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January 25, 2002/12 Shevat 5762, Vol. 54, No. 19
Vatican document validates Judaism
RUTH E. GRUBER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
BUDAPEST - Jews involved in interfaith dialogue are praising a new Vatican document that appears to represent a turning point in the way Roman Catholic doctrine views the Hebrew Bible.
One of the key points of "The Jewish People and the Holy Scriptures in the Christian Bible" is that the Church believes the "Old Testament" retains its moral value, not just its literary appeal, Rabbi Arthur Schneier told JTA.
Schneier is the president of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, a group that promotes religious freedom.
Released quietly two months ago, the document also explicitly states that "the Jewish wait for the Messiah is not in vain."
Jews and Christians share the wait for the Messiah, it says, but Jews are waiting for the first coming, and Christians for the second.
"The difference consists in the fact that for us, he who will come will have the same traits of that Jesus who has already come," wrote the Vatican's chief theologian, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who signed the document.
The document also expresses regret that certain passages in the Christian Bible condemning individual Jews have been used to justify anti-Semitism. Nowhere in the Christian Bible, it said, can one find passages reflecting "an attitude of scorn, hostility or persecution of Jews as Jews."
Jews involved in interfaith dialogue welcomed the document.
"It seems to be another significant, positive step in the process of increasing Catholic appreciation of Jews and Judaism," said Stanislaw Krajewski, the Warsaw consultant of the American Jewish Committee and an activist in Catholic-Jewish dialogue.
A document he released last year called "Dominus Iesus" appeared to challenge the idea that "one religion is as good as another."
Vatican chief spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls said the new document now is part of official church doctrine.
The document appeared in some Rome bookshops two months ago as a 210-page volume. But it was released in French and Italian only, and was not publicized.
The Vatican usually announces major documents and presents them officially at press conferences. A Polish translation was released last week to coincide with the "Day of Judaism" marked annually by the Roman Catholic church in Poland on Jan. 17, but no full English text has yet been released.
Krajewski said the Polish translation of the document was carried out by the Rev. Ryszard Rubinkiewicz, a professor in Lublin, who also was a member of the commission that researched and wrote it.
He noted that Rubinkiewicz's views on Jews and Judaism were influenced by a trip he made to the United States several years ago within the framework of an American Jewish Committee program aimed at teaching Catholic priests about the Jewish world and religion.
It is unclear whether the document tries to reconcile Judaism's validity with a contradictory doctrine that claims Jesus' resurrection is of "universal significance." But the document does come close to a full rejection of the concept that Christianity replaced Judaism, said Eugene Korn, director of Interfaith Affairs for the Anti-Defamation League.
Since the document determines that Jewish scriptures are sacred and there is validity to Jews' wait for the Messiah, it implies that the covenant between God and the Jews is valid. That would overturn the traditional Catholic understanding of Judaism, Korn said.
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