Catholic Teachers Find Themselves Intensely Immersed In Jewish History

November 23, 2009

Author: Corina Knoll

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beliefs23-2009nov23,0,4185069.story

The challah was blessed, the Manischewitz wine was poured, the candles were lighted. It could have been any Shabbat dinner in Los Angeles, were it not for the fact that it took place midweek and the room was full of Catholic schoolteachers.

The 34 teachers were participants in Bearing Witness, a seminar designed for educators in Catholic schools learning to teach about anti-Semitism and the history of the relationship between Jews and Catholics. Created in 1996 by the Anti-Defamation League, the seminars are now conducted across the United States.

The ADL's Los Angeles office is in its seventh year of running an annual Bearing Witness program.

The itinerary of the three-day course can include a discussion about the Holocaust, a synagogue tour or a lecture about Judaism in the period between the Old and New testaments.