Jewish-Adventist Relations Meeting Builds Bridges between Faiths

More than 120 people from at least nine countries met November 6-10 for the 2024 Center for Adventist-Jewish Relations (CAJR) Meeting at the Araçoiaba da Serra Adventist Training Center in São Paulo, Brazil.

Under the theme “And You Will Be My Witnesses,” the CAJR organization sponsored by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists offered keynote lectures, training, and encouragement to Adventist advocates from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, England, France, Israel, New Zealand, Ukraine, and the United States who support building bridges between the two faiths.

The event sought to promote the exchange of experiences and motivate the leadership of Adventist communities that seek to establish links with the Jewish community in their respective regions, organizers said. “The event provided the unique opportunity to get to know each other better, make decisions together, and make plans, always seeking Jesus’ ideal of being one in Him, in the Spirit, and in mission,” CAJR director Reinaldo Siqueira said.

During the meeting, the participants had the opportunity to visit the new headquarters of the Feodor Meyer Institute in Higienópolis, São Paulo, and participate in the inauguration of the new temple of the Jewish-Adventist community of Curitiba, Paraná. For Rogel Tavares, director of the institute, the new location “will be a support space for cultural and educational activities, promoting greater integration between the two communities and creating an environment conducive to strengthening common values, as well as mutual understanding and respect.”

The new temple in Curitiba, located near the civic center, begins its activities with a bold project: the establishment of a museum dedicated to the memory of the “Righteous among the Nations,” or non-Jewish people who risked their lives to protect and save Jews during the Holocaust. This project, conceived in partnership with the city’s Holocaust Museum, will tell the story of Adventist and Brazilian heroes who saved Jews during the Nazi regime.

Fighting against Prejudice

This initiative is not only an important voice against growing anti-Semitism but also reaffirms the community’s commitment to strengthening ties between Adventists and Jews, organizers said.

A document voted in 1994 states, “It is necessary to look thoughtfully at the present Jewish reality on a global basis. Our friendship with every Jew and Jewish community must be enriched. We need to find proper methods to communicate with them. These methods should be based on their timeless contribution to humanity as a nation since the beginning of their existence, and as God’s instruments in the past and in the present while they live in harmony with God’s plan.”

The document adds,

We need to reflect on the current reality of the Jewish people in a global way. Our friendship with each individual and community of Jewish origin should be deepened. We need to find appropriate methods of communicating with them. These methods should take into account the immeasurable contribution of this people to humanity. We need to understand them in their long history of suffering and service to the world. Many people have a very limited understanding of the real significance of this people in the historical experience of humanity. Some despise them completely. Others even hate them. We cannot proceed in this way. On the contrary, understanding their true role in the origin of the Western world, as well as their long history of successes and failures, we should find ways to create a mutual connection according to the highest biblical and prophetic ideals for individuals, nations and humanity as a whole.

(General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, World Jewish Friendship Committee, Global Mission to MV-ADCOM, Washington, DC, May 17, 1994, lines 5-17).

The original version of this story was posted on the South American Division Portuguese-language news site.