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60

FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1990

THE

J

JEWISH NEWS!

Rabbi Urges Jews
To Study Christianity

ARTHUR J. MAGIDA

Special to The Jewish News

D

espite the long
history of tensions
and, sometimes, of
atrocities that has marked
Jewish-Christian relations,
Jews should recognize the
inherent spiritual authen-
ticity of the religion founded
on the teachings of Jesus.
They should also understand
that Jews have an obligation
to study Christianity, not
just because Christians, like
all mankind, share the same
ultimate roots —descent
from Adam — but also
because they abide by the
laws of morality that God
transmitted to Noah.
These ideas were offered
last week by Rabbi Marc
Tanenbaum at a talk to the
Institute for Christian-
Jewish Studies at Chizuk
Amuno Congregation.
Tanenbaum, the former di-
rector of international rela-
tions for the American
Jewish Committee, is now a
consultant to the AJC.
It is "no longer a luxury"
for Jews to study Christiani-
ty, said Tanenbaum. Such
endeavors must be done "for
Jewish reasons, not Chris-
tian reasons."
But despite his urgings for
Jews to be knowledgeable
about Christianity, Tanen-
baum recognized that cen-
turies of sour Jewish-
Christian relations often
"overwhelms" such pur-
suits. Tales of pogroms in
Europe —"the experience,"
he said, "of every Jewish
immigrant family . . . [which
came to] America" — made it
especially difficult for
American-born Jews of one
or two generations ago to
transcend their relatively
tranquil exposure to Chris-
tians in the New World.
As a child in South
Baltimore, said Tanenbaum,
his father had told him of his
brother, Aaron, who had
been drowned by local Chris-
tians on Good Friday. Led by
their priest, they had mar-
ched from their church to a
nearby Jewish village,
where they forced Tanen-
baum's uncle into a lake as
the priest intoned that
Aaron was being offered to
God "as a ransom" for the
death of Jesus.
In Baltimore, Tanen-
baum's father continued to
perceive the church as a
"place of fear that could
destroy someone." At the

same time, the closest
friends of Tanenbaum, the
future rabbi, were non-Jews
"who wouldn't play baseball
without me."
"I couldn't reconcile my
friendships," he said, "with
the image of the church. As I
grew up, I couldn't under-
stand how a gospel of love
was a gospel of hate for the
Jews. I was not concerned
about theocide [the killing of
Jesus], but with homicide of
the JeWs."
Eventually, with studies
in rabbinical seminary and
his own readings, Tanen-
baum came to the conclusion

Rabbi Tannenbaum:
"No longer a luxury."

that there are elements in
Judaism that allow for "a
systematic conception of
Christianity." Among these:
• The common origin of
all mankind and biblical
admonitions of compassion
and tolerance. Tanenbaum
cited passages in the Bible
that encourage kindness: "A
stranger shalt thy not op-
press for as strangers were
you in the land of Egypt"
and "Strangers you shall
love as yourself."
Jesus and Paul's
•
faithfulness to Jews' obliga-
tions to bring the Noachian
Laws to all mankind. These
two men, the latter of whom
is generally considered the
founder of the church, said
Tanenbaum, perceived their
mission as preaching these
key rules of morality to gen-
tiles. While Jews are
customarily obliged to
observe 613 laws, they are
also obligated to bring the
seven Noachian Laws to
non-Jews. Traditionally,
obeying these laws is con-
sidered to be the duty of all
mankind as descendents of a
common ancestor.
Considered to have been
given to Noah by God, these
laws precede the Torah and