Certain numbers mean a lot to Western secular culture when it comes to time, like 50s, 100s and 1,000s. Witness the celebrations that began last year to mark the 350th anniversary of the U.S. Jewish community’s founding; of the arrival of the year 2000; of the State of Israel’s 50th anniversary in 1998; etc.
But when it comes to religious culture, Judaism and Christianity find 40 more compelling. That number, for still mysterious reasons, crops up in both faiths’ sacred writings as an indicator of historically or spiritually significant periods of time.
It was 40 days that Noah sailed on the Ark and Moses spent on Mt. Sinai; 40 years the Israelites wandered after liberation from Egypt; and so on to the 40 days Jesus spent fasting and meditating in the wilderness.
And at the end of each of these periods, “something new and exciting happens,” according to Dr. Richard Lux, professor of Hebrew Scriptures at Milwaukee’s Sacred Heart School of Theology.
So it seems appropriate to members of Milwaukee’s Catholic-Jewish Conference like Lux, who is a member of that organization’s steering committee, that 2005 should be an occasion for celebration.
This year is the 40th year since the Vatican II council voted to approve the document “Nostra Aetate” (“In Our Time”) that, among other things, began the radical transformation for the better of the relationships between not only Judaism and Roman Catholicism, but between Judaism and Christianity.
Now, therefore, is a good time “to reflect on what happened, and to think creatively for the future,” said Lux.
That yearlong process and celebration — whose title and theme is “Covenantal Partners: 40 Years of Catholic-Jewish Encounter” — will begin on Sunday, Jan. 30, 3 p.m., at Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue. Admission is free; reservations are required by Jan. 21.
At this time, two scholars, Catholic and Jewish, will lead event participants in “Reflections on Nostra Aetate: The Catalyst for Conversation.” They are:
• Bishop Richard J. Sklba, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and an expert on first century Christianity.
• Amy-Jill Levine, Ph.D., professor of New Testament studies at Vanderbilt University Divinity School.
‘ National model’
But there are other reasons for celebrating “Nostra Aetate” now, according to Kathy Heilbronner, assistant director of the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations, and Judi Longdin, ecumenical and interfaith officer for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The two are co-chairs of the Catholic-Jewish Conference.
Heilbronner said that the conference is interested in “acknowledging and responding to the increased need for understanding religious diversity in a rapidly changing world.”
Moreover, we live in a time of intensified conflict both within religions and between them, manifested in significant incidents, from the Sept. 11 terror attacks to the controversial movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” to the recent U.S. elections. Therefore, “there is an enhanced interest in learning about religious teachings,” Heilbronner said.
It also is a good time to consider how good relations between faiths can be built and maintained. This year is also the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Catholic-Jewish Conference, a group that Heilbronner said is “viewed as a national model” by people in other communities interested in interfaith relations.
It is a group that has been able to respond to such potential crisis events as the release of “The Passion of the Christ” earlier last year, which some people feared could inflame Christian anti-Semitism.
The conference sponsored a program of presentations and discussion about the film at Congregation Shalom last March, which showed how interfaith work can “bridge misunderstandings” and “move forward,” Heilbronner said.
Finally, a 40th year celebration also seemed like a good idea because some of the conference’s founders are still alive, said Longdin. Heilbronner added that now is a good time to pay tribute to them.
Scheduled events for the celebration, which is co-chaired by Father David Cooper and Mel Sinykin, include:
• A series of four “film/study sessions” in February-May at the Sacred Heart School and Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun. These will use feature films like “Gentleman’s Agreement” and documentaries like “The Faithful Revolution: Vatican II” to inspire discussion and reflection about Catholic-Jewish relations.
• Architectural tours this summer of area synagogues and significant Catholic churches.
• A presentation about U.S. Jewish theologian Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel by Dr. Eva Fleischner, a Holocaust scholar who once taught at Marquette University, and with local Jewish leader Dr. Herzl Spiro as respondent. This will take place Sunday, Sept. 25, 7 p.m. at St. Matthias Church.
• A culminating event and dinner on Sunday, Nov. 6 at the Pfister Hotel with Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan, and featuring two speakers: theology professor Mary C. Boys of Union Theological Seminary and Rabbi David Fox Sandmel of Chicago’s K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Congregation and professor of Jewish studies at the Catholic Theological Union.
Other events are now being planned.
The celebration is being funded by grants from the Helen Bader Foundation and the Jewish Community Foundation, the endowment development program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
For more information and to register for the Jan. 30 event, call Jeri Danz at the MJCCR, 414-390-5781, or e-mail, jerid@milwaukee jewish.org.
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