The Dabru Emet ( Heb. דברו אמת "Speak heTruth") is a document concerning the relationship between

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

and

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

. It was signed by over 220

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

s and intellectuals from all branches of

, as individuals and not as representing any organisation or stream of Judaism. In light of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

in 1965, the Dabru Emet was first published on 10 September 2000, in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', and has since been used in Jewish education programs across the U.S. While affirming that there are theological differences between these two religions, the purpose of Dabru Emet is to point out common ground and a legitimacy of Christianity, for non-Jews, from the Jewish perspective. It is not an official document of any of the Jewish denominations per se, but it is representative of what many

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

s feel. Eight major themes are expressed: #Jews and Christians worship the same God #Jews and Christians seek authority from the same book #Christians can respect the claim of the Jews on the land of Israel #Jews and Christians together accept the moral principles of the Torah (Pentateuch) #Nazism is not a Christian phenomenon #The controversy between Jews and Christians will not be settled until God redeems the entire world as promised in scripture and no-one should be pressed into believing another's belief #A new relationship between Jews and Christians will not weaken Jewish practice #Jews and Christians must work together for justice and peace

Jewish criticism

There are various objections to ''Dabru Emet'' from within the Jewish community. Some hold that it understates the significant

theological Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...

differences between the two religions. Thus, most

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

and

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

rabbis have not signed it, although many do agree with most of the document. Very few Orthodox rabbis have signed it; The Institute for Public Affairs, of the ''Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations'' (commonly known as the Orthodox Union) issued this response: While agreeing with desire to encourage inter-faith dialogue and reconciliation, many Jews disagree with the section in Dabru Emet which holds that Christian theology is not in any way to blame for most of the last 2,000 years of

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

, or

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. Instead, it is believed by many Jews that much of Christian theology and teachings have been deeply anti-Semitic. Jews point to statements in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

, such as , in which Jesus speaks divisive words to some particular Jews of his day:

Orthodox Rabbis' Statement: "Christianity Is Neither Accident Nor Error"

On 3 December 2015, 28 Orthodox Rabbis released a statement through the

Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricit ...

(CJCUC) in Israel. Rabbis David Rosen, Shlomo Riskin and Mark Dratch are prominent among them in the interfaith movement. The unprecedented declaration, entitled ''"To Do the Will of Our Father in Heaven: Toward a Partnership between Jews and Christians"'', praises “Nostra Aetate,” a Vatican document that repudiated Christian persecution against Jews. “Now that the Catholic Church has acknowledged the eternal Covenant between God and Israel, we Jews can acknowledge the ongoing constructive validity of Christianity as our partner in world redemption, without any fear that this will be exploited for missionary purposes,” it reads.

Christian reaction

The European

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

Commission on the Church and the Jewish People (Lutherische Europäische Kommission Kirche und Judentum, LEKKJ), an

umbrella organization An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...

representing twenty-five Lutheran church bodies in Europe, issued on May 12, 2003 ''A Response to Dabru Emet'':

References

External links

National Jewish Scholars Project - the text of Dabru Emet
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021016094616/http://www.icjs.org/what/njsp/signers.html , date=2002-10-16 * Hebrew translation
http://yehoyada-amir.blogspot.com/
* Amy-Jill Levine: Reassessing Jewish-Christian Relations, Burke Lectureship on Religion & Society, 6/19/2001 Christian and Jewish interfaith dialogue 2000 in religion

Jewish criticism

Orthodox Rabbis' Statement: "Christianity Is Neither Accident Nor Error"

Christian reaction

Further reading

See also

References

External links