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Re: Fwd: Re: Passion Plays and Jewish Music



We risk losing sight of the main point.  Jesus was tortured to death by the
Romans for being, in their view, a Jewish leader.  The Christian desire to
view him as a third of the Trinity contains a compliment to Judaism, even
if their view of the Moshiach, while derived from Judaism's, doesn't match
it.  But the telling of the passion story in the gospels - especially the
Gospel of St. John - while written some centuries after Jesus' death, says
unkind things about the Jews, if viewed from a Christian perspective.
Pontius Pilate, the Roman-appointed ruler, offers to free either Jesus or
Barrabas.  The crowd - Judeans, Jews, however you want to describe it -
decides to free Barrabas, and Pilate "washes his hands" of the whole
subject.  The great irony is that Jesus was killed by the Romans - by
Europeans - by a Roman - not Jewish - form of execution, and forever
afterward Jews have been villified as "Christ killers."  The problem isn't
that relating the story of Jesus' execution by the Romans is inherently
anti-Semitic.  The problem is that when Europeans have related the story in
passion plays they've zeroed in on this one opportunity for anti-Semitism,
completely missing the lesson of "love" that real Christianity is supposed
to derive from the story.  So if modern Jews are disinclined to cooperate
in the staging of passion plays it's more because of anti-Semitism that's
been inserted into the process than because of anti-Semitism inherent to
the story.

Fred Blumenthal
xd2fabl (at) us(dot)ibm(dot)com



                                                                                
                                 
                      Allen Davis                                               
                                 
                      <adavis (at) softwarejob        To:       World music 
from a Jewish slant                       
                      s.com>                      <jewish-music (at) 
shamash(dot)org>                                     
                      Sent by:                   cc:                            
                                 
                      owner-jewish-music@        Subject:  Fwd: Re: Passion 
Plays and Jewish Music               
                      shamash.org                                               
                                 
                                                                                
                                 
                                                                                
                                 
                      06/18/2002 07:03 PM                                       
                                 
                      Please respond to                                         
                                 
                      jewish-music                                              
                                 
                                                                                
                                 
                                                                                
                                 




      We all know how much healing is required, and music could have (and
      has certainly already had) a role in building a "sacred bridge" for
      today. But it seems to me that the Passion and its central symbol of
      the cross and focus on the murder/suicide is by definition the wrong
      place to start (choosing death and not life, human sacrifice, and the
      way it came to embody the subsequent supersessionism and triumphalism
      of the militant Church). The story emphasizes those aspects of the
      Jesus story that are irredeemably counter to anything Jewish, then
      and now. A pre-Passion story that emphasized Jesus' Jewishness, as
      well as the Jewish context of his life  story (including his
      pilgrimage to the Temple) could be a more promising setting...

      Allen

      At 08:17 PM 6/18/02 +0200, you wrote:

            I have been following this discussion and have found it
            interesting and at times funny.  However, I woud like to add
            one element to the many responses.  From my studies, it seems
            to me that Christian anti-semitism arose only after Christians
            disassociated Jesus from his Jewishness.  Could it be that
            these people mounting Passion Plays are looking for ways to
            recognize the Jewish roots of the Christian faith once again?
            And if so, would this not help in curving Christian
            anti-semitism today.  Obviously, one cannot take back all that
            has been done in previous history (especially in regards to the
            Deicide charge surrounding the Passion), yet something can be
            done to brighten the future of Jewish-Christian relations.  Is
            it not our duty to use music as a tool in building a bridge
            between our faiths?

            I look forward to reading your thoughts on this subject.

            Rebecca.

              Helen Winkler <winklerh (at) hotmail(dot)com> a écrit :
                  Every so often I get calls from people mounting Passion
                  Plays, asking for my suggestions for which Jewish music
                  and dances they should use in their productions.  I've
                  always been uncomfortable and unsure of how to answer.
                  This time I finally told them that I didn't think Jewish
                  music and dances belonged in a Passion Play due to the
                  history of Anti-Semitism associated with Passion Plays
                  and also because the music they want to use (Israeli and
                  Hasidic) doesn't make sense for Biblical times.  Just
                  wondering if any others have had to deal with this kind
                  of thing before, and how have you addressed these issues.
                  Helen
                  Helen Winkler
                  Helen's Yiddish Dance Page
                  www.angelfire.com/ns/helenwinkler

                  Calgary Folkdance Fridays
                  www.cadvision.com/winklerj/cff.html


            Yahoo! Mail -- Une adresse @yahoo.fr gratuite et en français !





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