Abstract
Jews and Christians are both witnesses to the reality of God and his moral law on earth. That is why if Hitler had succeeded in destroying the Jewish people, he would have begun destroying the Church next. The Nazis ultimately wanted to tear up the taproot of the Christian faith and to replace it with a faith of their own invention.
It was the profound tragedy of the Shoah that convinced the Church to reevaluate its teachings and relationship with the Jewish people. Out of this horror came the seeds of Jewish-Christian healing and the beginning a new era of fraternity—and we are only at the beginning of this reconciliation. This healing between the Church and the Jewish people is no small measure of meaning in the midst of the unspeakable devastation and desecration. Perhaps it points the way to a new era of faith for all of us and renewed commitment to sanctify life, to heal the world, and to protect God’s moral values for all of his children.
Rabbi Eugene Korn is Executive Director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding of Sacred Heart University. This address was delivered in Krakow, Poland, on September 2, 2007, as part of the U.S. Bishops and Rabbis Study Tour sponsored by the CCJU.
Recommended Citation
Korn, Eugene
(2009)
"The Meaning of This Time and Place: Address to American Catholic Bishops and American Rabbis,"
Sacred Heart University Review: Vol. 25:
Iss.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/shureview/vol25/iss1/3