INTERFAITH DIALOGUE - WHY NOT?

by Rabbi Yehoshua Friedman

KOCHAV HASHACHAR, ISRAEL, 17 Tishri, 5759 (October 7, 1998), Root & Branch:

"Interfaith dialogue" is a major theological industry today both between major denominations within Christianity, and between Christianity and other world religions.

When Torah observant Jews and organizations in general, and The Root and Branch Association in particular, declare our unwillingness to participate in such activities, we meet many raised eyebrows - some raised in scorn and some raised in surprise. This perplexity merits a serious response.

First we must define our terms.

"Interfaith dialogue" is a public conversation, in person, print or other medium available to the public, concerning the differences between the viewpoints of different religious faiths.

I will add another term to the discussion, "interfaith cooperation". Interfaith cooperation is the formal and public cooperation of official bodies of different faiths in some activity deemed by both as generally good for society as a whole.

Most rabbinic authorities associated with positions of spiritual leadership in the Torah-observant Jewish community have taken one or the other of two positions regarding "interfaith dialogue" and "interfaith cooperation".

One position, advanced by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik of blessed memory in 1965 in the Torah observant ("Orthodox") quarterly "Tradition", in an article entitled "Confrontation", stated that the Torah observant community should not participate in interfaith dialogue, but it could and should involve itself in interfaith cooperation.

The other position, advanced by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein of blessed memory in his responsa collection, "Igrot Moshe", was that the Torah observant community should neither participate in interfaith dialogue nor interfaith cooperation.

Both Rabbi Soloveitchik and Rabbi Feinstein were motivated to comment on this question by the historical situation which prevailed in the mid-1960's in the wake of the second Vatican Ecumenical Conference (Vatican II).

The Roman Catholic Church underwent many reforms both internally and externally, the most significant of these for our purposes being a movement toward Christian unity and recognition of the common spiritual concerns of all mankind.  This was a major step forward for the Catholic Church which once vigorously persecuted Protestant reformers as heretics, maintained the Inquisition, supported holy wars and regularly updated the Index of books which Catholics supposedly endangered their immortal souls by reading.

The Bible, by the way, was one of the books which the Catholic Church forbid its members to read.  The authorized Catholic edition of the Bible was in Latin so that the common people could not read it.

In the Middle Ages the Catholic Church from time to time summoned the Jewish community to disputations in which the Church's "experts" on Judaism, usually converted Jews, would try to "prove" that the Jewish position was inferior to that of Christianity.

The rabbi chosen to defend the Jewish position was in a clear no-win position.  If the rabbi chose to use his full powers of analysis and persuasion, an angry Catholic Church would incite the mob to mayhem, have the Talmud burned, exile the the Jews, etc.  If the rabbi would throw the game by using less than his full weight of evidence and powers of persuasion, the Catholic authorities would sweetly entreat the Jewish "losers" to join the Christian side, which had the "truth", and convert.

When the Jews predictably refused, their obstinacy would be held up by the Catholic authorities as perverse and insulting, and the persecution would thus be intensified.  It is this historical memory which concerns the rabbis when considering calls to participate in interfaith dialogue or interfaith cooperation.

The rabbis are indeed aware that some of the Christian Churches today seem to have changed their attitudes.  What others fail to see is that Christian attitudes have changed for the better before, and then changed back for the worse.

Martin Luther is a good historical example.  At the beginning of Luther's career he thought that once he had eliminated the errors of the Catholic Church, the Jews would surely see the truth of Luther's "true" Christianity.  Thus, Luther was at first very friendly and conciliatory toward Jews.

Later on, however, when Luther saw that Jews were not coming around to his way of thinking, something snapped, and his later writings are full of vicious slander against Jews.

Who knows, ask our rabbis, if seemingly favorable changes in Christian attitudes towards Jews today are for real as long as current Christian theology stands on the genocidally anti-Jewish foundation of the Greek Testament (the sectarian Jewish-Christian scriptures euphemistically known as the "New" Testament), Gentile church fathers and their traditions?

