This is the first article in a two-part series which will be continued in the Nov. 24 issue of Today’s Catholic.

    SAN ANTONIO • For seven years, representatives of the three Abrahamic faith traditions — Judaism, Islam and Christianity — have come together at Oblate School of Theology (OST) to share and learn from one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
    The Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, Oct. 4, was specifically chosen as the date for this year’s “Evening of World Faith,” with Scott Woodward, D.Min., assistant professor of Pastoral Theology at OST, giving some background on this in opening remarks that evening.
    Many stories surround the life of this humble saint, Woodward noted, including the legend that Francis traveled to the Holy Land during the time of the Fifth Crusade, hoping to preach and bring Christianity to the Muslims, who at that time held control of that area.
Captured, he supposedly asked to see the sultan himself and set about preaching the Gospel of Christ to him, whereupon the sultan attempted to convert Francis to Islam. It is said that while neither succeeded in converting the other, they parted as friends.

    “They came to meet one another as a person of faith,” said Woodward, “and that’s our goal for the program that we have here in the ‘Evening of World Faith’ — to allow people of faith to meet other people of faith, to leave here as the sultan and Francis did, as brothers and sisters, as strangers no longer.”

    Three Franciscans — Father Charlie Martinez, OFM, Brother Patrick Schafer, OFM, and Sister Jane Gawlik, CSSF, led the opening prayers, beginning with a Muslim prayer calling on “the God of Abraham for guidance and for help,” and ending with a prayer of St. Francis, asking God for “right faith, sure hope, perfect charity.”

    The evening was the first of a two-part series, under the title: “On Whose Authority? How Religious Authority is Developed and Used in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.” Its aim was to examine the role and responsibilities of hazzans (cantors) and rabbis, imams, bishops and other religious leaders in the Abrahamic traditions.

    Representing the three traditions were Woodward; Hazzan David Silverstein, JD, leader of the new Congregation Israel; and Imam Omar Shakir, spiritual leader of Masjid Bilal Mosque.

    Addressed on Oct. 4 were the roles of religious leaders in each tradition, as well as how they prepare for these roles. Part two, to be held on March 7, 2007, will explore how the authority such leaders have is used and misused.

    Speaking first was Hazzan Silverstein, who pointed out that he is a hazzan or cantor, not a rabbi, though the two offices often share functions. The word hazzan means seer, coming from the word “to envision,” and as a profession is 500 years older than that of rabbi, he related, with the role today quite different from what it originally was.

    In Judaism there is no ecclesiastical order, he noted, with nothing in the Torah granting a rabbi or hazzan any special authority and all authority for these roles being based on rabbinic law. He explained that the Mishna, the redaction of the Torah in terms of law into “bite size” pieces, aptly comes from the Jewish word for teeth, hence the word mishna, meaning to “chew over.”

    These mishna or “bites” of Jewish law were handed down orally for many millennia, he related, before they were ever set down in writing, originally being given one-on-one to Moses by God at Mt. Sinai. From Moses they were passed on to Joshua, who conveyed them to the elders who passed them on to the prophets and on down through the generations.

    Hazzan Silverstein noted that what was handed down describes learning, rather than a “job description,” and is found in the Shulchan Aruch, a codified table of laws and codes which outlines behaviors and rituals and is interpreted by the individual community.

    It states that a community should get for themselves a rabbi, which means teacher, “thereby acquiring not a professional, but a friend,” he said. Originally, the rabbi was not a profession unto itself, but a man who had another profession. “There were no rabbis at the time of Jesus,” Hazzan Silverstein noted, as this was a “job description” that evolved over time and came to mean a teacher, a great leader and a spiritual being.

    The function of hazzan or cantor is simply to serve as a representative of the people, one elected by the congregation “to stand before the holy Ark and petition on their behalf,” he said. A cantor was originally a community judge, poet, singer, circumciser, teacher, pastor and one who performed ritual slaughtering. Teaching, singing and officiating are still significant duties of cantors today, he related, with their role not being very different from the rabbi.

    He noted cantors sometimes serve as the sole clergy for services and that lay people have as much authority, given their knowledge, as rabbis or cantors who have a seminary degree, with congregations functioning throughout the country that have lay people leading every aspect of the services.
    He added that within the past 50 years, the Jewish religion has become more egalitarian regarding women, with women serving as cantors and rabbis now in some congregations.

    A rabbi inherits the legal tradition of the Torah, Hazzan Silverstein said, ruling on legal matters, rather than just the passing on of the stories in the Torah, while the cantor has inherited the musical and liturgical “performance” aspects. These can include overseeing a youth choir, symphony orchestra and professional choir. The role is much more than that of music minister however, and many cantors hold advanced degrees, as do rabbis. (Hazzan Silverstein has a degree in law.)

    Attending seminary and postgraduate education (about seven years) are now the norm for both rabbis and cantors, whom the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled are considered equal as ministers of the Gospel in religious rites and practices.

    Both are licensed through the state to perform marriages, he said, and are elected by the communities they serve. He added that, regrettably, the “CEO concept” has now entered the picture, casting rabbis and cantors more as businessmen than spiritual leaders.