THE ABRAHAM J. HESCHEL CENTER FOR CATHOLIC-JEWISH RELATIONS THE JOHN PAUL II CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF LUBLIN

"Hail Mary"The world's oldest inscription of Mary is written in Greek. It is found on the base of a column from the temple that stood at the site of the Annunciation in Nazareth. These are the words "XE MAPIA" (Chaire Maria), a reference to the first words spoken to… Read more… »

Today’s verses of the Gospel (Jn 1:6-8, 19-28) for the Third Sunday of Advent focuses on John the Baptist. He is the type of Advent figures who teach us how to live this time and our lives wisely.The name John (Hebrew Johanan) means “YHWH has shown mercy and grace”.… Read more… »

Another important piece of Jewish home and ritual life is the Chanukiah: a 9 branched candleholder which we use on Chanukah. Many people – Jewish included! – will also call this a Menora, which gets a bit confusing.Menora actually refers to the 7 branched candelabrum made of pure gold… Read more… »

Biblical texts generate multiple interpretations. The rabbinic description for this phenomenon is shiva panim l’Torah, “seventy faces to the Torah.” The image suggests that each verse, each phrase, is like a beautifully cut gem with intensely shining facets. When we read Scripture, we should see multiple facets, and so… Read more… »

The First Sunday of Advent, which is also the first Sunday of the liturgical year, opens, as it does every year, a unique period in the life of the Church, a time of yearning and waiting for the coming of the Lord. We wait to meet Him and often… Read more… »

In the Gospel of Matthew– chapter 25 verses 31 – 46, The Final Judgment, we learn about practical social justice. We learn about mercy which brings us closer to God.The Babylonian Talmud (tractate Sotta 14a) deals with the question of how we, human beings, could come closer to God,… Read more… »

The Desert Fathers say this: our spiritual life is like the Lake of Gennesaret and the Dead Sea. If we only receive the Word of God, the gifts of the kingdom, but do not share it with others, we become as dead as the Dead Sea. If we accept… Read more… »

In ancient Israel, marriage was based on a contract, which had to be accompanied by a written document. The formula for entering into marriage sounded more or less like this: "She shall be my spouse, and I shall be her husband, from this day forward until eternity." On the… Read more… »

To the rescue of the captives and hostages in Gaza and the elevation of the souls of the Israelis who were murdered and killed this October.Matthew 23 is an extremely critical text, where the Pharisees and the Scribes serve as a negative model: Jesus teaches his disciples how not… Read more… »

Six years ago, when my mother passed away, I recited the Mourners' Kaddish every day, as part of the Jewish ritual and traditions during the period of mourning for parents. While writing this paragraph, hundreds of Israeli Jewish people have begun reciting the Mourners' Kaddish as they mourn and… Read more… »

Through the ears to the heart. Two commandments, four aspects of loveOn Mount Sinai, God gave Moses tablets with the Ten Commandments. Over the centuries, as many as 613 commandments (so-called mitzvot) appeared in the Jewish tradition. Some were known at the time of Jesus. Rabbis did their best… Read more… »

Matthew depicts Pharisees negatively. In chapter 3, John the baptizer scolds Pharisees for prioritizing ancestral privilege over repentance. In chapter 22, Matthew changes Mark’s admiring scribe who asks Jesus about the greatest commandment into a malicious Pharisee who seeks to trap Jesus with a difficult question. Matthew 23 is… Read more… »

The eschatological feast in the Kingdom of God: we need to respond to the gift of grace (“God’s invitation”) with readiness and cooperation (“a wedding garment” – good deeds).Already in the Old Testament the promise of salvation was universal. The prophet Isaiah foreshadows an eschatological feast to be attended… Read more… »

Greetings again from Jerusalem. The Parable of the Vineyard and Evil Tenants appears in Matthew in the context of Jesus’ conflict with the priestly establishment in the Jerusalem Temple. It further develops the Parable in chapter 5 of Isaiah, where the Vineyard represents the people of Israel and Judea.… Read more… »

I'm betting many people are thinking, "Shmini Atzeret?! Never heard of it. But Simchat Torah, that I've heard about". It's a paradox that this celebration, which is all about the Torah, isn't mentioned in the Torah itself.First, it's important to understand that, like Catholics, Jews follow a calendar of… Read more… »

The week-long holiday of Sukkot has ended, and we return to our homes. But stop right there. Literally! There's ANOTHER holiday, one certainly connected to Sukkot, but a separate holiday in its own right. And that's what makes Shmini Atzeret – literally, the eighth day of assembly or the… Read more… »

In today’s Gospel, we are listening to Matthew’s second parable on the vineyard; in Matthew 21 there will be another one, immediately following the one we are reading today. Listening to the parable, we can imagine a small farm in first-century Palestine, where grape vines are grown; we see… Read more… »

Yom Kippur has ended, with our intense, deep, intimate day of searching ourselves and being close with God. Ideally, we end this day of atonement feeling loved, secure and at peace. We return home and everything feels right with the world.But in Israel, and in Jewish communities around the… Read more… »

I think that everyone already knows that Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement. But let’s speak a little bit about what atonement is, and how we got to this special day.First of all, Yom Kippur in the Bible. It is important to know that it looks very different… Read more… »

The role of the penitents, of the ones who return to God’s ways (baalei tshuva - בעלי תשובה) in the New Testament and the Jewish sources. In the parable of the workers in the vineyard in the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 20, Jesus talks about the answer of… Read more… »

“How many times do I have to forgive my brother who sins against me?” Asks Peter. “Give me a number! After that I won’t be obliged anymore…”This is the risk of religion, of any religion: the desire for boundaries, for a clear knowledge of being in or out, right… Read more… »

Creation and judgementRosh Hashanah, literally "head of the year", is the first day of the Jewish new year. In the Bible, it is called Yom Truah, the day of the trumpets. This day commemorates the creation of the world and man but it also remembers God's judgment. According to… Read more… »

Matthew 18:15-20, part of Matthew’s fourth discourse on community organization, provides the context for Jesus’s instruction to Peter to forgive an offending brother or sister “seventy times seven” (18:22). The context is important, for it indicates that Jesus is not coercing people who have been hurt to forgive. Nor… Read more… »

The first apostle struggled with anxiety and even fear throughout his life. The Evangelists emphasize this fact several times. Anxiety is revealed very clearly in the scene of Peter's calling. Peter asks: "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" (Luke 5:8). Another time when the apostle… Read more… »