The new rabbinic group, the Rabbinic Committee for Interreligious Dialogue, includes several internationally respected Jewish theologians. Also included are two of America's best known pulpit rabbis, Harold Schulweis of Los Angeles and Ronald Sobel of New York's Temple Emanu-El. What's odd about the new group is that, in a crucial sense, they're not representatives at all. In fact, the rabbinic committee was convened under the auspices of a Catholic college. Conn. That's a strange pedigree for a group purporting to represent Judaism.
Vatican officials are noncommittal on the significance of the new dialogue.
They haven't always been so open. What emerged was a coalition that included Judaism's three main religious wings plus the World Jewish Congress and other defense agencies, representing Judaism's communal and religious aspects. The Vatican has rebuffed repeated efforts by Jewish groups to open a second channel. As for the new group's strange pedigree, Hoeckman dismisses it as a quibble. If a Jewish university could host it, fine.