Italian Jews divide over relations with Benedict XVI

The Italian Jewish community is divided over relations with Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church, reports the veteran Vatican-watcher Sandro Magister at his website . In a January 14 post I reported on the Italian rabbis’ decision to boycott the annual Catholic-Jewish relations day scheduled for January 17, in protest against the Pro Judaeis prayer in the Latin version of the Easter Service. The objections seemed theologically confused, and harmful to Jewish interests, I argued. Some Italian Jews take issue with their rabbis’ decision,

But not all Jews see things this way. Some have a different interpretation of Benedict XVI’s reservations about interreligious dialogue. They maintain that when he excludes “an interreligious dialogue in the strict sense of the word,” the pope is not referring to Judaism, but only to the religions outside of the Judeo-Christian complex, meaning Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. And in fact, they ask, “what were the document of 2001 and the book ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ if not a comparison, on specifically religious grounds, with the only religion with which Christianity can make one?”

Formulating this last question - in a commentary in the newspaper “il Foglio” on January 11—was Giorgio Israel, a professor of mathematics at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and a committed proponent of Jewish-Christian dialogue, in harmony with the current pontiff. Together with Guido Guastalla, cultural director for the Jewish community in Livorno, Israel also publicly contested, in “Corriere della Sera” on November 26, the decision of Laras and the assembly of rabbis to distance themselves from the day of Jewish-Christian reflection on January 17. In their judgment, the reason given for the refusal—the prayer for the Jews formulated by Benedict XVI for the ancient rite of Good Friday—is no longer defensible after the clarifications made about this by the Vatican authorities, clarifications that have also been accepted by the president of the International Jewish Committee, Rabbi David Rosen.

As Magister reports, “In the Catholic camp, not everyone accepts the road marked out by Ratzinger in dialogue with Judaism. It is opposed by the so-called “theology of substitution,” both in its “left-wing” pro-Palestinian versions, and in its traditionalist “right-wing” versions. According to this theology, the covenant with Israel has been revoked by God, and only the Church is the new chosen people. For some, this view amounts to a substantial rejection of the Old Testament.” Benedict XVI is the most prominent opponent of substitution theology in the Church, and his nuanced and sympathetic understanding of Jewish theology is evident in his 2007 book Jesus of Nazareth .

The rancor of the Italian rabbis was hard to understand when they announced their decision to cancel the interfaith talks scheduled for January 17. Even stranger, Magister reports, is the rabbis’ retort to Giorgio Israel and other defenders of Benedict XVI in the Italian Jewish community:

Rabbi Laras, Rabbi Amos Luzzatto, and the president of the Italian Jewish youth association, Daniele Nahum, replied to Israel and Guastalla in “Corriere della Sera” on December 4. The three blamed the Catholic Church and the pope in particular for the rupture, described Benedict XVI’s positions as “a retreat with respect to the victories achieved in the recent decades of dialogue and collaboration,” and accused their critics of wanting to use Jewish-Christian dialogue for anti-Islamic purposes.

In their reply, Laras, Luzzatto, and Nahum concluded: “It should be remembered that relations between Judaism and Islam have generally been more productive and serene than those between Judaism and Christianity.”

History has its indelible influence. But revisited today, in the thick of the war in Gaza, this tribute to Islam and this swipe against the Church sound surreal.

Surreal, indeed.