Jews & Christians: A Journey of Faith

Pictured: A Rabbi and a Priest teach in Catholic-Jewish educational program.

Credit: Cindee T. Jacobs

Tune in for this groundbreaking two–hour special that explores the common beliefs and rituals of two of the world’s most important religions.

Jews & Christians: A Journey of Faith, airing Wednesday, December 4, 2013 at 7 p.m. on WXXI World, also exposes the historical conflicts between Judaism and Christianity, making an impassioned argument for tolerance through increased understanding and the destruction of outdated stereotypes.

The two-hour documentary by Gerald Krell and Meyer Odze is based on the book Our Father Abraham: The Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith by Marvin R. Wilson, Ph.D.  It is a national co–production of Auteur Productions, Ltd., and Connecticut Public Television and distributed by American Public Television (APT).

The historic misunderstandings and troubled relationship of Christians and Jews are explored in frank interviews with leading biblical scholars, historians, and prominent interdenominational members of the clergy.  It is, however, the footage of ordinary people who provide the most emotionally powerful moments of the program. A few of the most fascinating sequences in Jews & Christians: A Journey of Faith are highlighted below:

• In Israel, key biblical sites were visited to show how ancient Jewish teachings and rituals were adapted and absorbed by Christianity.  There are also sequences show American Jews and Christians both discovering their roots in the land of Israel, yet their widely differing reasons for visiting
• On Massachusetts’ North Shore, members of a Congregational Church and a Reform Synagogue attend services at each others’ houses of worship, many for the first time. After both services, the candid impressions of both groups are recorded.
• A Yom Kippur Service at the Beheads Jewish Congregation and an Ash Wednesday service at the Christ Church Episcopal Church in Hamilton, Massachusetts are taped, and their themes of atonement and forgiveness compared.
• Members of a black church group visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.  Their reactions to the disturbing exhibits are taped, as well as their comments about relating the Holocaust to their own history.
• Christians and Jews visit historic sights in Israel, in a search for their roots at key biblical sites.
• In New York City, Father Guy Massey, the only Catholic priest to graduate from the Jewish Theological Seminary, talks with his Jewish students about interfaith relations and spirituality.  In Philadelphia, his counterpart Rabbi Howard Cove dialogues with Catholic high school students on Jewish stereotypes. 
• Sonia Weitz, an eloquent survivor of the Holocaust, tells an eight-grade Catholic school class in Boston about her experiences.

 Jews & Christians: A Journey of Faith is destined to become a transformative experience for people of all faiths, with the exciting potential for promoting discussion, respect and tolerance.