Jessalyn: Learning

Coming from a Lutheran background, the study of “Memory and Reconciliation: The Churches and the Holocaust” was new for me. Although I have attended Catholic masses over the past three years at Iona, I never received a thorough background on Catholicism and the way the religion was structured. Furthermore, although technically a quarter Jewish by blood, I again never received a thorough background on Judaism and the way it was organized. Therefore when I began my study of Catholic and Jewish relations before, during, and after WWII with Dr. Procario-Foley, I was starting afresh.

While at first this appeared to me as a disadvantage, I am content with how the beginning of this class began for me. This is because starting from a blank state allowed me to immerse myself into the study of both religions equally. I was not particular to learning about Catholicism over Judaism or vice versa because both subjects were new and interesting. Thus, when first learning about Judaism and Christianity, I was extremely intrigued about their tumultuous relationship.

The “Teaching of Contempt” coined by Jules Isaac, a Shoah survivor who lost his wife and daughter during WWII, describes this teaching as any unofficial teaching, law, or violent action against the Jewish people. The Five D’s, that Jews are dispersed from the land, dismissed from revelation, are deicide people, have a degenerate religion, and are demonic are including in this “Teaching of Contempt” concept.

Apparently, Jews were dispersed from the holy land because the Roman occupiers of Israel won a large war against the Jews in 70 C.E. Furthermore, according to Christians, Jews lost the covenant with God because they were to blame for Jesus’s death and therefore were dismissed from revelation. Moreover, the “Blood Curse” found in Matthew along with the “Blood Libel”, a myth developed in the Middle Ages that Jews would capture and murder Christian babies in order to make Passover foods, played the part in the decide charge against the Jewish people. And finally, displayed as demonic creatures such as half human and half pig, Judaism was a dead religion of the law according to Christians because the Jews had nothing to follow.

Before hearing about these five D’s, I never thought about the effect Jewish and Christian relations over the past two thousand years had on the contempt others subjected towards Jews whether Christian or of another denomination. This made me ponder what effect Christianity had on the Shoah. Before I was only thinking about how dominating and ruthless Hitler and the Nazi party was, but now I began rethinking my previous views.

Although I do not believe one sole religion, people, or idea caused the mass destruction of the Jewish population during WWII, I acknowledge that Christianity, in particular Catholicism, pre Vatican II of course, had an effect on the views some had of the Jews.

Without the thought provoking ideas of this class I would never had thought out of the narrow box I was confined to. While I am still developing my views, I am excited to continue discovering new knowledge about why the Shoah occurred and who had an influence over this occurrence.