Books/Resources on Jewish influence in Catholicism

[paxetbonum78]

Hello most wise CA readers,

This is going to sound stupid, so I hope I can adequately explain what I’m trying to get at. I am looking for good books/resources on understanding Judaism and how our Catholic liturgies, sacraments, etc were influenced by them? I’m looking for something a bit more simple and straightforward than the Bible, so I would appreciate answers beyond that obvious one. Lol! I’m a recent revert and am finding my greatest understanding of our faith is coming through learning about what the typical Jewish follower was believing and living.

An example - I was watching a video on EWTN. The speaker was talking about tashlikh where the Jews would throw bread into the sea as a way to have their sins taken away. And he was relating this to confession and how Jesus says to “cast our sins upon him as he was the living bread”. What Jesus said/did makes more sense when taken in the context of what the Jews were doing in the day and then relate it forward to what we do as Catholics. So my question is, how do I understand that context? Where can I find out about more things like “tashlikh” that help to frame what I do as a Catholic?

I appreciate any advice or suggestions! Thanks in advance!

 

[Mintaka]

I was going to be sarcastic and say “the Bible”…

Brant Pitre has a lot of stuff about this, particularly the Eucharist. So does Scott Hahn.

The audio seminar, Feasts of Faith, on the website for the St Paul Center, talks about the relationship of Jewish and Catholic holy days.

 

[Kliska]

I second Pitre, especially* Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper*.

 

[psalm90]

This should be required reading for you:

The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible from the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

Download it from here: ewtn.com/library/CURIA/PBCJWSCR.HTM
(I just do a big control-a and then control-c to copy it, then I paste it in my favorite word processor, like MS Word or even just Notepad.

I went to a print shop to get a hard copy. They printed it on good quality paper that was drilled with three holes, so I now have that in a loose leaf binder. I think it prints out to 125 pages.

As it says, it’s just a starting point for that subject. I wish I knew if there were more scholarship in this area – which is what your question sounds like. Now, that document actually encourages reading of Jewish Scripture commentaries, so that’s what is next:

I would suggest The Jewish Study Bible, 2nd Ed or later, from Oxford U. Press. There are some very interesting articles at the end. The three articles that most impressed me are the ones on the Jewish laws on purity (and it contrasts ritual impurity – none of which are sinful – with moral impurity, what IS sinful), the article on the Dead Sea scrolls discovered at Qumran, and then the article on the “canonization” of the Jewish Bible (the Masoretic text). This book gives you the 1985 (latest) translation of the Sacred texts with a lot of study-bible style footnotes. There are listed a lot of notes about Hebrew texts which are uncertain – about things you seldom hear about in Catholic Bibles.

Then, at a more committed level of study, you might want to look at the Bible commentaries from the Jewish Publication Society. This will run you into some expensive books. JPS also has a book or handbook of Jewish customs, like the one you refer to. I haven’t read it through, I use it as an index of those customs, and I use it as a reference when I really want to find out particulars.

artscroll.com has many books about Jewish beliefs, a few of which I acquired on special topics, like Rosh Hoshanah and Yom Kippur.

A very interesting book is by a Harvard professor who was raised Jewish and converted specifically to Catholicism: * Salvation is from the Jews*. Roy Shoeman.

Or in other words, if you go directly into Jewish books, the “influences” you are interested in might jump out at you. Also, *Everyman’s Talmud * might give you a quicker insight into those influences. The books I mentioned might run to $500 or more, according to current prices.

Jewish comedian Lewis Black (as I recall his name) had a stand-up routine about Judaism and Christianity, and he quipped – rather truthfully – that “we’ll” tell you what the Bible means, but it’s gonna cost you. he said that as a joke, but it’s quite literally true.

The JPS commentaries are very scholarly and extensive, but it didn’t answer all my questions, e.g. the commentary on Genesis runs around 500 pages, and it doesn’t answer all my questions. Judaism doesn’t seem to have the idea of original sin, for example.

The JPS commentary on the book of Ester describes it as an obviously hilarious comic book. The author suggests that it was included with sacred books because it shows how the Jewish feast of Purim came about. That is significant because Purim was a feast day that was invented by Jews, not commanded by God. It was the first of several feast days that were devised. If you’re not enjoying yourself enough on Purim, he notes, you’ve not had enough to drink.

 

[Dwyer]

Brother Bob Fishman did a three hour series called the ‘Jewish Roots of Catholicism’ some years back for EWTN Television.