Bridging the faiths

A friend introduced me to her boyfriend the other day -- let's call him "Adam." After the obligatory hello's and "what are you studying?" questions, the conversation shifted toward extra-curricular activities. I told him I used to volunteer with a Christian organization. He said, "Oh. I'm half-Jewish." \nI replied, "That's cool." And to that he said, "Yeah, I killed Jesus."\nYou know those moments when you should say the perfect thing, but everything that comes to mind would begin World War III? This was one of those moments. So I said, "Yeah, so did I."\nHe wanted to shock me with his comment, but instead his mouth hung open for seven miserable seconds. I could not tell if he was going to lash back at me or ignore the comment. \nHis girlfriend interrupted the awkwardness by asking if I had seen Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." I admitted I contributed a hard-earned $7.50 to Mel's astronomical wealth. (Last week Forbes magazine ranked him the richest man on their Celebrity 100 list, earning $210 million in 2004.)\nApparently someone now has 210 million more reasons not to like Christians. In fact, some think that instead of bridging the canyon between Jews and Christians, Gibson's movie halted all reconciliation efforts, particularly the official efforts initiated by the Catholic Church.\nThe two faiths had been moving toward reconciliation since the 1965 Vatican document Nostra Aetate declared "What happened in his (Christ's) passion cannot be blamed upon all the Jews then living, without distinction, nor upon the Jews of today." In 1986 Pope John Paul II was the first pope since St. Peter's era to enter a Jewish place of worship. And even Jewish officials recognized the Pope's efforts. Rabbi Michael Kogan, of Montclair University in N.J., told the National Catholic Reporter, "This pope is the best pope the Jews ever had."\n"Passion" squashed all progress, however. Jews like Adam still assume Christians think all Jews are Christ-killers. Naomi Seidman, a theology professor at Berkeley, wrote recently, "As Jews, we want to be either left alone or known to Christians as we knew ourselves, that is, neither as Christ-killers nor as Christ-figures."\nPlenty of Christians still do not understand how Jews could read the same scriptures and not believe in Christ. There's a strong belief among some Christians that every interaction should be evangelistic. Kathie Lee Gifford preposterously said "Passion" is the greatest evangelistic instrument since Pentecost.\nBut armed with the notion that I am young, invincible and still aware of my ongoing education in Judaism, I decided to do a little research on my own. A quick Google search on Jewish-Christian relations first produced the Jewish-Christian Relations official Web site. Comprehensive as it is, I still had questions. \nI tried other Internet databases, but far too many scholarly articles bombarded me with words and concepts I had difficulty understanding. It's not that I could not grasp the main points; I just did not have enough background information. One of my Jewish friends would have to enlighten me. \nAnd that's when I realized why a chasm still exists between Jews and Christians: I have no Jewish friends. I have insulated myself so well within the walls of a church that I have no one outside my little bubble to enrich my life. And how is a friendship supposed to grow when it begins with hostility, like my conversation with Adam?\nGifford may think "Passion" will lead to open communication, but it won't burst my bubble. I want to call my friend's boyfriend and start over. I want to take Jewish-Christian relations out of academia, out of awkwardness, out of hostility and into mainstream life. \nSo who's going to explain the difference between Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews to me?