Jewish liturgical year, last thoughts

Sometimes, when we discuss theology, we forget to look at the human historical elements of a situation. The funny thing is that centuries later, we will talk about that situation divorced from the humanity of what happened and then wonder why we cannot understand how on earth the situation could have wound up the way it did. Case in point: the “forgetfulness” of the Church with regard to its Jewish background. Scott is correct and I fully agree with him. It was sad that the Church lost its “preaching” connection to our Jewish roots.

But, now let us look at the humanity of the situation. Christianity did not grow simply among the Gentiles, it grew among the Jews itself. Read again the account of the Book of Acts. Both in Palestine and in the Dispersion, the Book of Acts records not only Jewish believers, but also rabbis and priests coming to believe in the Messiah. We, generally, do not notice those passages, because of the persecution and anti-Christian reactions that are also recorded.

In fact, the growth of Christianity among Jews was so strong that by 85 AD, it was decided to force all Christians out of the synagogue. Now, please notice that this was 15 years after the Siege of Jerusalem and the Destruction of the Temple in 70 AD by the future Emperor Titus followed by the fall of Masada in 73 AD. Now, given that many Christians viewed this as the fulfillment of Jesus’ Olivet discourse regarding the destruction of the Temple, this was not likely to make non-Christian Jews feel friendly toward Messianic Jews.

So, by 85 AD, there was an agreement that Messianic Jews did not belong in the Synagogue. At that time, a particular phrase was added to the three-times-daily Amidah. That phrase, it is agreed, by liturgical scholars of various stripes, and faiths, was directed against the newly thrown out Christian communities. That phrase is called the Birkat HaMinim that asks God to destroy the heretics. Rabbi Moses ben Maimom born in Spain in 1135 comments that there are five types of heretics to be specifically cursed, and one of them are those who believe in more than one God. Given that he was living in what was Muslim controlled parts of Spain at the time, it confirms the curse as against Christianity. Eventually, well after 85 AD, the rabbis expanded the definition to more than just Christians.

The expulsion of Messianic Jews from the synagogues had another effect. The Roman Empire worked on a system of legally registered religions. All public meetings had to have prior approval, not just religious meetings. Now, that did not mean for each and every meeting, it meant for the organization involved. A religious organization had to agree to the support of the Roman Empire religious atmosphere, with one exception. That exception was Judaism because Romans recognized the antiquity of Judaism, which preceded the appearance of the Roman Republic. But, if Christianity is not part of Judaism, then Christianity must now apply for its own “papers”, papers which were not ever applied for nor were ever granted because Christianity would never have agreed to the support of the Roman religious atmosphere.

By the time that the Apostle John writes the Book of the Revelation about 10 years after 85 AD, and  about 20 years after Masada, one can see the tensions mounting. St. John writes to the Church at Smyrna, “. . . yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” He comments that persecution is about to begin. Already Antipas has been martyred in Pergamum. Within another 10 years, St. Ignatius of Antioch is martyred in 105 AD. While the persecutions were periodic, and not constant, from 85 AD on, the Church lost all its legal protections and Christians could be persecuted at will. In those persecutions, the Jews saw the fulfillment of their Birkat HaMinim.

Meanwhile, Christians developed their own set of writings and prayers that spoke against the “faithlessness” of the Jew. This is not surprising if one looks at the human element. It is also not surprising that Christians would, less and less, want any formal memory of the Jewish feasts in their worship, though they retained the Jewish worship structure. It is a particularly flawed and modern notion that Christians were some sort of “hippie” love-in that would have never thought of taking some concrete  liturgical actions or writing some prayers of their own.

In fact, the pre-1955 Good Friday Prayer for the Jews, found in the West, shows some remarkable affinities with the Birkat HaMinim, with the exception that it is not a curse. The old Eastern Holy Thursday prayers were very clearly a Birkat HaMinim in reverse. This is not surprising, since the East, historically, bore the brunt of the worst of the persecutions as well as the earliest of the persecutions. Or, another way to put it is that the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews is no more or less anti-Semitic than the Birkat HaMinim is anti-Christian. It reads:

Let us pray also for the faithless Jews: that Almighty God may remove the veil from their hearts; so that they too may acknowledge Jesus Christ our Lord. Almighty and eternal God, who dost not exclude from thy mercy even Jewish faithlessness: hear our prayers, which we offer for the blindness of that people; that acknowledging the light of thy Truth, which is Christ, they may be delivered from their darkness. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Can you see the humanity of it all? Does this help you understand the set of conflicts that led to the forgetfulness about the feasts? Sadly, many used the memory of the conflict for true anti-Semitism and persecution. But, this also followed from a previous anti-Christianity and persecution. It can truly be said that there are no innocents on either side on these issues. Both sides were victims and perpetrators.

Sadly, this led to a forgetfulness in the Church of its Hebrew roots.