close

Director of National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education speaks at South Hills Torah Weekend

By David Rullo 3 min read
1 / 2

Tim Crain, director of the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education at Seton Hill University, spoke at the South Hills Torah Weekend.

2 / 2

Tim Crain, director of the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education at Seton Hill University, spoke at the South Hills Torah Weekend.

Last year marked the 50th anniversary of the Catholic Church’s landmark Nostra Aetate, which declared that the Jewish people were not responsible for the death of Jesus Christ.

“The interfaith dialogue that has come forth from this document has been extraordinary,” Tim Crain, director of the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education at Seton Hill University, said. “The future appears bright, indeed. In fact, I would go so far as to say Catholicism is one of the best friends that Judaism has in the present day.”

Crain was featured speaker during the Jan. 22-23 South Hills Torah Weekend, a study program with the theme “The Jewish People and the Catholic Church.”

On Friday, he spoke on “Christianity and Anti-Judaism: The Longest Hatred” at Temple Emanuel of South Hills in Mt. Lebanon, a talk that drew an audience of about 110, despite a snowstorm.

Saturday’s topics were “The Holocaust, Pius XII and the Vatican” and “Nostra Aetate: The Dramatic Sea Change and the Future.” The talks were combined for an evening presentation at the South Hills Jewish Community Center, as the morning lecture planned for Beth El Congregation was cancelled because of the weather.

The Nostra Aetate declaration, Latin for “In Our Time,” was adopted in 1965 as part of the Second Vatican Council, under Pope Paul VI. The document also states that anti-Semitism, in any form, is not to be tolerated, and that Judaism is the foundation of Christianity.

Crain also discussed the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, which in December released a document that “condemns all forms of anti-Semitism and affirms that Christianity’s relationship with Judaism is unique in the field of interreligious dialogue because of the Jewish roots of the Christian faith,” according to the Catholic News Service.

The National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education at Seton Hill University was formed in 1987 with the mission of countering anti-Semitism and fostering Catholic-Jewish relations. Prior to joining the center in 2014, Crain was adjunct professor in the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, teaching courses on the Holocaust, modern Jewish history and comparative history of religions.

“I was shown tremendous kindness throughout the weekend and felt right at home,” he said about his Torah Weekend experience. “It was a wonderful weekend, and I was honored to speak in the South Hills.”

Temple Emanuel Senior Rabbi Mark Mahler recommended Crain after having heard him speak previously.

“I was tremendously impressed not only by his knowledge of Jewish history, the Holocaust in particular, but his passion: his compassion for the suffering of the victims and his moral outrage against the perpetrators of the Shoah,” Rabbi Mahler explained, using the Biblical word meaning “destruction.”

“Tim was phenomenal,” he said about the weekend’s lectures. “We learned so much from him. He has so much more to teach us. I look forward to his return.”

The South Hills Torah Weekend began in the 1970s as a joint program between Temple Emanuel and Beth El. It later grew to include the Jewish Community Center. Last year it expanded to include the entire South Hills Jewish community with the inclusion of South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $/week.

Subscribe Today