The Orthodox Union has prepared a response to the controversial, anti-Semitic and violence-saturated film The Passion. The response takes the form of a video presentation of a three-member symposium, which was sent to hundreds of synagogues across North America. Taking part in the symposium were Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union; religion scholar Professor David Berger of Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, and Rabbi Michael Skobac, Education Director of the Toronto branch of Jews for Judaism.
The goal of the video is "to empower our member synagogues and their constituencies with relevant programming," explained Rabbi Moshe D. Krupka, the OU's Executive Director of Programming. "This response reflects a basic mandate of the OU to respond to hot button topics affecting our community. In this case, it was our responsibility to provide our constituency with an antidote to the potential challenge the film will create."
Rabbi Weinreb's concern is not so much with anti-Semitism the movie might cause, but rather "for the effect that seeing this movie, or even seeing part of this film or reading about this film, will have upon my Jewish brothers and sisters, observant or non-observant, Orthodox or non-Orthodox, old or young." A distinguished clinical psychologist, Rabbi Weinreb describes the inner psychological process that all movie-watchers undergo when seeing the "heroic and innocent" good guys, compared with the "fiendish-looking" bad guys - the Jews, in this case. "What I'm concerned about is that Jews who see this film will identify deeply with Jesus, and will dis-identify with their own G-d-given identity as the Jewish people."
Rabbi Weinreb says he was advised by Bishop William Murphy of Long Island, NY that "even a pronouncement from the Pope himself would pale compared to the power of a Hollywood-produced film." He calls on Jews to learn more about their faith, and "enough about Christianity so that we can be proud of the ways in which we are different."
Rabbi Weinreb contrasts the differing paths to redemption in Christianity and Judaism: "In Christianity redemption is by faith; in Judaism it comes via actions, namely, the fulfillment of G-d's commandments. In Judaism, grace does not come from without, rather from within... The special role of the Jewish people, through fulfillment of the commandments, is to bring the universe closer to a God Who commands us to distinguish good from evil." He notes the teachings of the Rambam (Maimonides) that the role of Christianity is to disseminate, throughout the non-Jewish world, Jewish concepts such as prayer, repentance and family values.
"You can have a full life as a full-fledged human and fully-realized Jew without seeing this film," Rabbi Weinreb declared, noting that even though Jews should be open to the wisdom of the nations, "this does not include exposure to those aspects of alien teachings that are contrary to our central beliefs... How fortunate are we, how beautiful our heritage [that] we proclaim twice each day: Sh'ma Yisrael - Hear, O Israel, The Lord is our G-d, The Lord is One... We must retain that Jewish pride in the face of the temptations of this film, and of the efforts that will be made by others to undermine our Jewish pride. We are fortunate to be Jews. We thank G-d for our Jewish identity even as we intensify our commitment to that Jewish identity."
In his presentation, Rabbi Dr. David Berger focuses on historical aspects of the life of Jesus and his death, noting that not all Jews were hostile to Jesus. He noted that some sources say that Jesus was an observant Jew, leading to the question of why Christians don't observe Torah as well.
Rabbi Skobac, who has done much work in combating attempts by evangelicals to convert Jews to Christianity, notes that the spiritual dangers of the film to Jews are greater than the anti-Semitic dangers. "For the 75 million evangelical Christians," he declared, "the film is the greatest thing they've had in 2,000 years to convert people to their faith... Evangelicals do not present an anti-Semitic appearance to Jews, but rather they are warm and caring and support Jewish concerns - first and foremost, Israel." Rabbi Skobac says that their central claim is that Jesus went to his death willingly for our sins, and that "we are doomed to an eternity in hell if we don't accept Jesus. [But] the Torah tells us numerous times we can come to G-d and repair our relationship through Teshuva, repentance... Find joy in Torah, and the blandishments of those who try to convert Jews will fall on deaf ears."
The goal of the video is "to empower our member synagogues and their constituencies with relevant programming," explained Rabbi Moshe D. Krupka, the OU's Executive Director of Programming. "This response reflects a basic mandate of the OU to respond to hot button topics affecting our community. In this case, it was our responsibility to provide our constituency with an antidote to the potential challenge the film will create."
Rabbi Weinreb's concern is not so much with anti-Semitism the movie might cause, but rather "for the effect that seeing this movie, or even seeing part of this film or reading about this film, will have upon my Jewish brothers and sisters, observant or non-observant, Orthodox or non-Orthodox, old or young." A distinguished clinical psychologist, Rabbi Weinreb describes the inner psychological process that all movie-watchers undergo when seeing the "heroic and innocent" good guys, compared with the "fiendish-looking" bad guys - the Jews, in this case. "What I'm concerned about is that Jews who see this film will identify deeply with Jesus, and will dis-identify with their own G-d-given identity as the Jewish people."
Rabbi Weinreb says he was advised by Bishop William Murphy of Long Island, NY that "even a pronouncement from the Pope himself would pale compared to the power of a Hollywood-produced film." He calls on Jews to learn more about their faith, and "enough about Christianity so that we can be proud of the ways in which we are different."
Rabbi Weinreb contrasts the differing paths to redemption in Christianity and Judaism: "In Christianity redemption is by faith; in Judaism it comes via actions, namely, the fulfillment of G-d's commandments. In Judaism, grace does not come from without, rather from within... The special role of the Jewish people, through fulfillment of the commandments, is to bring the universe closer to a God Who commands us to distinguish good from evil." He notes the teachings of the Rambam (Maimonides) that the role of Christianity is to disseminate, throughout the non-Jewish world, Jewish concepts such as prayer, repentance and family values.
"You can have a full life as a full-fledged human and fully-realized Jew without seeing this film," Rabbi Weinreb declared, noting that even though Jews should be open to the wisdom of the nations, "this does not include exposure to those aspects of alien teachings that are contrary to our central beliefs... How fortunate are we, how beautiful our heritage [that] we proclaim twice each day: Sh'ma Yisrael - Hear, O Israel, The Lord is our G-d, The Lord is One... We must retain that Jewish pride in the face of the temptations of this film, and of the efforts that will be made by others to undermine our Jewish pride. We are fortunate to be Jews. We thank G-d for our Jewish identity even as we intensify our commitment to that Jewish identity."
In his presentation, Rabbi Dr. David Berger focuses on historical aspects of the life of Jesus and his death, noting that not all Jews were hostile to Jesus. He noted that some sources say that Jesus was an observant Jew, leading to the question of why Christians don't observe Torah as well.
Rabbi Skobac, who has done much work in combating attempts by evangelicals to convert Jews to Christianity, notes that the spiritual dangers of the film to Jews are greater than the anti-Semitic dangers. "For the 75 million evangelical Christians," he declared, "the film is the greatest thing they've had in 2,000 years to convert people to their faith... Evangelicals do not present an anti-Semitic appearance to Jews, but rather they are warm and caring and support Jewish concerns - first and foremost, Israel." Rabbi Skobac says that their central claim is that Jesus went to his death willingly for our sins, and that "we are doomed to an eternity in hell if we don't accept Jesus. [But] the Torah tells us numerous times we can come to G-d and repair our relationship through Teshuva, repentance... Find joy in Torah, and the blandishments of those who try to convert Jews will fall on deaf ears."