Passion Play Passes Muster with Both Catholics and Jews
July 4, 2010 at 8:43 am Tina Hay Leave a comment
The famed Oberammergau Passion Play—performed by Bavarian villagers every 10 years since 1634—has been controversial in years past, with critics charging that the way it portrays the role of Jews in the crucifixion of Jesus amounts to anti-semitism. (Adolf Hitler himself is said to have attended a performance and given it his enthusiastic approval.)
In recent years, organizers of the play have tried to adapt the script to address those concerns, and it looks like they may have succeeded. According to an Associated Press story, the archbishop of New York and a well-known U.S. rabbi watched the play together last Thursday and gave it good reviews.
The play “is more balanced than ever before and we need to appreciate the tremendous efforts that have gone into it,” Rabbi Gary Greenebaum of the American Jewish Committee told the AP.
Even so, there still are touchy parts, especially the depiction of the Jewish high priest Caiaphas. “The high priest character is still the most difficult to watch for Jews,” the story quotes Greenebaum as saying.
As it happens, I’m one of a group of more than 50 Penn Staters who will see the Oberammergau Passion Play in person two weeks from today. We leave later this week on a 10-day Alumni Association-sponsored trip that starts in Paris (Paris!!!) and ends in Oberammergau. I’ll be posting daily blog entries from the trip starting this Friday or thereabouts.
Tina Hay, editor
Entry filed under: Alumni Association. Tags: American Jewish Community, Gary Greenebaum, Oberammergau, Passion play.
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