Winter 1984 - 1985 - Quarterly Review

HESCHEL'S SIGNIFICANCE
proof, I believe, that Heschel's hope was not overly sanguine:
The permanence of this people through the ages, its survival over
civilizations, its presence as a rigorous and exacting partner vis h vis
Christianity are a fact of major importance which we can treat
neither with ignorance nor with contempt. The Church which
claims to speak in the name of Jesus Christ and which through Him
finds itself bound, since its origin and forever, to the Jewish people,
perceives in the centuries-long and uninterrupted existence of this
people a sign the full truth of which it would like to understand. 38
This new Christian expectation is a challenge to the Jewish
community, a kairos. "Here is a unique responsibility. Such occasions
come rarely twice. Are we prepared for the test?" 39
He at least did what he could to meet it. Fritz Rothschild has written
that, when asked later why he had let himself become involved with
Vatican II, Heschel replied: "The issues at stake were profoundly
theological. To refuse contact with Christian theologians is, to my
mind, barbarous. There is a great expectation among Christians today
that Judaism has something unique to offer." 40
And so he allowed himself to become involved with Vatican
II—"involved" is too weak a word. He gave of himself tirelessly
during the council, to the point of exhaustion at times, on one
occasion traveling to Rome for a special audience with Pope Paul VI
literally on the eve of Yom Kippur. Let me at this point move into the
second part of my paper and consider Heschel's role at Vatican II.
HESCHEL AND THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL"
It is generally known that Heschel played an important role at
Vatican II, although a detailed study on his contribution has yet to
appear. 42
During the preparatory stage Heschel acted as consultant to
the American Jewish Committee and other Jewish agencies, which
had been asked by Cardinal Bea's Secretariat for Promoting Christian
Unity to prepare background documentation for the council. With
Heschel's help three memoranda were submitted to Cardinal Bea. The
first two dealt with various problem areas in Catholic teaching and
liturgy. In a third, submitted in May, 1962, Heschel proposed that a
new beginning be made with a Vatican Council declaration that would
recognize the "permanent preciousness" of Jews as Jews, rather than
seeing them as potential converts, and that would expressly repudiate
anti-Semitism and the deicide charge. 43
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