By now everyone knows of the efforts of the Catholic Church to rectify certain ancient wrongs it has perpetrated against the Jewish people. The Ecumenical Council, called to discuss various internal problems in Christianity, was presented with a proposal concerning the Jews. In the schema on Christian unity, Chapter urged that the Church retract the eld charge of deicide of which Christians had accused Jews for ages. It asked that the Jews be absolved of guilt for killing the central figure of the Christian religion. This proposal, as we also know, was not voted upon; it may possibly be brought up for consideration again next September. My purpose this morning is not to speak about the Catholic action as such, but rather about the reactions of certain Jews, perhaps very many of them. And it is enncerning these reactions, which in many cases are quite disturbing, and in some cases outrageous and scandalous, that I wish to register a complaint, and to offer several suggestions. The complaint ta that we have over-reacted, occasionally to the point of compromising our principles and our dignity. And my suggestions are that we be cautlose that we exercise our critical faculties that we not be overwhelmed by the torrents of publicity that we strive for a historical perspective and, above all, that we judge men and events not by the shifting standards and sphemeral moods of the moment, but by authentic Jewish criteria -- the eternal values of Torah and Tradition. We Jews are a grateful people. The very name "Jew" implies gratitude: it comes from "Judah," and that name in Hebrew, Yehudah -- was given to her son by Leah because "this time shall I thank the Lord" (Gen. 29:35). It is this streak of gratefulness that has made Jews so loyal, throughout these many years of our dispersion, to those countries which have offered us safety and freedom. It accounts as well for the many lasting contributio we have made to the science and the literature, the finances and the securi of …

Amongst Western religious traditions, Judaism is alone in the high esteem accorded to intellectual achievement by the masses as well as professionals, and the broad communal role accorded to scholars and scholarship. But first – the definition of some terms. “Torah” = the Hebrew Bible (“Old Testament”) (last book in canon approx. mid-4th century BCE); Torah as literary corpus: the 3-fold canon (Tanakh); Torah as religious instruction: Written and Oral Torah, the Talmud and its literature; Torah as concept: the teaching – the way. Both narratives and commandments lead to ennobling of character and fidelity to the Covenant. In the Biblical period, the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua emphasize the command to teach Torah. Psalm 119, the longest in the book, is largely praise of Torah study. Neglect of Torah study occurred from the time of Solomon’s sons to Ezra the Scribe (4th century BCE), who ushered in an intellectual and religious revolution with the return of the exiles to Israel. Ezra instituted public Torah readings on Shabbat, Mondays, and Thursdays. During the Talmudic period (~50 BCE–475 CE), universal free education was established by Joshua b. Gamla before the destruction of the Second Temple and codified in law (Maimonides, Hilkhot Talmud Torah 2:1): no town could exist without education for children from age six. This led to thousands of full-time Torah students in Palestine and Babylonia during the first five centuries CE. Torah study was so central that persecution often took the form of banning it. In the medieval period (Europe: ~4th–16th or 18th centuries; Islam: from the 7th century on), Torah study remained a legal mandate. In Maimonides’ Code, every Jew, regardless of status or wealth, is obligated to study Torah and teach his children. Lay societies of study among artisans and laborers spread widely, with ordinances like those in Lithuania mandating daily Mishnah study, and 24-hour batei midrash were common. Illiteracy among Jews was rare. Con…