Christians and Jews in Poland came together on Sunday to celebrate the Catholic church’s annual Day of Judaism. The series of religious and cultural events – being held for the 24th time, but this year largely online due to the pandemic – included joint prayers, lectures, concerts, film screenings and a youth competition.
The Day of Judaism, celebrated on 17 January, was established in 1997 by the Polish Bishops Conference (KEP), the central organ of the Catholic church in Poland. It is devoted to improving Christian-Jewish dialogue and reflection on the common roots of the two religions.
Every year a different Polish diocese takes the lead in organising the events, in cooperation with the Committee for Dialogue with Judaism.
✡🕎✝ Modlitwa na Cmentarzu Żydowskim na Bródnie w ramach obchodów 24. Ogólnopolskiego Dnia Judaizmu w Kościele Katolickim w Polsce.
📸Pełna galeria: https://t.co/w86tvcebEE pic.twitter.com/cGTLC4bz1R
— Diecezja Wwa-Praga (@Diecezja_DWP) January 17, 2021
This year, the main celebrations took place in Warsaw, including joint prayers at a Jewish cemetery conducted by Bishop Romuald Kamiński and Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich. This was followed by a special mass, concert of Jewish music and panel discussion.
“Our prayer here is especially significant: it is a prayer for the dead, but at the same time a way to remember the stories of these people – our brothers and sisters, who lived here among Christians,” Kamiński said.
This symbolic location was chosen to draw attention to a cemetery that, despite being one of the largest Jewish necropolises in the world, is unfamiliar even to many residents of Warsaw.
Schudrich described it as “an honour” that “people of another religion are willing to learn about our religion”. He also recalled the thousand-year-long history of relations between Christians and Jews in Poland, which was abruptly interrupted by the German Nazi occupation and Holocaust, as well as the postwar communist period.
Schudrich stressed that the greatest challenge after 1989 was to “make the first step towards dialogue”. Now, after almost a quarter of a century of “bridge-building”, “today we have very good relations – it is not only dialogue, but there is some kind of cordiality and friendship”.
Similar celebrations were held in Łódź, Kraków and Wrocław, with prayers, lectures on Jewish history, music and culinary traditions, as well as concerts.
“The pandemic is for both Jews and Christians above all a call for responsibility and care towards one another, a call for solidarity over divisions, beliefs, borders and religions,” said Bishop Damian Muskus during joint prayers with Rabbi Małgorzata Kordowicz in Kraków, reports Wiara.pl.
As part of celebrations in Wrocław, a Guidebook on Jewish Upper Silesia was presented and a workshop on the traditions of the mezuzah and other symbols in Jewish household was offered.
The Day of Judaism was also marked in smaller localities. In Chmielnik, a town near Kielce, a number of cultural events were held during a three-day-long celebration. This included the launch of a new edition of the “Our Neighbours – Jews” competition for local schoolchildren.
It encourages young people to collect stories, mostly from World War II survivors or their relatives, in order to promote knowledge and commemoration of the pre-war Jewish communities of the region.
Its previous editions led to a publication by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), comprising 33 interviews collected by children presenting recollections of Polish-Jewish relations.
Main image credit: Salve NET/YouTube (screenshot)
Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy, Duży Format, Midrasz and Kultura Liberalna
