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Helping a friend understand my Faith Nichole Monday, August 30, 2004

Question:

Hi,

I was in a conversation with a Jewish man who said he went to a Catholic funeral, The Priest gave his sermon on a Jewish girl who's husband died so the next brother of the husband who died had to marry her to raise the children. I remember this story vaguely, but he said the Priest stressed that in succession each husband (brother died) and each time she married the next unmarried brother. He said this was a tradition and he had no problem with that, although, he didn't know of any case where it happened 7 times.

My Jewish friend said the Priest wen on indicating that this was a reason that Jews were inferior to other people and not religions, and he felt it was a personal attack, as he was the only Jew there.

I told him I wasn't there and didn't know what the Priest said or what he meant, but usually a Priest has his sermon pre-done before he gets to the funeral or any event, so I doubted it was a personal attack.

I also told him that this is not what I learned and the Pope came out sometime in the past that totally contradicted what he heard.

OK, here I am a simple lay person, who knows somewhere in the Catechism and Papal Documents are the things I need to show him that either he misunderstood (which he will never believe), or that the Priest was not clear on what he was teaching according to the Catholic Church.

This person is a Lawyer, and I know it will mean a lot to him for me to be able to send him copies of documents, with where he can go online to research this himself.

We live in the South where everyone seems to be prejudice against everyone, and this Jew grew up in a area where there was a line drawn between the Jews and Catholics and he believes all Catholics hate all Jews anyhow

I have been looking all day both on line, in my Catechism, and honestly I don't remember where the story is in the Bible, the closest I have found is Deut. 25:5-10.

Can you help me by giving me references where I can look?

Thank you,

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM+

Dear Nichole:

If the priest actually said the Jews were inferior because of this tradition, (or for any other reason) then that priest is an ignorant cad and a bigot.

The likelihood that this remark of the priest was a "personal" attack upon the person of your friend is probably zero I would imagine. Such a statement from this priest, however, is an attack upon Jews. Your friend may feel a "personal affront" at this bigoted statement. But it is unlikely that the priest was personally targeting this particular individual.

The tradition the priest describes, however, is real. Quoting from the Navarre Bible Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:5-10:

The levirate law (from the Latin levir, brother-in-law) was practised among the Jews from patriarchal times onwards (cf. Genesis 38), it purpose being to avoid any branch of the family becoming extinct -- something that was regarded as a great disgrace (vv. 5-10). In keeping with this law, the first son of the new marriage was regarded as the son of the dead husband in the eyes of the law.

As of the Church's attitude toward the Jews, the Church has great respect for the Jewish religion and indeed, the Jewish Tradition is our mother as we Christians were born out of the Jewish faith. We read from the Catechism:

597: As the Church declared at the Second Vatican Council: . . . neither all Jews indiscriminately at that time, nor Jews today, can be charged with the crimes committed during his Passion. . . the Jews should not be spoken of as rejected or accursed as if this followed from holy Scripture.

781 "At all times and in every race, anyone who fears God and does what is right has been acceptable to him. He has, however, willed to make men holy and save them, not as individuals without any bond or link between them, but rather to make them into a people who might acknowledge him and serve him in holiness. He therefore chose the Israelite race to be his own people and established a covenant with it. He gradually instructed this people.... All these things, however, happened as a preparation for and figure of that new and perfect covenant which was to be ratified in Christ . . . the New Covenant in his blood; he called together a race made up of Jews and Gentiles which would be one, not according to the flesh, but in the Spirit."

839 The relationship of the Church with the Jewish People. When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People, "the first to hear the Word of God." The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God's revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews "belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ", "for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable."

1096 Jewish liturgy and Christian liturgy. A better knowledge of the Jewish people's faith and religious life as professed and lived even now can help our better understanding of certain aspects of Christian liturgy. For both Jews and Christians Sacred Scripture is an essential part of their respective liturgies: in the proclamation of the Word of God, the response to this word, prayer of praise and intercession for the living and the dead, invocation of God's mercy. In its characteristic structure the Liturgy of the Word originates in Jewish prayer. The Liturgy of the Hours and other liturgical texts and formularies, as well as those of our most venerable prayers, including the Lord's Prayer, have parallels in Jewish prayer. The Eucharistic Prayers also draw their inspiration from the Jewish tradition. The relationship between Jewish liturgy and Christian liturgy, but also their differences in content, are particularly evident in the great feasts of the liturgical year, such as Passover. Christians and Jews both celebrate the Passover. For Jews, it is the Passover of history, tending toward the future; for Christians, it is the Passover fulfilled in the death and Resurrection of Christ, though always in expectation of its definitive consummation.

I hope this helps.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary