JEWS AFFIRMED IN THEIR WAIT FOR MESSIAH - VATICAN AFFIRMS TORAH AS SCRIPTURE!

Debating the Messiah by Eric J. Greenberg - Courtesy of The Jewish Week http://www.thejewishweek.com

The Wait Is Over: Jews' Messiah Now Kosher, Vatican affirms Jewish position; scholars scramble to decipher new doctrine.

In 1967, during the early thaw of Catholic-Jewish relations, Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg addressed a Catholic audience about
the conflicting Messiah beliefs. The Orthodox rabbi noted that one difference between Jews and Catholic is whether the Messiah
is coming for the first or second time. Christians believe the Messiah - a Jew from Nazareth called Jesus - came 2,000 years ago, and after dying and being resurrected, will someday return to redeem the world. Jews say the Messiah has yet to arrive - a belief that led to centuries of Christian anti-Semitism and killings of Jews who refused to accept the Christian view.

Rabbi Greenberg suggested the dispute be tabled until the Messiah arrives. When the Messiah comes, Jews and Christians "can ask him if this is his first coming or his second," finally putting the issue to rest.

But this week, the Messiah debate suddenly took center stage in Jewish-Catholic relations, in an appropriately bizarre and mysterious manner. It follows the revelation last week that the Vatican's top biblical scholars recently issued a report that for the first time in nearly 2,000 years apparently validates as legitimate the Jewish wait for the Messiah.

A 210-page document titled "The Jewish People and the Holy Scriptures in the Christian Bible," by the Pontifical Biblical
Commission and authorized by the Vatican's top theologian, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, reportedly states that "the Jewish messianic wait is not in vain." It reportedly says Jews and Christians share their wait for the Messiah, although Jews are waiting for the first coming and Christians for the second. The new document also reportedly contains an apology to the Jewish people for anti-Semitic passages contained in the New Testament, and also stresses the continuing importance of the Torah for Christians. (AMAZING !?!)


How that declaration squares with the new "Messiah document" was a source of much speculation this week. But Fisher contended it's a major positive development. "If you put off the moment that Jews will come to recognize Jesus as the Messiah until the end of time, then we don't need to work or pray for the conversion of Jews to Christianity," he said. "God already has the salvation of Jews figured out, and they accepted it on Sinai, so they are OK."

"Jews are already with the Father," he continued. "We do not have a mission to the Jews, but only a mission with the Jews to the
world. The Catholic Church will never again sanction an organization devoted to the conversion of the Jews. That is over, on doctrinal, biblical and pastoral grounds. Finito."

Signer, also a Reform rabbi said, "What's really new is the validation of the Jewish position as truth, that the Jewish waiting for the Messiah is a correct theological viewpoint. If the document says what we think, it is another very important theological step in the respect for Judaism as a living tradition."

"It's a very important, critical statement," said Rabbi Jack Bemporad, head of the Center for Interreligious Understanding. "Up until now they were saying Jews are completely and absolutely wrong and we are waiting in vain and blind to the truth."

Others were more cautious, noting continued significant differences in Messiah beliefs - particularly that Christians believe that their Messiah is Jesus who is also God, while for Jews the Messiah is not a divine being and cannot be Jesus because he died before bringing the redemption.

Rabbi James Rudin, senior interreligious adviser to the American Jewish Committee, raised several concerns. "Does the new book
instruct Catholics to fully accept the fact there is not only theological space in God's universe for Jews/Judaism, but they must also affirm that the identity of long awaited Messiah, so ardently prayed for by Jews for centuries, is unknown and will remain unknown until the Messiah appears?" he asked. "That is a clear affirmation of Judaism with no theological strings attached, no Jesus waiting for Jews at the end of the theological day. If this is the book's message, then it is an important step forward on the part of the Catholic Church."

Father Pawlikowski stressed that the new document also appears to affirm the importance of the "Jewish Bible," a new term for the Vatican that he said would be highly significant if it replaces the traditional "Old Testament," which has a negative implication
as being replaced by the "New Testament." "The document seems to say that Christians should never deprecate or see the Jewish
Bible as inferior, which coming from major Vatican biblical scholars could have profound implications for Catholic religious and educational material," Father Pawlikowski said.

www.foryourglory.org