Torah observant ("Orthodox") Jewish historian Rabbi Berel Wein has observed that Jews have fared best in Gentile societies when the Jews were most religious and the Gentiles were least religious.

When Jews took the Torah seriously, non-Jews respected Jews if the non-Jews had no particular axe to grind.  But inevitably there would arise a king who listened more to his confessors than to his reality-checks, and anti-Jewish persecutions would be renewed.  At this point the histories of previous collaborations with the Jewish "enemy" would be trotted out and the moderates would have to prove their loyalty by joining the lynch mob.

In America, lynch mobs have usually been absent with notable exceptions. The main problem in America has been ignorance and lack of deep interest by most Jewish participants in interfaith dialogue, coupled with greater knowledge of the Bible on the Christian side.  America is a very religious country.  Many of its early settlers were members of minority Protestant sects who fled persecution in Europe.  The vast majority of Americans of whatever political persuasion believe in G-d on some level and the level of American attendance at regular religious observances is among the highest in the world.

One would think that with America dominating the world's communication media, the media would be very religious-minded, but they aren't.  That, however, is the subject of another discussion.

Despite all kinds of relativism in the more liberal wings of Christianity today, it is natural for anyone, when the chips are down, to prefer and defend the faith on which he or she was raised.  When non-religious Jews, who are less knowledgeable about the Bible and have grown up in a majority Christian culture, meet religious Christians, these Jews naturally feel at a disadvantage in "dialogue" with the Christians even if the Christian partner had not intended to proselytize in such a forum.

There are also Evangelical Christians who covertly use forums for "interfaith dialogue" as a come-on for proselytism.  In private discussions among themselves which have come to our attention, Evangelicals openly acknowledge this intentional misuse of "dialogue".

If some rabbis do not have a good grasp of the many sizes and shapes in which Christians come, that is understandable because rabbis are not expected to be experts in Christianity.  But rabbis also know that anything in the world other than the Torah is subject to change, and we know how rapid change can be in this day and age.     

All right, we have established that serious Torah opinions oppose participation in interfaith dialogue, although some permit interfaith cooperation.

Where do we at The Root and Branch Association stand in relation to these positions?

Some people who hear about The Root and Branch Association immediately assume that we either engage in interfaith dialogue or interfaith cooperation with Christians, but this is not the case.

We DO NOT discuss with Christians (or other non-Jews) differences or similarities between our religious beliefs (theological "Show and Tell") and those of other religions (i.e. "interfaith dialogue").

We DO give rabbis and scholars from the Torah observant community the opportunity to discuss with and teach non-Jews about universal Jewish ethical principles (the Seven Laws of Noah).

We WELCOME cooperation on ethical issues between Jews and non-Jewish individuals and non-theological non-Jewish organizations (i.e., professional associations).

We WELCOME interfaith cooperation with non-Jewish religious bodies if we are ABSOLUTELY convinced that there is not the slightest question of proselytism of Jews by such groups (i.e., true Dual Covenant Christians, at the very least).

Our approach is a VERY STRICT AND LIMITED application of the principle of interfaith cooperation which Rabbi Soloveitchik permits.  We believe that all ethically-oriented individuals, where possible as per the limitations stated above, should make common cause for issues which they support.  It is good world citizenship.

The most rigorous rabbis send their students and followers to participate in the general society by voting on election day on the issues which the rabbis consider important.

We are talking about the divine mandate for Jews to be a light to the nations.  In giving rabbis and Torah scholars from the Torah observant community an opportunity to teach non-Jews about basic Jewish principles we affirm the role of Am Yisrael as G-d's witnesses to mankind.

In the words of Isaiah 43:10:  "You are my witnesses, says G-d".  The rabbis in the Midrash Vayikra Rabba connect Isaiah 43:10 to the statement in Leviticus 5:1 that a witness who refuses to testify suffers divine punishment.  Let us be a light to the nations in accordance with Jewish teachings.  If evil should temporarily engulf the world, let it not be because Israel sat by idly while it happened.

Yehoshua Friedman
Kochav HaShachar, Israel