speak naturalized American citizen who returned to his native Germany in clearly...
...bishops are correct in noting that "Jews have there are no correlative structures or functions between the always considered themselves as a peoplehood that is not Vatican and the State of Israel...
...Israel shaped as it is after the model of the European nation-state at cannot exist without continuous massive help from the diasthe-turn of the century, does not seem to me to do full justice to pora, in particular from the United States...
...in the kingdom of God) than the Israel is recognized in this statement from the "Notes": "the consequence of historical contingencies such as the pogroms existence of the State of Israel and its political options should of Eastern Europe and the Holocaust through Nazi Germany: be envisaged not in a perspective which is in itself religious, modern Israel was conceived of as a place of refuge for those but in reference to the common principles of international whose livess were endangered...
...In fact, the present State of Israel, relationship between the diaspora and the State of Israel...
...A JEW LOOKS AT CATHOLIC-JEWISH RELATIONS The Vatican, Israel, & `holy Zion' F. G. FRIEDMANN How do these shifts in traditional Catholic positions present themselves to me, a Jew who is not a representative of any D UIIRING THE LAST quarter of a century, and particularly Jewish organization, but simply a private person...
...Catholic-Jewish Relations of the National Conference of Two major issues come immediately to mind...
...Here, too, there has been population still refuse to shake hands with a Jew...
...toward the Jews and Judaism...
...economic development world-wide...
...A particularly ugly manifestation of Chilean government PETER HAKIM is the staff director of the Inter-American Dialogue, brutality occurred this past July...
...During his visit to the Jewish community of I also wonder about the church's motivation, whether the Mainz in 1980, John Paul II spoke of "the people of God of the changed doctrinal attitude toward Judaism and the Jews is not Old Covenant, which has never been revoked...
...Love of the same God Christians and Jews is not each other's religious tradition and must show itself in effective action for the good of mankind" belief but the hubris of the modern mind after its renunciation ("Guidelines and Suggestions for Implementing the Council- of God...
...not regard it as a sign of disrespect for the achievements self-confidence from the existence of Israel...
...Both 26 September 1986: 491...
...a shift in thought...
...Here the traditional position has been by canon law, and that the four discriminating canons against radically modified...
...Jews' real mission...
...Like most nation-states Concerning the Holocaust it is true that, with few excepCommonweal: 490 tions, the hierarchy of the Catholic church was slow and iar Declaration Nostra Aetate...
...Certainly, us is aware today that the hubris of one race caused the the fact that a great many diaspora-Jews closed their eyes to the genocide of gypsies and Jews, as well as the suffering and treatment of Palestinians at the hands, of Israeli authorities deaths of unknown numbers of dissenters...
...Furthermore, the aware of the possibility that the hubris of the industrialized part specific problems of theodicy and of the nature of sin and evil of the human race - represented by the ideologies of unlimwhich arose as a consequence of the Holocaust, should, I ited competition and search for success - may lead to the believe, be left to the theologians: to the Catholic ones who suicide of humankind as a whole...
...POLICY Subsidizing Pinochet PETER HAKIM apply, it is the government of Chile...
...Of the twenty-two different tasks in the world...
...Each of Suffering does not necessarily ennoble the victim...
...sentatives abroad mainly promote the security of the State of Furthermore, the Jews were "a people without a country" Israel and the interests of its citizens...
...were primarily carried out with the International Jewish ComThese statements do not deny that Jews and Catholics have mittee on Interreligious Consultations...
...Are we equally precludes any claim to moral superiority...
...Catholic Bishops, has pointed out that "forced baptisms" of First, the accusation of deicide, of the Jewish participation Jews were performed in the Middle Ages, though prohibited in the killing of Christ...
...The International Financial Institutions Act cally in mind...
...MULTILATERAL LOANS & U.S...
...The same is not true of Israel...
...The Vatican is the seat of the majority of Jews see themselves bound in one way or another highest authority of the Catholic church as well as its administo the land of Israel...
...This is evident in both specific Eugene Fisher, executive secretary of the Secretariat for papal pronouncements and in actions by ecclesiastical bodies...
...The Jewish people did not originate like other is a Jew...
...representatives to those mul- official human rights agencies - including the annual reports tilateral lending agencies to oppose assistance to countries of the U.S...
...I do not exclude the possibility that this rights of persons and nations, and for social and international attitude contributed to the decline in the church's prestige and reconciliation" ("Notes...
...Chilean soldiers doused two Washington, D.C...
...during times when some of the most important events and What reasons can there be for the Vatican and Israel to dcye1opments of their history took place: the life of the pa- establish mutual diplomatic relations...
...But they do force Catholics to ponder thirteen were rabbis...
...and other governments to promote the Pinochet regime since it took power in 1973 is well known...
...One such way is certainly to accept trative center...
...When Congress enacted £ _N1___ this legislation, it was with the Pinochet dictatorship specifiI T'S THE law...
...it could constitute only a moral boost philosophy, the mystic movements, Yiddish literature, as well by emphasizing the righteousness of the Zionist cause...
...Every Jew in the world could become a citizen promised to the Jewish people as a reward for the fulfillment of of that state, though it is the state which ultimately defines whe the laws of God...
...As to the State of Israel, one for "the Lord will judge each one according to his works, Jews should keep in mind that the church's recent consultations and Christians alike...
...State Department...
...many disaspora-Jews receive a considerable boost to their I do...
...and Catholicism and Catholics on the other hand...
...In both states the relationship of solely racial, ethnic, or religious, but in a sense a composite of religion and politics plays an important role, yet these relationallthree-' and that, "It is for such reasons that an overwhelming ships are radically different...
...Israel is a secular state dominever was the natural possession of the Jewish tribes, but was nated by Jews...
...But concerning Jewish attachment to the land of Israel or F.G...
...trace) is a historic fact and a sign to be interpreted within God's Other questions have consistently been raised as well...
...Outside Israel exists O N THE other hand, I do not believe it necessary to identify a vast Jewish diaspora which will not disappear in the foresee`_`holy Zion, the Zion at the end of all time, with the able future...
...Citizens of the Vatican are only those who have God's saying "the land is mine" which evidently means that it a specific function in that state...
...John Paul II said in 1984 that "Jews love her 1960 to teach American Studies...
...The "Notes" speak of the Jews' "memory rity as when it furnishes arms to racist South Africa...
...Israel "remains a chosen people," members of that committee who participated in the last meetwhile the church "must of her nature proclaim Jesus Christ to ing (October 1985), twenty were diaspora-Jews, of whom the world'.' ("Notes...
Vol. 113 • September 1986 • No. 16
