Catholics of Jewish descent shared their faith journeys and urged renewed dialogue and theological clarity to counter antisemitism at a Benedictine College panel.
The panel was part of an April 22 event, “Shoulder to Shoulder: Strengthening Jewish-Catholic Friendship at a Moment of Crisis,” cosponsored by the college and the Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism.
Featured speakers on the panel included Yarden Zelivansky, an active reserve sergeant in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and a Jewish convert to Catholicism; Gideon Lazar, an American Jewish convert to Catholicism; and Aviva Lund, a Catholic of Ashkenazi Jewish descent.
The panel was moderated by Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism founding member Simone Rizkallah and Peter Wolfgang, president of the Family Institute of Connecticut Action.
Gen Z and Jewish-Catholic Relations
Observing an uptick in antisemitism among Catholics online, Lazar pointed to Gen Z’s reticence to accept arguments rooted in “brotherhood” or theological similarities between Catholics and Jews.
Lazar said Gen Z men are looking for answers related to theological and political differences, and that when arguments fail to address these differences, “what they’re hearing is you don’t have answers to their questions.”
“Gen Z men in many ways see a culture that has failed them, and they’re looking for answers and feel that because the older generations failed them, they don’t have those answers,” Lazar said.
“When Gen Z men don’t get those real answers,” he said, “theyʼre going to get them from random antisemites online who have quote-mined a bunch of random Church fathers to make the Church fathers and the tradition look antisemitic.”
He further condemned the weaponization of the phrase “Christ is King,” saying “one of the worst things that’s happened is this beautiful message, the kingship of Christ, has been corrupted by people who are fundamentally opposed to Christ.”
“How are we possibly supposed to tell our Jewish brothers and sisters that Jesus is their Messiah when we tell that to them, they think that means you hate us?” he said. “This should be a message of love.”
Being a Jewish Catholic convert in Israel
Zelivanksy, who co-hosts “The Voice of Jacob” podcast with Lazar, shared that his experience being a Jewish convert to Catholicism living in Israel has been “mostly surprisingly benign.”
“It seems to me that especially since Oct. 7, [2023], thereʼs been a shift in how Israelis view what kind of makes you a part of the nation of Israel,” Zelivansky said, explaining even if Israelis disagree with your theological position, he said, it is more important to them that “you do what everybody else does to be a part of the nation of Israel.”
“I canʼt say life is too complicated for me as a Christian. Generally, people seem to just not really care,” he said, noting that his IDF gear and car are marked with the Jerusalem cross.
“A lot of the problems people speak of in Israel are kind of centered in Jerusalem,” said Zelivanksy, who lives just outside Tel Aviv. “My friends who live in Jerusalem do experience some of the spitting and the cursing that you hear about, but Iʼve never experienced it anywhere else.”
Zelivansky, who attended the conference virtually after his flight was delayed due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, also offered his view as a Catholic regarding the war.
“Faith comes first. Faith informs morals. Morals inform politics,” he said. “And serving in a certain countryʼs military certainly does not entail agreeing with every single policy.”
“I wouldnʼt say itʼs my place to comment on politics,” he said. “I would say that we all need to inform ourselves on current events that are relevant to us and examine them in the light of faith and not examine faith in the light of politics, which is something that tends to happen a lot, left and right, these days.”
Jewish-Catholic identity
During her remarks, Lund said embracing her Jewish roots as a cradle Catholic among her extended Jewish family has been a mostly positive experience, noting: “From my experience, Jews are not evangelical. They just care about their own people.”
“For me itʼs honestly kind of been an evolution,” she said. “The way I approach it now is basically our Jewish brethren are our brethren, theyʼre our older siblings, and so, we might as well just enjoy them as fellow human beings.”
Lund said her Jewish roots have influenced her Catholic faith, because “the more I meet Jewish brethren, the more I deepen into the mystery of Jesus, especially with evangelizing.”
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