The Oberammergau Passion Plays

The Oberammergau Passion Play will be presented in Germany on May 21, 2000. The script of the new version has been changed much to avoid anti-Judaism and the organizers are to be congratulated for their editorial efforts and constant cooperation with ADL. We look forward to continue our creative working relationship. There is still, however, a serious problem and concern about the very negative presentation of Jewish leadership in the complex society of the First Century. It implies a sense of community guilt for Jesus’ death, minimizing Pilate’s and Roman responsibility for the death of Jesus.

Passion Plays are, in general, sources of theological anti-Judaism and do not help to improve the relationship of Christians and Jews. It is equally important to point out that Jews are not against the Passion of Jesus, but are deeply concerned with the presentation of the Passion without an explanation that avoids any anti-Jewish theological or anti-Semitic interpretation. This concern has been expressed by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in their document "The Criteria for the Evaluation of Dramatizations of the Passion." For this reason, it is suggested that tourist agencies or different organizing groups alert tourists and visitors to the Oberammergau Passion Play and to the problems related to the presentation of Jews and Judaism in the play and its theological negative projections -- a heritage of centuries of contempt -- which prepared the atmosphere for the Holocaust, a painful reality in the nearby Dachau concentration camp.

The Oberammergau City Hall will be presenting a millennial presentation of its Passion Play in May, 2000. It was first performed as a way to thank God for saving the city from a plague that was devastating Europe in the Middle Ages. The presentation is based on New Testament narratives of the Passion of Jesus. Since the late Seventies, the Anti-Defamation League has been very critical of the script which projected a theological anti-Judaism, as well as an anti-Semitic message. It is not by chance that Adolf Hitler, who saw the 1934 presentation, praised it as a "precious tool" in the fight against Jews and Judaism.

ADL’s Critique

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.

Problems with the Present Script

The Oberammergau Passion Play group should be commended for the changes and improvements in the text that contribute much to a better presentation of Jews and Judaism. There are still some problems that require changes that would definitely improve the presentation of First Century Judaism.

The Temple’s leaders are called High Council instead of referring directly to the priesthood and its organization of the Temple in Jerusalem. The Sanhedrin is mentioned only once, though there is no specification about which kind of Sanhedrin was operating in the Temple and in Jerusalem at that time. Unfortunately, the Passion Play, because of its very nature as a play, cannot go into detail about the complicated organization of Jewish life in the first century. For this reason it would be advisable to take out the reference to the Sanhedrin in the latest script of the play.

What is of serious concern is the fact that the High Council and the leadership of the Temple, headed by Caiphas, are violently against Jesus, accusing him of violation of Jewish religious law, and accusing him of being a revolutionary leader against Roman power. Caiphas and his associates appear as unconditional allies of Roman power and their accusations against Jesus are both theological and political. The general sense of the script is of "Jewish power" against Jesus. From that concept to the idea of deicide, there is one step and it is very easy to understand that following the present dialogues of Caiphas and his fellow priests, and Caiphas and Pilate. It is important, however, that the script points out that Nicomides, a Pharisee, talks in favor of Jesus following the Gospel tradition, as did other Jews, and it is in clear contraposition with Caiphas and his allies. This is shown in the new script but Caiphas and his group appear as a powerful opponent that silences Nicomides and those critical of the Temple bureaucracy.

The Role of Pilate

Pilate appears, in general, as a person who is maneuvered by Caiphas and the priestly Jewish elite. The new script, however, has Pilate saying that he nominated Caiphas for his present position (which was the way during those days). The priestly position was generally bought by influential families as a way of enhancing their power. Pilate was a very evil personality and finally ended his days in Rome being accused by Roman authorities of brutality.

Certain of the Gospels, especially the two latest ones, Matthew and John, seem on the surface to portray Pilate as a vacillating administrator who, himself, found "no fault" with Jesus and sought, though in a weak way, to free him. Other data from the Gospels and secular sources contemporary with the events portray Pilate as a ruthless tyrant. We know from these later sources that Pilate crucified hundreds of Jews without proper trial under Roman law, and that in the year 36 Pilate was recalled to Rome to give an account. Luke similarly mentions that "the Galileans, whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifice" in the Temple (Luke 13:1-4), does corroborate the contemporary secular accounts of the unusual cruelty of Pilate's administration. John, as mentioned above, is in pain, to show that Jesus' arrest and trial were essentially at Roman hands. Finally, the Gospels agree that Jesus' "crime," in Roman eyes, was that of political sedition-crucifixion in the Roman form of punishment for such changes. The document of the American Bishops stresses that, There is, then, room for more than one dramatic style of portraying the character of Pilate while still being faithful to the biblical record. Again, it is suggested here that the hermeneutical inside of Nostra Aetate and the use of the best available biblical scholarship cannot be ignored in the creative process and provide the most prudent and secure criterion for contemporary dramatic reconstructions.

Pope John Paul II and Anti-Judaism

With sensitivity and much awareness of the use and abuse of New Testament texts, Pope John Paul II, in October 31, 1997, called for a symposium of Catholic New Testament scholars to study the history of anti-Jewish sentiment in the Christian world. This meeting and Pope John Paul II are very important in considering Passion Plays. The Pope said that "the erroneous and unjust interpretations of the New Testament regarding the Jewish people and their presumed guilt circulated for too long" and "contributed to a lulling of many consciences at the time of World War II, so that, while there were ‘Christians’ who did everything to save those who were persecuted, even to the point of risking their own lives, the spiritual resistance of many was not what humanity expected of Christ’s disciples." He presented his statement at the international meeting on "The Roots of Anti-Judaism in the Christian Milieu." The symposium reviewed elements of Christian teaching for the last two thousand years that might have contributed to the disdain for Judaism. Passion Plays have been sources of that contempt for Judaism and require a careful consideration in order to avoid the serious problems of the past. This should be taken into consideration by the Oberammergau Passion Play leaders in order to avoid the general sense of contempt for Jews and Judaism in their presentations.

Tours and Visits to Oberammergau

Different groups are presently organizing visits to Oberammergau and the Passion Play as part of their European tours, which are highly praised as unique spiritual experiences. The Passion Play is presented as a religious event, without any history of its past and present problems. The Oberammergau Passion Play still projects a very negative view of Jewish leadership in the complex society of the First Century, implying a sense of community guilt for Jesus’ death, and minimizing Pilate’s and Roman responsibility.

It is suggested that tourist agencies or different organizing groups alert participants to the problems related to the presentation of Jews and Judaism in the play, and its theological anti-Jewish projections, which prepared the atmosphere for the Holocaust, a painful reality in the nearby Dachau concentration camp.