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 …

I have always been fascinated by the figure of Judah as he winds his way through the last part of Bereshit. He appears to me as a rather mysterious person, riven by inconsistencies: on the one hand — dark, introverted, somewhat reckless, impetuous; and on the other — a born leader, powerful, "a lion," head of the Tribes of Israel, progenitor of King David and the Messiah. He is both, of course, and that is what makes him so interesting as well as so important. But in order to understand him, we have to view him as one would a moving picture rather than a snapshot. Judah is a story in progress.When we first meet Judah, he is in an untenable position. He was denied official leadership of the brothers because Reuben was the first-born and, by the rights of primogeniture, was the presumptive leader. Then there was Joseph, the designated leader as his father's favorite and the son of his father's favorite wife, Rachel. Joseph wore the כתונת הפסים—not just a fancy and colorful sport jacket but the uniform identifying the wearer as the heir apparent of the father. Yet functionally he, Judah, was the unofficial leader—with all the additional responsibilities that such unannointed role carried.In his conduct, Judah appears considerably less than admirable. Two events mark his life as a failure, as a moral debacle. He is the propelling force in the selling of Joseph, and he is disgraced in the matter of the Tamar affair. In each case, he suffers a shattering shock at having his sins bared. Consider how deeply embarrassed he must have felt when Joseph revealed himself—"I am Joseph your brother"—and Judah was the very one who said "Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites"! And how terribly chagrined he must have been when Tamar exposed him! He had unilaterally condemned her to life-long celibacy (it occurs to me that she was the first agunah in Jewish history!), and when he discovers she is pregnant he immediately assumes she is an adulteress and he forthwith orders her execu…