Thought of the Week: 24 March 2016 (Rabbi Maurice Michaels)
Written by Writings & Sermons by others — 24 March 2016
As most of you will know, I am very involved with Interfaith activities with all different faith groups, but recently there has been a preponderance of Christian/Jewish relations. This has happened by chance with a number of events and meetings planned in advance without my realising the juxtaposition of so many things relating to this same subject. On reflection, however, it is interesting to see the extent of such activity without a definitive policy for it.
Here at Alyth, I have become close to the local Catholic Priest, Father Tony Convery, as we have jointly organised a number of events for members of the Synagogue and Church. A few weeks ago, we were invited to speak about our friendship as part of the activities marking the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the Papal Declaration on Catholic Relationships with the Jews, for the Catholic News podcast channel. If you want to hear it, click on the following:- http://www.catholicnews.org.uk/rabbi-priest-podcast-120216 The next in our occasional series of discussions is at the Church on Tuesday 12th April at 8.00pm, when we will be looking at the origins of our liturgies and their inter-relationship. All are welcome for what looks like being a very interesting evening.
In Bournemouth, the other community I serve, I have visited a Roman Catholic Primary School and spoke at assemblies for both key stage 1 and key stage 2 pupils and took a lot of questions from them about Judaism. Year 8 pupils from another school, the vast majority of them Christian, visited the Synagogue and again their questions ranged across the whole spread of Judaism and gave me the opportunity of emphasising some of the important values that our religions share. I remember a Member of Parliament some years ago speaking about Judeo-Christian values and I have an idea that when Mr Cameron talks about British values, that’s what he means, but can’t say!
I was invited by the Bournemouth and Wessex branch of CCJ to talk about the Varieties of Judaism. Speaking to a mixed religious audience was quite challenging, especially when questions about conversion arose from the floor. However, checking out afterwards, it all seemed to be acceptable and no-one felt threatened.
Some of you may know that in 2013, I taught for a semester at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Last month, I received an invitation to participate on a Panel there organised jointly by the ‘Greg’ and the American Catholic University of Notre Dame. Two weeks ago I presented the Jewish view of ‘Mercy’ alongside a Muslim and two Christian scholars, responding to each other’s position and then taking questions from the, primarily Catholic, audience.
While I am fully aware of the need for us to interact with people of all faiths, we should not lose sight of the fact that, for the time being at any rate, this is still a Christian country and that we, as Jews, have an important role in ensuring that the ‘Judeo-Christian values’ we embrace are upheld as British values.