EDITOR: On behalf of the Jewish Community of the South Valley, I
respond with tearful joy and thanks to the letter to the editor
submitted by local Christian clergy regarding Mel Gibson
’s movie, The Passion of The Christ, and its impact on
Jewish-Christian relations that was published Feb. 24 in the Morgan
Hill Times.
EDITOR:
On behalf of the Jewish Community of the South Valley, I respond with tearful joy and thanks to the letter to the editor submitted by local Christian clergy regarding Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of The Christ, and its impact on Jewish-Christian relations that was published Feb. 24 in the Morgan Hill Times.
It is even more meaningful that this letter was generated proactively and without any participation by the Jewish community. This act shows true love in the greatest traditions of Christianity by this group of clergy.
Jewish agencies and organizations have been ablaze with fear these past months that this movie would rekindle millennia of anti-semitism as legions of misguided Christians hearkened to the call “The Jews Killed Jesus.” Unfortunately, in some American locales, these fears have been realized (a right-wing church in Denver is reported to have even hung a banner last week across their entrance reading “Confirmed – the Jews Killed Jesus”).
However, I am thrilled to report that to date, I have not heard of a single anti-semitic action in our community stemming from this movie. To the contrary, the aforementioned letter caringly demonstrates to me just how far Christian-Jewish relations have come over the past century. Gibson’s movie seems to have stimulated meaningful inter-religious dialogue much more than it has fomented hatred. This result reminds us what a powerful tool religion is, both when used for good, and when misused for evil.
Jews have a saying concerning the Holocaust (which it must be noted was a racially stimulated massacre, not a religiously stimulated one): “Forgive, but Never Forget.” What does this saying mean? It means we must do exactly what the Christian clergy who wrote this letter did: We must keep the tragedies of history present for us so that we will not repeat them, and yet we must ensure that we continue to move forward generation by generation. It is a tricky balance to retain historical images without translating those memories into destructive fear, but this group of clergy has given us an exceptional example of how to maintain that balance.
An inter-religious group of clergy will be holding a panel discussion on this movie at the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center on Sunday March 21, from 3:30-5:30 pm. I invite all readers to join us as the Jewish and Christian communities come together to encourage the proliferation of love and caring, discussion and tolerance, which would be the truest Christian message of this movie.
Rabbi Yitzhak Miller,
Congregation Emeth,
South Valley’s Jewish Community Center
