Catholic Church
Who Says There Are No Coincidences?Wednesday, March 6, 2013 by David Glasner | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In certain Orthodox circles, the idea that there are no coincidences has become a principle of faith. But it contradicts a more fundamental Jewish doctrine: human free will.
I’ve Got Friends in Low-lying Places . . .Thursday, December 6, 2012 by Moshe Sokolow | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
It would be tragic if Israel were to lose the vote of any of its few reliable supporters at the UN, but that is just what might happen over the next few years—not due to any political intrigue but on account of global warming.
Renaissance MenMonday, November 5, 2012 by Adina M. Yoffie | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Hugo Grotius. Isaac Abravanel. Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. These are not names normally mentioned in the same breath, but taken together, their experiences with and thoughts regarding interfaith encounters are instructive.
Does Jacob Hate Esau?Monday, October 29, 2012 by Jerome A. Chanes | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Jews have traditionally kept non-Jews at arm’s length. The rabbinic approach to anti-Semitism may be summarized as Halakhah hi b’yadu’a she-Eisav sonei et Yaakov, “It is an established normative principle that Esau hates Jacob.”
The Portuguese DreyfusWednesday, October 24, 2012 by Kevin Zdiara | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
In 1894, the Jewish Captain Alfred Dreyfus was wrongly convicted of treason by an anti-Semitic French military court. The world remembers Dreyfus. It should also remember the Jewish military officer Artur Carlos de Barros Basto, wrongly convicted by an anti-Semitic Portuguese military court in 1937.
Catholics, Jews, and Jewish CatholicsMonday, June 18, 2012 by Daniel Johnson | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
Jews and Catholics in the English-speaking world have so much in common that they ought to make common cause more often than they actually do. The friction between them that sometimes catches fire is, as often as not, based on mutual ignorance and mistrust.
Jewish-Christian Dialogue TodayMonday, February 21, 2011 by Yehudah Mirsky | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features
How do today's Jews and Christians encounter one another? The most obvious way is in the countless interactions of Jewish and Christian colleagues and acquaintances in a host of daily settings, including exchanges on their respective religious attitudes and experiences.
Editors' Picks
Learning from the Popes Nathan Lopes Cardozo, Cardozo Academy. In the midst of its troubles, the modern Catholic church has recently produced a series of widely differing but extraordinary popes. Can Israel’s chief rabbinate learn from their example?
A Friend in Francis Monica Yanakiew, JN1. Months before his election as Pope Francis I, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio attended Hanukkah celebrations in Buenos Aires and spoke of "the holy light shining on all mankind." (Video)
When in Rome Seth Chalmer, First Things. Jewish leaders can present the next pope with a wish list on interfaith dialogue, Israel, and anti-Semitism—but must not lecture the Vatican about Catholic doctrine.
Benedict and the Bible Meir Y. Soloveichik, Weekly Standard. Benedict XVI "began and ended his papacy by celebrating the Hebraic, traditional Jewish understanding of love and marriage."
The Pope's Jewish Legacy Brad Hirschfield, Washington Post. Pope Benedict XVI antagonized some Jewish leaders. But he confronted the Holocaust and the Church's historic persecution of Jews with honesty and integrity.
America's New Religious Divide Walter Russell Mead, Via Meadia. The religious dividing line in today’s America no longer pits Protestants against Catholics or even Christians against Jews, but separates religious liberals from religious conservatives.
A Tale of Two Pamphlets Fred MacDowell, On the Main Line. As England debated readmitting Jews, an anonymous pamphlet blamed Jews for the deaths of Christian children. An answering pamphlet absolved the Jews—but blamed Catholic priests.
Righteous Among the Nations William Doino, First Things. Yad Vashem's recognition of Cardinal Elia Dalla Costa, who recruited rescuers and sheltered Jews in the cardinal’s palace, shows the complexity of the wartime role of the Catholic Church.
Your Dialogue, My Dialogue Peter Berger, American Interest. Today the Western world is inundated with interfaith dialogues. Is the underlying reason simply the fact that religions finally see they must face a world of religious pluralism?
From Jews to Catholics—and Back Juan Forero, Washington Post. Dozens of evangelical Catholic families in northern Colombia have discovered their Jewish ancestry—and converted to Judaism. Their former minister says, “It was like our souls had memory.”