Oberammergau Passion Play - Alleged Antisemitism

Alleged Antisemitism

Previous versions of the play were undeniably anti-Semitic in character. Adolf Hitler indicated, according to Abe Foxman, approval of these anti-Semitic elements in the Oberammergau Passion Play.

A review in the Jewish newspaper "The Forward" reported that representatives from Oberammergau worked with Jewish organizations to revise the play. 2000 and 2010 director Christian Stückl told "The Forward", "Jesus never lived as a Christian, but rather from the day he was born to the day he died he lived as a Jew." In a new scene, Jesus enters the Temple with a Sefer Torah, holds it aloft and recites the prayer "Shema Yisrael," which is answered by the entire crowd onstage in Hebrew. During the Last Supper, Jesus says Kiddush and Hamotzi in flawless Hebrew, and John asks, "Why is this night different from all other nights?"

Nonetheless, Foxman said, "If it's about a Crucifixion in which the Jews kill Christ, you can never clean it up enough." A.J. Goldmann, the Forward's reviewer, replied, "Will no amount of revision suffice to silence the play's critics?"

In response to changing mores, and by extending historical gestures of friendship on the part of the Holy See particularly since the Second Vatican Council, 1962–1965, as expressed in the Apostolic Constitution, Nostra Aetate no. 4, October 28, 1965 ("he Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God as if this followed from Sacred Scripture"), the most recent performances have been edited drastically to reduce this aspect. The changes included:

• changing some of the high priests' names from Old Testament names to newer New Testament-era names such as Demetrios, Alexander, or Bacchides;

• the role of the Temple traders has been reduced;

• the character "Rabbi" has been eliminated and his lines given to another character;

• Jesus has been addressed as Rabbi Yeshua;

• Jesus speaks fragments of Hebrew in the play;

• Jews have been shown disputing with others about Judaism, not just about Jesus;

• Pilate has been made to appear more tyrannical and some revision of lines was done to reflect that;

• Jesus' supporters have been added to the screaming crowd outside Pilate's palace;

• removing the line "His blood is upon us and also upon our children's children" (from Matthew 27:25), and "Ecce homo" (Behold the man);

• Peter, when questioned by Nathaniel regarding abandoning Judaism replies, "No! We don't want that! Far be it from us to abandon Moses and his law"; and

• at the Last Supper Jesus recites the blessing over the wine in Hebrew.

Modifications to the text of the play and its tableaux vivants continue to be made each decade. These modifications include the manner in which the play presents the charge of deicide, collective guilt, supersessionism and typology. The two main goals of these modifications are to bring the play in line with the Catholic ecumenical outreach to the Jews after the Second Vatican Council and to reduce or eliminate anti-Semitic content and implications.