Winter 1984 - 1985 - Quarterly Review

QUARTERLY REVIEW, WINTER 1984
of all nations have a share in the world to come and are promised
eternal life." 23
Jews must therefore respect the faith of Christians.
They must do more. Following the tradition of Maimonides, Jehuda
Halevi, and Jacob Emden, they must acknowledge Christianity's
positive role in the divine plan of redemption. 24
Because of Israel's
mysterious election ("in you shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed"
[Gen. 12:3] ), Judaism has a vital stake in the spiritual life of other
peoples, particularly Christians, through whom the message of the
living God has spread to the ends of the earth. Unlike some Jewish
thinkers who, while acknowledging Christianity's debt to Judaism,
see the relationship as a one-way street, Heschel believes that the
mother cannot ignore her children.
Heschel demands no less of Christians, however, than he demands
of himself and his fellow Jews: genuine acceptance of and respect for
Judaism. This implies several "precepts," which Heschel spells out
quite clearly. I believe he felt the freedom to do so because they
concern the history of Christianity, rather than its central affirmation
of faith in Christ.
All attempts to convert Jews must be abandoned, for they
are a call to Jews to abandon their people's tradition.
The first "precept" is no more mission to the Jews. All attempts to
convert Jews must be abandoned, for they are a call to Jews to betray
their people's tradition, and proof of the failure to accept Judaism as a
way of truth, a way to God, valid in its own right.
Renouncing mission to the Jews requires a major change in the
church's attitude. "For nineteen hundred years the Church defined
her relation to the Jews in one word: Mission. What we witness now is
the beginning of a change in that relation, a transition from mission to
dialogue.. . . We must insist that giving up the idea of mission to the
Jews be accepted as a precondition for entering dialogue." The
problem, however, is that many Christians are still not sufficiently
sensitive to this issue, and do not understand that "we are Jews as we
are men." 25
Heschel recalls his conversation with Gustav Weigel the night
before Weigel's death. They talked in Heschel's study at Jewish
Theological Seminary.
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