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Church and Jews
Christianity was initially regarded as a Judaic
sect. Jews could not accept it, however, because it was
regarded as a
heresy, and Roman officials persecuted its adherents because
the new
religion was in conflict with the official state cult.
The position of Christianity changed when it was
recognized as the
official religion by Theodosius I in 380 and 390, which
meant its
influence spread quickly; this also intensified its conflict
with
Judaism. From the second century A.D., representatives of
the Church and
Synagogue debated about the principles of faith.
In the fourth century, the Church was able to conduct
extensive
missionary activities, one of whose aims was to gain Jewish
converts.
Jews often appealed to the Pope for protection against
forced baptisms.
Pope Gregory I issued the first such document in the late
sixth century.
According to the teachings of St. Augustine, the Church
allowed Jews to
have contact with Christians, and even required that they be
protected
against persecution. The largest anti-Jewish waves came in
the late
tenth and early eleventh centuries.
A fundamental change in Christian-Jewish relations
occurred during
the Crusades, however, when pogroms ravaged many
Communities; at this
time, many Jews were forcibly baptized. Church propaganda
saw Jews as
the killers of Christ, which made it impossible for members
of the two
religions to live side by side peacefully. Council
legislation aimed to
limit their contact.
In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council, in which Archbishop
Henryk
Kietlicz participated, called on the Christian population to
sever
credit and trade contacts with Jews. The Jews were ordered
to wear
special clothing that would make it easier to distinguish
them from
Christians. Jews were banned from appearing on the streets
on
Fridays--the day that Christ died. Monarchs were urged to
introduce a
ban on the appointment of Jews to public offices and
functions.
The decisions of the Fourth Lateran Council were
implemented in
Poland as well. The Episcopal synod in Wroclaw in 1267 dealt
with the
matter in detail. Christians were banned from feasting with
Jews, and
from buying food products from them. It was suggested that
there should
be separate Jewish neighborhoods, in order to limit their
contact with
Christians, who were also forbidden from working in Jewish
households.
These decisions were renewed in the diocesan synods, and the
parish
priests were required to teach the faithful how they should
treat Jews.
In 1420, in Kalisz, Archbishop Mikolaj Traba denounced
Jewish usury.
At the sixteenth-century synods, bishops called on limits to
be placed
on Jewish immigration to Poland. They noted that the
restrictions on the
number of Jewish buildings and synagogues were not being
observed, and
that Jews were still being appointed to public functions.
The
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century synods demanded that
further
restrictions be put on Jews' means of livelihood, accusing
them of
pushing Christians out of trade and crafts. The employment
of Christians
by "infidels" was condemned many times, and the Chelm synod
in 1604
required parish priests to summon Jews employing Christian
servants
before the wojewodzi�ski court.
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The synods intervened in Communities' internal
and religious affairs, forbidding the printing of the
Talmud, as well as
some ceremonies and rituals, such as those associated with
the holiday
of Purim (purimshpil). The Church's views were reflected in
anti-Jewish
literature, whose authors were for the most part clerics.
The Church
initiated theological disputes between priests and rabbis,
intended to
demonstrate Christianity's superiority over Judaism and help
convert the
Jews.
In Poland, such disputes took place in the sixteenth
century, but
their aim was primarily to serve as a forum for the exchange
of opinions
and views (Yitzhak of Troki, Jakub of Belzyce).
The disputes in Kamieniec (1757) and Lwow (1759) between
Jews and
the Frankists (Frankism) were of a different nature. The
Frankists tried
to prove, for example, that the "ritual murder accusations"
were true.
The bishop of Kamieniec ordered the Talmud to be burned. As
a result,
many Hebrew books and manuscripts were destroyed.
Nevertheless, everyday contacts between the Jews and
Christians,
including clergymen, developed differently than what was
officially
required by synod legislation. Many priests entrusted their
savings to
Jewish merchants, who, like banks, would pay them yearly
dividends on
those sums of money. In the eighteenth century, Communities
with
financial troubles took loans from monasteries. From the
second half of
the seventeenth century, Jews were settling on Church lands
more often
(such as in Pultusk and Lowicz), and were granted privileges
similar to
those they enjoyed on private noble estates (such as
Kamionka, owned by
Strumillow).
In Wielkopolska, Jews and parish priests jointly ran
manufacturing
enterprises in the eighteenth century. Though such cases
were rare, the
social isolation imposed by synodal legislation was
nevertheless not
observed-neither by the majority of the faithful, nor by the
clergy.
In Poland, missionary work among Jews was relatively
weak;
conversions were few, and were for the most part took place
under duress
as the result of religious persecution. Closed ghettos were
not
established there, and many Jews held prominent positions in
the economy
and frequently hired Christians.
(H.W./CM)
In the late nineteenth century, the Polish Catholic
clergy began to
be influenced by nationalism and anti-Semitism. During the
interwar
period, many Church publications promoted the model
Polak-katolik
[Pole-Catholic, i.e., Catholicism is inextricably linked
with being
Polish - Ed.]; animosity towards Jews and Judaism was an
integral part
of this model.
The Episcopate clearly supported the ideology of the
"national
camp". Writing in a pastoral letter in 1936, the Primate of
Poland,
Cardinal A. Hlond, accused Jews of having a "demoralizing
influence" on
Poles, and recommended that Jews be socially and culturally
isolated,
though he condemned racism and the use of force against
them. In
practice, however, the anti-Semitic writings that expressed
hatred of
Jews did encourage violence. The writings of Father S.
Trzeciak are an
example of this.
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During the Second World War, as the Holocaust
was underway, some orphanages run by convents hid Jewish
children, and
priests issued forged baptismal certificates. Because aiding
Jews was
punishable by death, such acts were clearly heroic, though
sometimes
motivated by the hope that the children could be raised as
Catholics. In
1944-1947, people were seized by a fear of "ritual
murders"-a fear that
was encouraged by some priests. This undoubtedly contributed
to the
many anti-Jewish attacks perpetrated by mobs that ended in
tragedy, such
as those in Rzesz�w and Krak�w in 1945, and in Kielce in
1946.
After the Second Vatican Council, the Polish Church did
not
immediately implement the changes in attitude towards
Judaism and Jews
that it had recommended. In the 1980's, Clubs of the
Catholic
Intelligentsia in several cities organized "Jewish culture
weeks". As
part of the events, young people would help clean up Jewish
cemeteries
and become acquainted with Jewish culture. In 1986, the
Episcopate
created a Commission for Dialogue with Judaism, which led to
the
foundation of the Polish Council of Christians and Jews. It
prepared a
program for religious education that reflected the
achievements of
interfaith dialogue. The Church hierarchy, including Pope
John Paul II,
officially asked Jews for forgiveness for the injustices the
Church had
inflicted on them. Some Catholic priests in Poland
nevertheless continue
to spread anti-Semitic views.
(A.C./CM)
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