Santa Cruz Sentinel March 6, 2004

March 6, 2004
Passion from both sides: Whatever its intentions, ‘Passion’ raises painful issues for Jews

Editor’s. note: The following are the last in a series of local religious leaders’ reactions to Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of the Christ.’ The Rev. Mark Stetz is pastor of Holy Cross Catholic Church in Santa Cruz. Richard Litvak is senior rabbi at Temple Beth El in Aptos.

By RICHARD LITVAK
SPECIAL TO THE SENTINEL

I am a rabbi, not a film critic. What I can add to the discussion of "The Passion of the Christ" is how the film may be viewed through Jewish eyes.

For many Christians, the movie will be a profound experience. Mel Gibson focuses on the Passion, the suffering of Jesus, and brings it to life in a powerful way. If not turned off by the extreme violence, the viewer may sense the magnitude of the suffering of Jesus. This in turn may convey the magnitude of the gift of Jesus, of his suffering and the sacrifice of his life for the forgiveness of sin. Some Christians will be alienated by the savagery of the film. Others will find inspiration in it.

The Jew seeing the film will likely not be focused on its spiritual message. He or she probably will be concerned about the negative way most Jews are portrayed, and the movie’s potential for stirring up anti-Semitism. This is because of the historic Jewish experience with other tellings of the Passion of Jesus.

Not long ago, a member of my congregation told me about her experience growing up in Europe. Every Easter, the story of Jesus’s suffering and crucifixion was told in church in a way that held all the Jews of his time and all time, responsible. Christian worshippers would pour into the streets of her town, beating and killing any Jews they could find. She spoke with agony about the year her best friend also only a child, was hit with a stone and killed during one of these pogroms.

Such attacks have occurred not only in Europe but also here in America. Throughout this past week, several members of my congregation have had childhood memories stirred up. They have told me of being hounded off the playground and beaten on the sidewalk by other children calling them "Christ killers."

Because of this history, the Catholic Church, since the Second Vatican Council in 1965 has set clear guidelines for portraying the Passion so as to avoid propagating anti-Semitism. Other church groups have also done so. Unfortunately, when Gibson in his Catholicism rebelled against a broad range of the changes of the Second Vatican, he came to disregard these teachings as well.