“Your people shall be my people, and your God my God”—the words spoken by Ruth at a moment of uncertainty and choice—became the point of reference for the 29th Day of Judaism in the Archdiocese of Lublin. The gathering at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) highlighted the shared roots of faith and the need to build Catholic–Jewish relations grounded in a culture of encounter, memory, and responsibility.
“When we look for the sentence from the Book of Ruth that serves as the patron of the Day of Judaism, one God clearly emerges,” said Rev. Prof. Mirosław Kalinowski, Rector of KUL.
One God, One Hope
Opening the celebrations, the Rector of KUL noted that the Day of Judaism coincides with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the Catholic Church. As he emphasized, in this context the same themes return: one God and the call to unity expressed in the words “one Spirit, one body, one hope.”
“It is clear that this is a very sensitive area, because it encourages us to seek what unites us, what allows us to discover our common roots,” the Rector said. Referring to the sixty years since the proclamation of the declaration Nostra aetate, he spoke of the need for “dialogue, encounter, and courage in thinking.”
“A bond is not born only of similarity.”
The Metropolitan Archbishop of Lublin, Archbishop Stanisław Budzik, stressed that the Day of Judaism in the Catholic Church is not merely a date on the calendar, but a sign of a path marked by memory, respect, and learning, and by shared responsibility before God. Referring to Ruth's words, he recalled that they were spoken in a borderline situation—amid the pain of loss and the uncertainty of the future.
“These words are very important for our Catholic–Jewish relations. They teach us that a bond is not born only of similarity, but of a decision of the heart. It is born of the readiness to recognize in the other person not a stranger, but a neighbour,” Archbishop Budzik said.
He added that the Day of Judaism in the Catholic Church makes sense only when it is not merely “a gesture of courtesy,” but when it also becomes a school for us. “A school in which we must recognize the richness of Judaism, from which Christianity emerges—the spiritual heritage of prayer, listening to and proclaiming the Word of God—but also a painful history in which there was too often a lack of sensitivity, and sometimes a lack of simple courage to stand on the side of the persecuted,” the Archbishop said, stressing the need to recognize the dignity of every human being.
Closeness without appropriation
The Metropolitan of Lublin read Ruth’s words as a program for building closeness—“but a closeness that is not appropriate.” As he emphasized, “true closeness means standing beside one another, standing in truth, standing with respect,” ready to listen and to learn from one another.
In this sense, he noted, these words are a call to “build bridges, not walls,” to adopt an attitude of encounter rather than suspicion. As he said, the Catholic University of Lublin, as a place of faith seeking understanding, fosters such a path of dialogue.
From an elite dialogue to a dialogue of communities
Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, referred to the importance of Catholic–Jewish dialogue from the perspective of the universal Church. In a message addressed to participants in the celebrations at KUL, he highlighted the shared responsibility of both religions. “Jews and Christians can raise their voices together in defense of those who are persecuted for religious reasons,” Cardinal Koch noted.
The historical and theological context of the dialogue was recalled by Bishop Antonio Staglianò, President of the Pontifical Academy of Theology in the Vatican. Referring to Nostra aetate, he pointed to its breakthrough significance. “It was a transition from a theology of contempt to a theology of respect,” he said.
The challenges facing Christian–Jewish dialogue today were also addressed by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. He stressed the need to broaden the dialogue: “It can no longer be only a dialogue of elites—it must become a dialogue of communities.”
Ruth and the question of God
Rabbi Boaz Pash of Jerusalem invoked the biblical figure of Ruth from a Jewish perspective. He emphasized the importance of a personal search for God. “First I must search for and find my God, and only then will I search for your God,” he said, pointing out that if God is one, He cannot be “ours” or “yours.” In this sense, he added, religious dialogue does not begin with declarations, but with a responsible and honest search.
RUTH – Rome, Universalism, Tradition
In closing, Rev. Paweł Rytel-Andrianik, Director of the Abraham J. Heschel Center for Catholic–Jewish Relations at KUL, proposed an interpretative key to the Day of Judaism in the form of the acronym RUTH.
Its first dimension is Rome (Roma)—the fortieth anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s visit to the Rome synagogue. This event became one of the most important signs of a new stage in Christian–Jewish relations. “And if someone asks why there is a Day of Judaism, this is the answer,” Rev. Rytel-Andrianik emphasized.
The second element is universalism. He pointed out that the Heschel Center at KUL is rooted in Lublin while also present in Jerusalem, Rome, New York, and Los Angeles. This, he said, is the realization of the call for dialogue to “move from elites to people.”
The third dimension of RUTH is tradition. “We are united by the Bible, we are united by tradition—and that is the most important thing,” concluded the Director of the Heschel Center at KUL.
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Heschel Center News/ Karol Darmoros