CCJU Nostra Aetate Awards: Openness to the Other
On October 20, 1998, the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding honored His Eminence Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger and Chief Rabbi Rene-Samuel Sirat with the prestigious Nostra Aetate Award, named after the Second Vatican Council's groundbreaking document on the Catholic Church and its relations with Jews and other non-Christians. Presenting the awards were Dr. Samuel Pisar and His Eminence John Cardinal O'Connor. The event took place at the Sutton Place Synagogue, New York City and was emceed by Mitchell Krauss, former CBS news correspondent. As part of the CCJU Awards Ceremony, Cardinal Lustiger and Chief Rabbi Sirat each delivered a paper. Anthony J. Cernera, Ph.D., president of Sacred Heart University, Rabbi Joseph Ehrenkranz, executive director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding, and Rabbi Allan Schranz of the Sutton Place Synagogue also offered brief remarks.

An interreligious audience of over 600 people attended the public lecture at the synagogue. Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, Archbishop of Paris, said that "a page is being turned" in Catholic-Jewish relations with the renewal of the Church begun by Vatican II. In his hour-long address, he said, "Christians have opened their eyes and ears to the Jewish pain and wounds."

At a tense moment in the ceremony, Dr. Pisar wondered whether the August 9 feast day commemorating the recently canonized saint, Edith Stein (Sr. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) was appropriate for Catholics to remember the Shoah-a concern voiced by several Jewish leaders. He noted that the traditional Jewish remembrance of Yom Shoah, had been established 50 years earlier on the 27th day of Nissan and he hoped that the Vatican would not be insensitive to such concerns.

Cardinal O'Connor said that he believed that pope had been misunderstood by a journalist and he would ask Pope John Paul II for further clarification to remove any suspicions.

Cardinal Lustiger went a step further and said in his lecture, "I will not fail to invite the Catholics of Paris to join the Jewish communities in prayer on Yom Shoah-the Day of the Shoah-in the spirit of penance and an act of faith in the Lord of the living and the dead." Cardinal O'Connor also approved of this suggestion and said that the same invitation would be extended to Catholics in New York. These comments elicited enthusiastic applause from the standing-room only audience.

Commenting on the event, Rabbi Ehrenkranz said, "It was wonderful for me to see Cardinal Lustiger and Rabbi Sirat turn an obstacle [the Edith Stein controversy] into a bridge of understanding and trust. These are exceptional leaders and role models. They were willing to reach out to each other in respect and honesty. To see their genuine openness and their ability to come to an agreement in such a short time, is the most significant thing that has happened this year in Christian-Jewish understanding."

Cardinal Lustiger was born in 1926 to a non-observant Jewish family in Paris. During WWII, when his mother was killed by the Nazis in a death camp, he was sheltered by Christians and eventually became a Christian as a teen-ager. He said that the roots of anti-Semitism can be traced to envy and jealousy among the early Christians, which led them to become involved in "passionate polemics, and these eventually nurtured anti-Judaism." He said that this jealousy was based on a misreading of St. Paul who did not preach an "arrogant and homocidal envy," but rather an "emulation in faithfulness to the election by the living God." This misreading caused Christians to "marginalize or throw out the Jews" and many Jews dismissed the early Christians as "only goyim," the Hebrew word for Gentiles, thus sending them "into the same spiritual vacuum as the other pagans."

In modern times, Cardinal Lustiger observed that Jews have often joined Christians in "the miscalculations and faults which were caused by human presumption . . . [where] the Jews were the first victims of these advances, which backfired with unprecedented selective cruelty." Since the end of the war, Christians have recognized "the gifts granted to the Jewish people" and have rediscovered "their own wealth and vocation," he said. The cardinal did not address the French Bishops' 1997 Declaration of Repentance at length. Some have faulted the French bishops for not emphasizing that many Catholics did help Jews. Cardinal Lustiger said, "But how could we then have not yielded--even unconsciously--to the temptation to justify ourselves?" He asked the Jewish people to take part in the Church's examination of conscience and said, "In Christian-Jewish relations, Christians have opened their eyes and ears to the Jewish pain and wounds. They accept to be held responsible. They agree to bear that burden without rejecting it on others. They have not tried to declare themselves innocent."

In his paper entitled, "What Can We, Jews, Learn From Nostra Aetate," Rabbi Sirat began by remembering the Shoah and acknowledging the teshuva of the Catholic Church. He admitted that there remains a long way to go for this teshuva to reach its full achievement. The rabbi said that an act of collective teshuva is necessary and proposed four ways for this to be accomplished: 1) teshuva towards Jewish mothers, sisters, spouses, and daughters; 2) teshuva towards the Jewish people; 3) teshuva towards the Palestinians and the peoples of the Middle East; and 4) teshuva towards the world.

First, Rabbi Sirat spoke about the status and the role of the modern, observant Jewish woman in the framework of the community. He acknowledged that in the synagogue, there needs to be a literal and figurative place for women. He said that he had achieved some progress in academia but "failed miserably" as the Chief Rabbi of France by not following up on his proposals towards "a progressive change of our ways of thinking and reacting" towards women. He asked, "When will we take up the noble challenge of the Bible where a woman like Deborah was named supreme judge in Israel? Will the halakha forever be against the recovering of those great principles?"

Second, Rabbi Sirat spoke of the importance of Jews making teshuva with each other because the study of Jewish tradition by the majority of the people had been forsaken. He said, "The unity of the Israeli people can be rebuilt only if we move beyond the ideological rifts and definitely assert our political will to focus on the goal and the means of strengthening our social fabric. The setting up of a social plan, fundamentally different from the current rage of uncontrolled liberalism, of which America experiences today, with its risks and limits, is necessary."

Third, Rabbi Sirat outlined the need of Jews to extend teshuva towards the Palestinians and the peoples of the Middle East. He extolled many of the accomplishments of Zionism in the last 50 years; namely, the miraculous resurrection of the Hebrew language; the integration of Jews from 70 regions of the world; the production of high-tech technologies; a nation which can defend itself when being attacked; and a land that lives in plenty and in abundance. Despite these accomplishments, he said, "Peace towards everyone is necessary" and it is "the duty of Israel to avoid any vain moral or physical sufferings and to call their people to make teshuva." He continued, "There is no holy war. Only peace is holy."

Finally, Rabbi Sirat concluded by saying that the nations of the world have shown signs of a real teshuva. He said, "Our teshuva, followed by the teshuva of humankind will lead to universal peace and harmony."
Named after the 1965 Vatican II document that opened the doors of dialogue and mutual respect between Christians and Jews, the Nostra Aetate Award is given to those outstanding individuals who are known and respected for their commitment to interreligious dialogue, understanding, and reconciliation. Past recipients have been Cardinal John O'Connor, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Cardinal William Keeler, Bishop Krister Stendahl, and Rabbi Mordecai Waxman.

[For a free copy of the complete papers of Cardinal Lustiger, Rabbi Sirat, Dr. Pisar, and Cardinal O'Connor, see the following articles or go to CCJU Publications.]

Executive Summary of Nostra Aetate Addresses  
"Jews and Christians, Tomorrow"  by Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger
"What Can We, Jews, Learn from Nostra Aetate?" by Rabbi Rene-Samuel Sirat
Dr. Samuel Pisar (Comments) 
John Cardinal O'Connor (Comments)

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