30/3/99

Wine and matza, but not a Jew in sight

    Why are some seders different from all other seders?
    Because they're Christian.
    "The issue has been discussed at some length in most Christian churches, and several have official statements against them," says Larry Hoffman of New York in an Internet discourse on the subject. "Despite the stand against such seders by most church bodies, the rank and file continue having them."
    In Europe and Russia they were slaughtering Jews because of Passover, but America's different:
    "In the 1960s, Father John Schwarz of Gesu parish in Detroit encouraged his congregation to have seders," recalls Steven Cassedy, now living in San Diego. "There were two reasons: to recognize the continuity between Judaism and Christianity (in light of the belief that the Last Supper was a seder), and to promote harmony between the two dominant religious groups in the neighborhood, Catholics and Jews."
    Rabbi Robert Tabak was involved in planning a seder with a Catholic church about 15 years ago, in Rochester, New York, but he'd be unwilling to do it again if the intention were clearly Christological: if the seder were to be treated as a pseudo-communion. Some churches see the use of wine and matza as a link to Jesus, and create a parallel with Easter.
    That, he says, is one category of Christian seder; the other is "recognizable in its Jewish roots and legitimacy, even if organized by, or for, non-Jews. The goals of these seders may be either to understand Christian origins (i.e. if Jesus' Last Supper was a seder, it was not a mass) or because of the appeal of the story of the Exodus and freedom that is also part of the Christian Bible, as well as to appreciate Judaism."
Some churches go whole hog with the Jewish angle, trying to be as traditional as possible. They consult with Jews, borrowing their religious books and inquiring about appropriate food. 
Only in America, eh?
    Not quite.
    Bernard Cooperman, director of a Jewish studies center at the University of Maryland, was in Venice some years ago for a conference on Jewish history. Switching on the TV in his hotel room, he happened upon a program outlining Easter celebrations in the Duomo in Milan.
    He watched, somewhat agog, as a large number of families prepared a seder meal before going to a nighttime mass in the Grand Cathedral.
    "What astonished me was that the seder was a conscious and careful imitation of the modern Israeli seder, down to the tunes sung by the children when asking the Four Questions (which began 'Perche e questa notte differente di tutte?')."
    Even the songs at the mass, "led by a guitar-strumming priest," were decidedly Jewish in nature.
    Then there's the matter of "the Vatican and the Jewish question."
    David Berger, of Brooklyn College, relates this delightful story.
    "About three years ago, I gave a lecture at Boston College. Afterwards, a professor of theology, who is a member of a Catholic religious order,  related this vignette: At an ecumenical seder, several Catholic participants asked her what can best be characterized as a  shayle [question].  They had formally resolved not to drink alcoholic beverages during Lent and wanted to know whether the requirement of drinking four cups of wine at the seder overrode this prohibition. (Imagine this question in any previous generation!)
    "After some thought, she asked them whether they intended this prohibition to apply on St. Patrick's Day. When they responded that on that day they drink, she ruled (paskened?) that the seder has the same standing as St. Patrick's Day, and they proceeded to drink.      
    "I told her that had I been at the seder I would have ruined things by suggesting that they drink grape juice.      
    "When I recounted this response to a friend, I was told a story which can serve as a fitting sequel. The hassidic psychiatrist Avraham Twersky, who specializes inter alia in substance abuse, had a patient who was a Catholic priest suffering from alcoholism. At the end of a successful course of treatment, the priest asked how he should handle the problem of drinking wine at the mass, and Twersky suggested grape juice. 
    "Shortly thereafter, the priest's superior called Twersky and asked  for the basis for this suggestion, and he replied with a reference to the responsa of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. 
    "Considerably later, he received another call informing him that the question had been referred all the way to the Vatican, and a ruling was issued confirming Rabbi Feinstein's psak [ruling].
    "Finally, when I told this story to a Catholic priest, he responded, 'So that's where that memo came from!' "