An Historic First: Jewish Scholars, Wcc Members, Vatican Delegation Holding an Inter-faith-dialogue

Meetings here this week and next between world Jewish scholars and representatives of the World Council of Churches and a delegation from the Vatican have become the focus of attention, not because such contacts are new but because this is the first time that either the Protestant WCC or the Vatican has agreed to participate in an inter-faith dialogue in Jerusalem.

Discussions between the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Affairs and the WCC representatives opened last night and will continue through tomorrow. The Jewish committee will meet with the Vatican group beginning Monday. The representatives of all three bodies are already in Israel and will spend an informal weekend together at Kibbutz Lavi where the Christian visitors will learn about the religious kibbutz movement.

The WCC delegation is headed by Prof. Krister Stendhal, Dean of the Harvard University Divinity School, and includes among its members such eminent scholars as Dr. Franz Von Hammerstein, secretary of the WCC’s committee on churches and the Jewish people.

The International Jewish Committee, headed by Rabbi Joseph Lookstein. Chancellor of Bar Ilan University, was established in 1969 by the Synagogue Council of America and the World Jewish Congress, which jointly appointed its members. Participants in this week’s meetings include Dr. Gerhart Riegner, secretary general of the WJC, Prof. Shmaryahu Talmon of Israel, and other Jewish scholars from Israel and abroad.

The Protestant delegation was greeted last night by Religious Affairs Minister Yitzhak Raphael who noted that the WCC’s decision to hold its dialogue in Jerusalem proved that the Protestant Church recognized the centrality of Jerusalem and Israel to the Jewish people.

WILL INVOLVE ‘DELICATE’ MATTERS

The meetings are mainly of an ideological nature and are intended to examine subjects common to Judaism and Christianity. It is expected, however, that the meetings next week with the Vatican delegation, headed by Bishop Ramon Torella of the Vatican Secretariat for Christian Unity, will involve such “delicate” matters as the Vatican’s position on the anti-Zionist resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly last November.

The Catholic scholars are expected to be asked why the Vatican made no official comment on that measure which was widely criticized by other Christian bodies and leaders, notably by Dr. Phillip A. Potter, secretary general of the WCC, who is a participant in this week’s dialogue.

It was unclear today whether the Vatican delegation will be received on behalf of the government by the Religious Affairs Minister as was the Protestant group. Sources said that in view of the extremely sensitive relations between the Vatican and Israel, the question of an official meeting with a minister of the Israeli government will be carefully examined by the Vatican before it agrees. The Vatican has never extended formal recognition to Israel.