A couple of nights ago the International Theological Institute hosted a lecture by the ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jewish Rabbi Shimone Naftalis.
The topic was The Jewish Feasts, specifically the three pilgrimage feasts (all the Jews pilgrimaged to Jerusalem) of Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. All three of these feasts, of course, figure prominently in the New Testament. The Eucharist was instituted on the Passover, the Church was born on Pentecost (which in the Old Testament was associated with the giving of the Law) and the Feast of Tabernacles provides the contexts both for Jesus' lengthy discourse in John 7 and 8 as well as the event of the Transfiguration.
The Rabbi made the interesting observation that all three great western religions are the spiritual children of Abraham. His descendants, however, are divided between the children of Isaac (Jews and Christians) and the children of Ishmael (Moslems). The descendants of Isaac are then further divided between the children of Jacob (the Jews) and the children of Esau/Edom/Rome (the Christians). I have never heard of any physical kinship between the Edomites and the Romans, but in a spiritual sense it is interesting to consider Christianity as descended from Esau.
Lastly, and this is speculation on my part, I wonder if the evident fascination with Jewish customs and traditions (especially liturgical ones) that has arisen in the Christian west is due at all to the fact that we have abandoned so many of our own customs and traditions (especially liturgical ones). I'm thinking, for example, of the Ember days, the Rogation days, the season of Septuagesima, the Friday abstinence, vigil fasts, the forty hours devotion, first Friday devotion to the Sacred Heart, first Saturday devotion to our Lady, and God only knows how many others. I know that not all of these have disappeared completely but many of them have (except, of course, in places where the Traditional Latin Mass is still offered). Just a thought.
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