O pinion
Bronstein Continued from Page 22
Berlin office.

Another example is when
the Catholic Church began
to consider profound new
teachings about Jews and
other faith traditions in the
Second Vatican Council.

Many Jews were skeptical.

How could a document
make up for a millennium
of anti-Jewish teaching? But
that is what “Nostra Aetate”
did, and AJC engaged with
church leadership at every
level. Our director of interre-
ligious relations at the time,
Rabbi Marc Tannenbaum,
was the only rabbi to attend
the Second Vatican Council.

AJC was criticized by some
factions of American Jews,
who wished to wait and see
before engaging. AJC saw the
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signs of a genuine desire to
change and we engaged, we
wanted to be a part of the
shift. It takes hard work and
courage to fix relationships.

Our beliefs call us to do better
and be better.

The final example of forging
ahead came in January 2020.

To mark the 75th anniversary
of the liberation of Auschwitz,
AJC partnered with the
Muslim World League to bring
a delegation of 60 Muslim
and Jewish leaders from 28
countries together in Poland,
to commemorate the victims
of the Holocaust in that Nazi
death camp and to honor
Jewish life with the Jewish
community in Warsaw.

Until relatively recently,
the Muslim World League,
based in Mecca, promoted an
ultra-conservative vision of
Islam that fed into negative
views about Jews, Christians
and even about other Muslims
with differing views. However,
here too, we have seen change
and a genuine desire to reach
out in recent years. Again, AJC
refuses to sit on the sidelines;
we want to be a part of effecting
change. This is not simple. It is not
without politics, risks and even
acceptance of deep disagree-
ment, but our belief that the
world can evolve compels us
to take risks to help shape the
world for the better.

Our tradition teaches that
in the fall holiday season God
plans the fate of the world for
the year ahead. The period is
built on the notion of repen-
tance, growth and change. It
means we are not free to simply
accept our own shortcomings,
but we need to do our best to
overcome them. And it also
means that we must accept
with compassion the short-
comings of others when they
have demonstrated their own
growth and change.

My wish for us as individuals
and as religious communities
is that we demonstrate the
courage to move relationships
ahead and compassion to heal
divides with others, even when
we feel they have wronged us.

This is a sign of leadership and
an act of service to our creator. l
Marcia Bronstein is the regional
director AJC Philadelphia/SNJ.

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“ Our move to our
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–Carol B.,
“ A prime example is the
American Jewish Committee’s
relationship with Germany
after World War II. When
others in the Jewish commu-
nity wished to abandon
Germany, AJC engaged, seeing
the beginnings of change, and
wanting to be a part of the
process of growth after the
tragedy of the Holocaust. AJC
rejected the idea of collec-
tive German guilt, choosing
instead to emphasize policies
that encouraged democracy.

In 1945, AJC became the first
American Jewish organization
to begin working in Germany,
and AJC has remained resolute
to strive for a better future,
while never forgetting or
minimizing the crimes of the
past. In 1988, AJC opened its
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