From: Carl Smith [mailto:cgsmith@whidbey.net]
To: heb_roots_chr@hebroots.org
Subject: Rome Strikes Second Coming Deal With Jews

Rome Strikes Second Coming Deal With Jews

Eric J. Greenberg - Staff Writer
The Jewish Week
7-23-2

In 1967, during the early thaw of Catholic-Jewish relations, Rabbi
Irving "Yitz" Greenberg addressed a Catholic audience about the conflicting
Messiah beliefs.

The Orthodox rabbi noted that one difference between Jews and
Catholics is whether the Messiah is coming for the first or second time.
Christians believe the Messiah - a Jew from Nazareth called Jesus - came
2,000 years ago, and after dying and being resurrected, will someday return
to redeem the world.

Jews say the Messiah has yet to arrive - a belief that led to
centuries of Christian anti-Semitism and killings of Jews who refused to
accept the Christian view.

Rabbi Greenberg suggested the dispute be tabled until the Messiah
arrives. When the Messiah comes, Jews and Christians "can ask him if this is
his first coming or his second," finally putting the issue to rest.

But this week, the Messiah debate suddenly took center stage in
Jewish-Catholic relations, in an appropriately bizarre and mysterious
manner.

It follows the revelation last week that the Vatican's top
biblical scholars recently issued a report that for the first time in nearly
2,000 years apparently validates as legitimate the Jewish wait for the
Messiah.

A 210-page document titled "The Jewish People and the Holy
Scriptures in the Christian Bible," by the Pontifical Biblical Commission
and authorized by the Vatican's top theologian, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger,
reportedly states that "the Jewish messianic wait is not in vain."

It reportedly says Jews and Christians share their wait for the
Messiah, although Jews are waiting for the first coming and Christians for
the second.

The new document also reportedly contains an apology to the Jewish
people for anti-Semitic passages contained in the New Testament, and also
stresses the continuing importance of the Torah for Christians.

The book comes to light as anti-Semitism appears to be increasing
around the world from Christian and Muslim sources.

For example, the Associated Press reported this week that Russian
prosecutors are investigating an anti-Semitic Russian Orthodox Church
priest, Sergei Nilus, who allegedly openly calls Jews the antichrist and
enemies of Christianity.

But despite the potential significance of the new Vatican
document, it was seemingly buried upon publication, quietly placed in
bookstores in Rome last November. There was no press conference or public
announcement, unlike many other important Vatican documents such as the 1999
"We Remember" Holocaust report.

In fact, the world was unaware of the new "Messiah doctrine" until
last Friday, when The New York Times published a story about it based on a
short report two days earlier by the Italian news agency ANSA.

"Everything in the report is now considered part of official
Church doctrine," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls acknowledged after
it became public.

Despite its potential significance, the document still was
unavailable in English this week, being translated only in Italian, French
and Polish. Further, the Vatican did not post it on its Web site in any
language.

"For the time being the document ... will not be available [on]
the Internet," the Pontifical Biblical Commission told one American rabbi
Monday, adding, "an English translation will be available [in] days."

That left American Jewish and Catholic interfaith leaders
scrambling this week for any information.

Initial speculation generally was positive, even as the interfaith
leaders stressed that they were speaking without having seen the text. They
also all questioned the "strange" behavior of the Vatican in failing to
publicize such a significant document.

"The way it was released is extremely strange," said Father John
Pawlikowski, director of the Catholic Jewish Studies Program at the Catholic
Theological Union in Chicago. "Normally they launch these things with
fanfare and press conferences. Also the lack of an authorized English
translation is particularly disturbing."

"It's very strange, " said Michael Signer, professor of Jewish
Thought and Culture at the University of Notre Dame. "This is not the most
salutary way this could have been done."

In Rome, Vatican officials denied they tried to hide the document
fearing criticism from right-wing Catholics who oppose theological change.

"There was no intention to hide it," said a Vatican spokesman, the
Rev. Ciro Benedettini.

In the United States, Eugene Fisher, ecumenical director for the
National Conference of Catholic Bishops, blamed a Vatican leadership that is
understaffed and "clueless" about what is important to world interest.

But Fisher, who said he saw an English draft of the text last
year, expounded on its importance. He noted that the theologically
conservative Cardinal Ratzinger - the second most powerful person in the
Vatican after the Pope - signed off on it.

Ironically, it is the same Cardinal Ratzinger who alarmed Jewish
leaders last year when he declared that the Church is waiting for the moment
when Jews will "say yes to Christ."

Asked if Jews must, or should, acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah,
Cardinal Ratzinger told an interviewer, "We believe that. The fact remains,
however, that our Christian conviction is that Christ is also the Messiah of
Israel."

How that declaration squares with the new "Messiah document" was a
source of much speculation this week. But Fisher contended it's a major
positive development.

"If you put off the moment that Jews will come to recognize Jesus
as the Messiah until the end of time, then we don't need to work or pray for
the conversion of Jews to Christianity," he said. "God already has the
salvation of Jews figured out, and they accepted it on Sinai, so they are
OK."

"Jews are already with the Father," he continued. "We do not have
a mission to the Jews, but only a mission with the Jews to the world. The
Catholic Church will never again sanction an organization devoted to the
conversion of the Jews. That is over, on doctrinal, biblical and pastoral
grounds. Finito."

Signer, also a Reform rabbi said, "What's really new is the
validation of the Jewish position as truth, that the Jewish waiting for the
Messiah is a correct theological viewpoint. If the document says what we
think, it is another very important theological step in the respect for
Judaism as a living tradition."

"It's a very important, critical statement," said Rabbi Jack
Bemporad, head of the Center for Interreligious Understanding. "Up until now
they were saying Jews are completely and absolutely wrong and we are waiting
in vain and blind to the truth."

Others were more cautious, noting continued significant
differences in Messiah beliefs - particularly that Christians believe that
their Messiah is Jesus who is also God, while for Jews the Messiah is not a
divine being and cannot be Jesus because he died before bringing the
redemption.

Rabbi James Rudin, senior interreligious adviser to the American
Jewish Committee, raised several concerns.

"Does the new book instruct Catholics to fully accept the fact
there is not only theological space in God's universe for Jews/Judaism, but
they must also affirm that the identity of long awaited Messiah, so ardently
prayed for by Jews for centuries, is unknown and will remain unknown until
the Messiah appears?" he asked.

"That is a clear affirmation of Judaism with no theological
strings attached, no Jesus waiting for Jews at the end of the theological
day. If this is the book's message, then it is an important step forward on
the part of the Catholic Church."

Father Pawlikowski stressed that the new document also appears to
affirm the importance of the "Jewish Bible," a new term for the Vatican that
he said would be highly significant if it replaces the traditional "Old
Testament," which has a negative implication as being replaced by the "New
Testament."

"The document seems to say that Christians should never deprecate
or see the Jewish Bible as inferior, which coming from major Vatican
biblical scholars could have profound implications for Catholic religious
and educational material," Father Pawlikowski said.

All the scholars said the next step is for the Vatican to make
available the English translation as soon as possible so it can be studied.

"We hope to see it before the Messiah," quipped one frustrated
interfaith expert.

http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=5649#top

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