A new study of six Passion Plays produced in the United States shows that all the productions contained “pernicious anti-Jewish stereotypes that are seen by hundreds of thousands of Americans.” The findings of the study, released today, will be presented tomorrow during the American Jewish Committee’s 78th annual meeting, which continues through Sunday at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
In his scheduled report on the plays, Rabbi A. James Rudin, the AJCommittee’s national director of interreligious affairs, notes that the American Passion Plays were “sometimes overlooked because of the wide attention given to the Oberammergau production in Germany, which will begin four months of special performances later this month.”
Continuing, Rudin says in his report: “Often based on the Oberammergau model, the American plays attract large audiences every year who believe that what they see on the stage is historically accurate and theologically sound. Such, however, is not the case.”
Calling on Christian leaders to “give serious attention to the crucial problem raised by the six productions — the harsh anti-Jewish images and themes that are transmitted to Passion Paly audiences, Rudin expresses particular concern “that many Christian groups, including councils of churches and local churches, often sponsor these productions without being aware of their anti-Jewish content.”
The AJ Committee study, written by Samuel Weintraub, the agency’s Harry Sudakoff Interreligious Intern and a rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, focuses on the Black Hills Play of South Dakota and Florida; the Val Balfour Play of Richmond, Virginia; the Great Passion Play of Eureka Springs, Arkansas; the Word of Life Fellowship Play of Schroon Lake, New York; the Fall City, Washington, Play, and the Holy Family Passion Play of Union City, New Jersey, all of which are produced annually.
OUTLINE OF ANTI-JEWISH THEMES
According to Weintroub, anti-Jewish themes found in all six productions are:
* “The Jewish antagonists of Jesus — and by implication all Jews — are depicted as degenerate, loathsome, almost subhuman creatures. The Jewish priests in particular are often portrayed as hateful and bloodthirsty leaders of a currupt religion.”
* “The Jewish people who gather before the Roman Governor’s palace in Jerusalem become a ‘mob’ clamoring for the death of Jesus. They gleefully welcome his death and are portrayed as being collectively responsible, for all generations to come, for the crucifixion.”
* “The Passion Plays either deny or obscure the thoroughly Jewish background of Jesus and his apostles. Indeed, many Plays place Jesus as a lonely rebel standing against his people and his religion.”
* “The most damaging perversion of history is the usual characterization of Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor who ordered Jesus’ execution. Pilate, whom responsible historians have described as a ruthless tyrant, is portrayed as a weak and indecisive man who was unfortunately swayed by Jewish pressure to crucify Jesus.”
* “The use of the New Testament is often onesided, highlighting those verses with real or potential anti-Jewish impact. Generally, the American Passion Plays neglect those New Testament passages which suggest more positive images of Jews and Judaism.”
VATICAN AND U.S. CATHOLIC WARNINGS
Another report, dealing with official Catholic statements on dramatizations of the Passion, is also scheduled to be delivered tomorrow by Dr. Eugene Fisher, executive secretary of the Secretariat for Catholic-Jewish Relations of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB).
In his report, released today, Fisher strongly reaffirms earlier Vatican and American Catholic statements warning against the inclusion of anti-Semitic “stereotyping and misinformation” in Passion Plays. He notes that NCCB’s Secretariat has issued documents in 1968 and 1970 “drawing attention to Passion Plays as a possible source of anti-Semitic reactions.”
Moreover, Fisher points out, the Vatican, in its 1974 “Guidelines and Suggestions for Implementing the Conciliar Declaration, Nostra Aetate,” lists principles for the depiction of the Passion. In 1975, he notes, the American Bishops also made this point:
“There remains the continuing task of ensuring that nothing which in any way approaches the notion of Jewish guilt should be found in any Catholic medium of expression or communication. Correctly viewed, the disappearance of the charge of collective guilt of “Jews pertains as much to the purity of the Catholic faith as it does to the defense of Judaism.”
The Vatican Guidelines, Fisher states in his report, “urge extreme care not to ‘distort (the) meaning (of New Testament accounts of the Passion), especially when it is aquestion of passages which Christians, if not well informed, might misunderstand because of prejudice.'”
Stressing his “personal reaffirmation” of these statements, Fisher maintains that it was “obviously not sufficient for the authors and producers of Passion Plays to reply to responsible criticism simply by appealing to the notion that ‘well, it’s in the Bible,’ (since) .. the interpretation offered in a given dramatization (will depend on) .. how certain passages or scenes from the four Gospels are selected and what is communicated through this selectivity.”
CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ STATEMENT
The NCCB statement of Passion Plays, Fisher notes, specifically cautions against:
* Concealing “the fact that Jesus is a Jew and that his friends as well as his enemies in the drama are Jews.”
* “Creating “the impression that most Jews of Jesus’ day willed his death, failing to show that the secrecy surrounding much of Jesus’ trial was motivated by the large following he had in Jerusalem.”
* Changing “the ‘crowd’ before the governor’s palace into a screaming ‘mob,’ as representing all Jerusalem, and indeed all Israel.”
* Depicting Pilate, “whom historiography has shown to have been a ruthless tyrant, as an innocent and kindly bystander.”
* Highlighting “those texts of the Gospel narrative that are amenable to misinterpretation by uninformed audiences …”
The Passion Play produced in Oberammergau since 1634 is the prototype for other Passion Plays. Jewish and Christian religious and secular groups have been extremely critical of that production over the years because of its basic anti-Jewish characterizations and stereotypes.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
