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From the Preface:


If there is one theological issue which both Jews and Christians should be able to agree on, it is that "salvation is from the Jews".  It has been a constant teaching of Judaism from the days of Abraham onwards that the salvation of all mankind is to come from the Jews.  That is the primary sense in which the Jews are "the Chosen People".  And Christians, or at least Christians who believe in the accuracy of the New Testament, have no choice but to believe that  "salvation is from the Jews", since those are the very words which Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:22). This book is an attempt to examine the meaning of those words, from a Jewish perspective within the Catholic faith. 

As a Jew who has entered the Catholic Church, I might be accused by some of being singularly unqualified to speak for Judaism -- that I am the worst of all possible Jews, an apostate, a traitor, a turncoat, a Jew who has "switched allegiances" and become Catholic.  Yet on the contrary, I would claim that a Jew who has become Catholic is the best person to explore the true meaning of Judaism.  To understand salvation history one must be a Christian, since the Incarnation, death and Resurrection of Christ are at the center of salvation history, and the fullness of the relevant doctrine is contained in the teaching of the Catholic Church. A Catholic who is not from a Jewish background would necessarily have a more abstract and incomplete understanding of Judaism than someone who grew up within Judaism.  This problem is compounded by the variety and inconsistency of beliefs within the Jewish community, sometimes making it difficult to ascertain "what Jews believe" or "what Judaism says" about a certain topic.

And although Jews might question the right that an "apostate" Jew has to represent Judaism, that characterization in itself points to the heart of the underlying problem.  Is the issue who "we" are, or who Jesus was?  If Jesus was the Jewish Messiah -- the Messiah long prophesied, expected and prayed for by the Jews -- then a Jew can either be "right" and accept that He was the Messiah, or be wrong and maintain that he was not.  If Jesus was the Messiah, then Jews who reject Christianity (or Messianic Judaism) are wrong; if Jesus was not the Messiah, then Christians, however well meaning, are wrong.  There is not necessarily any moral shame or culpability in being wrong, but it is nonsense to maintain that somehow Judaism is right for Jews, and Christianity is right for Christians, and that the truth is dependent on what group one belongs to.  If Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, then of course the entire meaning and purpose of the Jewish religion revolve around its role in bringing about the Incarnation of God as man, and any Jew who does not accept Jesus is necessarily in the dark about the true role of Judaism in salvation history.  So the issue is not whether one is an "apostate" or  "real" Jew, but whether one recognizes or does not recognize that Jesus was the Messiah. Obviously one who does is in a better position to understand the unfolding of salvation history.

In no way does the book intend to offend or criticize Jews who remain loyal to Judaism and reject the claims of Christianity. I certainly know from my own experience that it is only grace that can bring the truths of faith to anyone.  The grace that brought about my conversion was entirely unmerited; and I can only pray for a similar outpouring of grace on as many of my coreligionists as possible, that they too might come to an awareness of the fullness of the beauty, of the truth, of the glory of Judaism; of the nobility and incomprehensible honor of being members of the race that was chosen to bring about the Redemption of all mankind, by bringing about the Incarnation of God himself as a man of flesh and blood, of their flesh and their blood.