Dr. Leonard Swidler, Professor of Catholic Theology at Temple University, and ADL have been working together since the Eighties recommending to Oberammergau authorities specific changes to the script and presentation of Jewish characters. It has been a slow process of reconsideration by the City Hall authorities and the organizers of the Passion Play. We were not requesting any changes to the text of the New Testament itself, which is a sacred one, but to avoid any presentation that might project anti-Judaism or anti-Semitism.

ADL and Dr. Swidler were invited by Klement Fend, the Mayor of Oberammergau, to attend a meeting to discuss new versions of the script of the Passion Play and its presentation in the year 2000. The new script, written by Otto Huber, is a great improvement over previous texts.

The following changes have been incorporated into the new script:

Many of the characters of the new script do not appear as Jews grabbing for money, but as simple citizens of the city of Jerusalem;

Hebrew names are mixed with Greek names, representing the different sectors of Jewish society;

Some characters like Dathan, the merchant, who was the liaison between the chief priest, Caiphas, and Pilate, the Roman governor, are not mentioned in the new script;

The negative character of "the Rabbi" has been eliminated;

Jesus is called "Rabbi," stressing Jesus’ "Jewishness";

The term "Old Testament" is replaced by the term "Hebrew Bible";

The phrase from Matthew 27:25, "the blood be upon us," has been taken out;

A reference to the disappearance of Judaism because of Jewish denial of Jesus has been removed;

The crowd before Pilate is now divided between those who are for and against Jesus;

Judas has been de-demonized; he comes across more humanly now, rather than as a stereotyped figure who, in Christian history, has too often been easily identified in a negative manner with Judaism. The very similarity of the names, Judas and Judaism, unfortunately lends itself to this deleterious identification;

The term "Pharisee" has been eliminated from the text whenever the opponents of Jesus came to the fore. This, too, is an important change. For the term "Pharisee" has, over the centuries, been unwarrantedly loaded with opprobrium and, at the same time, often closely identified with Jews and Judaism in a negative manner;

Jesus Says a Blessing in Hebrew.

Next: Problems with the
Present Script