Opinion
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Latin Mass Cause For Concern
the Church has made great
strides in reversing a 2,000-year
history of anti-Semitism.
New York/JTA
W
ith anti-Semitism
resurgent in the
world, one of the
encouraging elements for the
Jewish people, particularly if one
is to compare things today to the
1930s and 1940s, is the remark-
able change in the Catholic
Church's attitudes toward Jews.
In the past four decades, a
conceptual revolution has taken
place in the Church's relationship with the
Jewish people. The first step came with
Vatican II and its landmark document
Nostra Aetate in 1965, which repudiated
the centuries-old "deicide" charge against
all Jews, stressed the religious bond shared
by Jews and Catholics, reaffirmed the eter-
nal covenant between God and the people
of Israel and dismissed Church interest in
trying to baptize Jews.
This theological revolution then moved
forward dramatically through the papacy
of Pope John Paul II. Further documents
rejected anti-Semitism and the destructive
doctrine of supersessionism — the notion
that Christianity supersedes Judaism as
the true religion — and the Vatican decid-
ed to recognize and establish diplomatic
relations with the State of Israel.
In short, during the past four decades,
Unsettling Change
That is why the decision by the
Vatican to restore a wider use of
the Latin Mass with the inclu-
sion of the prayer for the conver-
sion of the Jews in the name of
taking them out of the darkness
is so disturbing. I was in Rome
in the days leading up to the
announcement of the revival of the Latin
Mass containing the conversion prayer, and
quickly made my strong objections known
in meetings with Vatican officials.
It is not merely that such a conversion
call and condescending references conjure
up the great suffering and pain imposed
on the Jews by the Church through the cen-
turies, though that is surely reason enough
to be upset. And it is not merely that the
tone of this prayer runs counter to the new
relationship and language fostered by the
Vatican for decades to change Catholic
attitudes toward Jews — though that, too,
would be reason enough for anger.
The main reason to be disturbed by
the return of this Vatican-sanctioned
prayer is that it threatens to undermine
the conceptual underpinnings of so much
that has happened over 40 years — Pope
John Paul II's eloquently expressed state-
ment that Judaism is "the elder brother" of
Christianity; that it has a legitimacy and
validity of its own; that it has an unbroken
covenant with God. It is this conceptual
breakthrough — one that has provided the
framework for all the specific, positive steps
to emerge — that is now being challenged.
Looking Ahead
What is the right approach to dealing with
this concern? It surely should not lead
to buying into the notion that this is the
same old Church, so what do you expect.
Of course, the implementation and fil-
tering down to the pews of the Vatican II
changes and subsequent reforms have been
uneven and require much hard work and
good will. Recent polls of attitudes toward
Jews in five European countries and the
extreme level of anti-Semitism found in
two of them — Poland and Spain — can
surely be attributed to the survival of old
Church prejudices and teachings. We know
this to be true of Latin America, as well.
Yet in many places, particularly in the
United States, students in Catholic schools
are being exposed to positive views about
Jews. Most important, the Vatican, a hier-
archical system, had put in play a concep-
tual basis for change on the ground wher-
ever the Church was present. In the United
States, Catholic-Jewish relations are strong
— a testament to the variety of interfaith
programs involving students, lay teachers,
priests and nuns.
So, to be clear, the Vatican is not an
enemy of the Jewish people, nor is Pope
Benedict XVI.
Open Approach
Rather, the current controversy speaks to
the need for direct and honest commu-
nication based on the friendly relations
that have evolved. The Church must be
true to itself and its teachings, and it must
understand that reintroducing this prayer
— it was removed by Paul VI in 1970 and
replaced with a positive one recognizing
the Jews' eternal covenant with God — will
play into the hands of those who are against
better relations between Jews and Catholics.
The wider use of the Latin Mass will
make it more difficult to implement the
doctrines of Vatican II and Pope John Paul
II, and could even set in motion retro-
grade forces within the Church on the sub-
ject of the Jews, none of which are in the
interest of either the Church or the Jewish
people. I
Abraham H. Foxman is national director of the
Anti-Defamation League and author of the
book "The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby and
the Myth of Jewish Control," to be published in
September by Palgrave Macmillan.
Oasis of Peace
A
letter of solicitation that arrived
in our home on behalf of Neve
Shalom-Oasis of Peace, or Wahat
Al Salam in Arabic, the only Arab-Jewish
moshav (communal village) in Israel,
rekindled fond memories of a visit I had
there some 18 years ago.
The visit had its roots at a Yom
Ha'Atzmaut (Israel's Independence Day)
fair at the West Bloomfield JCC. I remem-
ber approaching the table dedicated to
Neve Shalom, the name of which I already
knew, and being enthusiastically greeted
there by a smiling gentleman. I later found
out he was a professor of sociology at the
University of Michigan. He was passionate
about Neve Shalom and was in the process
of writing a book on the subject. The ami-
able professor kept telling me more and
more about that unique place. He most
enthusiastically invited me to come and
see the moshav with my own eyes. He
made it clear that he would not take no for
an answer; I needed no persuasion to go.
26
August 2 e 2007
After arriving in Israel that summer,
I phoned him at Neve Shalom. He gave
me explicit directions and promised that
someone would meet me at the bus stop. I
took the bus going to Jerusalem via the old
Latrun road and waited some 10 minutes
till a dilapidated pickup truck stopped
and the young teen driver asked if I were
Rachel; after my affirmative answer, he
invited me in.
From the bus stop, I could see the
famous Latrun police fortress, a legacy
of the British Mandate, as well as the
Trappists Monastery-Minzar Hashatkanim
(Monastery of the Silent) in Hebrew,
known for its heavenly wines.
The bumpy ride through harsh terrain
lasted some 15 minutes before we arrived
at Neve Shalom. We went straight to the
moshav office where the smiling professor
welcomed me with a resounding shalom
and gave me cold drink. We began our
unforgettable tour.
Since it was summer break, school was
out and there were only summer
programs, which like the regu-
lar nursery, kindergarten and
elementary school, were taught
by Jewish and Arab teachers in
both Hebrew and Arabic and
where the curriculum includes
Jewish and Arab.
Traditions and both Jewish
and Arab holidays are observed
in order that residents learn to
respect each other's traditions.
The professor told me of the year
of service in which both Arab and Jewish
teens participate; my driver, an Arab youth
from Nazareth, was one of the participants.
The School for Peace, a signature insti-
tute of Neve Shalom, convenes Arab and
Jewish high school kids who come for a
few days of dialogue and get acquainted
with each other and learn to see each other
as fellow teens, not as Arabs and Jews as
they did before. The professor also took
me to the site where a hostel was being
built for guests from Israel and
abroad.
After a delectable lunch at
the communal dining room, I
parted from my tour guide. My
young driver took me back to
the bus stop. All the way home,
I thought about these wonder-
ful people whom I just met
and their daily sacrifice — life
in this desolate, God forsaken
place isn't easy — for the sake
of peace and harmony in the
land they all love and call home.
I called them modern-day pioneers.
And I expressed the wish that they would
be the catalyst for peaceful co-existence
between Israelis and their neighbors,
Palestinian Arabs. If they can do it at Neve
Shalom, it's no dream, like Theodor Herzl
once said.
Israeli-born Rachel Kapen is a West Bloomfield
resident who came to America in the 1960s.