Jerusalem Post
Jan 20 2005

Legislators take ‘Christianity 101’
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS

In the latest sign of the ever-warming Israeli-Christian relations,
Knesset members from the ‘Christian Allies Caucus’ and
representatives of the Chief Rabbinate on Thursday took a snap course
in Christianity, and then visited the heads of different Christian
denominations represented in the Holy Land in an effort to bolster
the cooperation between the two faiths.

The initiative, carried out in conjunction with the Jerusalem office
of the American Jewish Committee, which hosted the seminar, offered
the legislators an opportunity to learn more about the varied and
diverse branches of Christianity, which they are trying to
court as supporters.

“We must understand and internalize that the Christians represent a
strategic interest for the State of Israel,” said caucus co-chairman
MK Yuri Shtern (National Union) at the event, adding that “it
is incumbent upon us not just to look out at the Christian world with
preconceived notions based on relations in the past.”

The Knesset’s increasingly influential Christian Allies Caucus, which
was established last year with 12 MKs from six parties, aims to
garner the support of, and work with, pro-Israel Christians around
the world.

The meeting Thursday, attended by nearly all of the Chief Rabbinate’s
delegation for relations with the Catholic Church, was indicative of
the growing awareness Israel is placing on the Christian world at
large, and the Evangelical Christian community in particular.

“It is important that members of the caucus have a better
understanding of the Christian world at large, and the potential
alliances as well as pitfalls, and it is equally important that they
know that they have the support of the rabbinical establishment,”
said Rabbi David Rosen, the International Director of Inter-Religious
Affairs at the American Jewish Committee who presented the group of
legislators an overview of the different Christian denominations.

After the lecture, several of the legislators went to the Old City of
Jerusalem for separate meetings with the Latin and Armenian
Patriarchs as well as with a representative of the Greek Orthodox
Patriarchate.

Calling the interfaith meet, attended by a delegation from the Chief
Rabbinate, a “breakthrough in Judeo-Christian relations,” caucus
director Josh Reinstein said that the caucus had opened the doors to
cooperation between Christians and Jews “in a way we never thought
possible before.”