Definition:

When Christianity first branched away from Judaism around two thousand years ago, there was much animosity between the two groups. In order to create a distance between the nascent Christianity and the established Judaism, Jews needed to be seen at best as outdated, at worst as God-killers, and the Christian Scriptures refer to both. As Rabbinic Judaism developed, it did not look favourably on Christianity and sought to make a strong differentiation between the two religions.

During the Middle Ages, once Christianity had become the religion of many states, Jewish-Christian relations reached perhaps an all-time low. The Crusades may have been a time for glory amongst the Christians, but Crusader armies would storm through Europe slaughtering Jews on their way. During the Middle Ages, Easter was a particularly bad time for Jews because Christian clergy would sometimes stir their community up into taking vengeance for Jesus’ death. It was also a time when the Blood Libel – the accusation that Jews were slaughtering Christian babies and using their blood in the matzah (unleavened bread) – became prominent and again revenge attacks on this similarly ridiculous claim were frequent.

We have accounts during World War Two of churches standing by and allowing genocide and also individuals whose Christian faith led them to protect Jews, even at the expense of their own life. In 1941, the Council for Christians and Jews was established and is still very active today. In 1965, the Pope declared in ‘Nostra Aetate’ that the Jews were not responsible for the death of Jesus, a statement which has certainly improved relations between the Catholic Church and the Jewish community, even if it is not accepted by all Christians.

In early 2008, Pope Benedict introduced a reformulated prayer that had previously referred to the Jews as “perfidious” – the rewritten version nonetheless asked that God should illumine the hearts of the Jews in order that they might recognize the Divinity of Jesus. However, it is through the continued good work of organizations such as the Council for Christians and Jews, that such events can be discussed openly and the existence of healthy channels of dialogue is cause for much celebration considering the dark past relationship between these two faiths.

In 1997, the Three Faiths Forum was established, Sir Sigmund Sternberg being instrumental in both this group and the aforementioned CCJ. In the Reform Movement, Rabbis and communities have been involved for many years in building bridges with as many faith communities as possible.

Sources:

• A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations, ed. Edward Kessler & Neil Weinborn, Cambridge, 2005
• Encyclopaedia Judaica, Keter Publishing House, 1972, Vol. 5, 505 - 515

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