The Views of Rabbi Moses Feinstein, Rabbi Abraham Joshua ...

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik on Interfaith Dialogue
On November 26, 1961, Soloveitchik declared his opposition to ―the presence of
Jews as observers or with any formal status at the Ecumenical Council‖ 145 to rabbis of
different denominations convened by the World Jewish Congress. In February 1964,
Soloveitchik, speaking at the Conference of the Rabbinical Council of America,
―criticized the proposed decree as ‗evangelical propaganda,‘‖ 146 regarding Jews solely as
converts in potentia. That same year, Soloveitchik gave a talk, entitled ―Confrontation,‖
in which he delineated four preconditions for Jewish-Christian engagement:
1. Acknowledgement that the Jewish people are an ―independent faith
community endowed with intrinsic worth to be viewed against its own
meta-historical backdrop without relating to the framework of another
(i.e. Catholic) community.‖ 147
2. Recognition that the Jewish ―singular commitment to G[-]d and....hope
for survival are non-negotiable and not subject to debate or
argumentation.‖ 148
145 Kimelman 4
146 Kimelman 6-7
147 Kimelman 7
148 Kimelman 7
28