Nostra Aetate - In Our Time

54 the condemnation of anti-Semitism which is there within Nostra Aetate was not in itself new; there had already been condemnation of anti-Semitism. The big change is precisely in saying that it is wrong to see the Jews as condemned and as rejected and instead to affirm, therefore, a positive attitude; that the Jews have a part in, and therefore a significant role in the divine plan for humanity. That was not just a revolution, it was a Coper- nican revolution. It was the Church turning its whole approach on its head as to how to deal with the Jewish people. So, we have come to a situation today where John Paul II can visit a Synagogue in Rome in 1986 and say that the Jewish People is not only the dearly beloved elder brother of the Church but that the Church has a relationship with Judaism that is intrinsic to its identity, a relationship such as it can have with no other religion because it is the very foundation of Christian identity; and to affirm this unique positive relationship. That is quite remarkable. Very interesting that Pope Benedict XVI went one stage further and said, “You know, maybe we should not call Jews the elder brother because, if you read the Hebrew Bible and if you read the book of Genesis, the elder brother in the stories doesn’t usually come out on top, he usually gets the rough end NOSTRA AETATE AND THE RELIGIONS OF ABRAHAM Rabbi Rosen speaks on a panel with Mr. Oded Wiener, Cardinal Kurt Koch and Prof. Amos Luzzatto at a conference honouring Pope John XXIII, April 2013