In a Marc Chagall painting discussed during Professor Jeremy Cohen’s lecture, “Contemplating the Cross: Jews React to the Crucifixion, from the Gospels to Gibson,” burning Jewish villages and Jews fleeing persecution surround the image of Jesus Christ hanging on a white cross.
“One critic described the Jews in this painting as the ‘crown of thorns’ around Jesus’ head,” Cohen, Director of the Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center at Tel Aviv University, said during his presentation Monday evening.
The lecture discussed what Cohen labeled the “ambivalent” response of Jews to the murder of Jesus Christ.
Among the responses to this allegation made by some Christian groups, Cohen cited the traditional rabbinic argument.
“Jesus was a Jew who had led his fellow people astray,” Cohen said. “According to Biblical law, this crime merited capital punishment.”
According to Cohen, contemporary refutations of the accusation have blamed Pilate and the Romans instead.
Fred Israel, President of the B’nai Israel congregation in Easton, MD, finished the program by reminding the audience that this year is the 40th anniversary of the Nostra Aetate, a Vatican II document which detailed the Catholic Church’s ecumenical approach to non-Christian religions.
“The document is clear in stating that no Jews at crucifixion or today can be held responsible,” he said. “We must look forward, moving hand in hand with our brothers of faith.”
