Let me begin with identity definition suggested by an orthodox Jew at

He analyzed many suggested definitions as I have done in my many posts – see for example

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/an-open-letter-to-the-initiative-facilitating-team-facilitating-jewish-unity-from-israel/ –

and decided there is only one way to identify the entire Jewish nation, and this is that the entire Jewish nation can be defined only as a unique family although a dysfunctional one.

My analysis resulted in a completely different definition.

Yes, we are a unique family but our uniqueness is not in our internal disagreements but rather in our mission of the Chosen.

Our work along the lines of this mission – the mission of building a better, Torah-based world for everybody – is forcing the others to change their close-to-pagan traditions.

And many resist the change, and that is the root cause of anti-Semitism. So, anti-Semitism is a sort of acknowledgement of our successful work on the mission of the Chosen. The absence of anti-Semitism may mean that we are not performing our God’s work.

And that is what distinguishes and identifies the Jewish people. The Chinese, the Englishmen, the Assyrians, the Indians – they are unique families as well, but there are no anti-Chinese, anti-Englishmen, anti-Assyrian or anti-Indian world-wide movements as we the Jews have.

So, the Jews are jointly identified by their work as the Chosen – the Chosen made by God for religious people or by History for atheists. However, that is not enough. In order to build a better world for the others the Jews have to have a joint identity with the others. Since in practical terms the others are the Christians, the Judeo-Christian identity has to be spelled out and jointly accepted.

As seen from http://www.lavanguardia.com/internacional/20140612/54408951579/entrevista-papa-francisco.html#ixzz34VC9wXkh

the Catholic Church may support such identification union. Pope Frances in his interview with “La Vanguardia” said the following.

– “What I would like to be clear on is one thing; I am convinced that the persecution against Christians today is stronger than in the first centuries of the Church. Today there are more Christian martyrs than in that period”.

That means that the Christians consider themselves an oppressed group of religious people – most probably because the Western world is losing its traditional Judeo-Christian identification. The Christian “status of oppressed” moves them closer to another traditionally oppressed group which is the Jews and creates incentives for joint Judeo-Cristian identity and, based on this identity, joint actions aimed at restoring Judeo-Christian morality in the Western world.

– “A fundamentalist group, although it may not kill anyone, although it may not strike anyone, is violent. The mental structure of fundamentalists is violence in the name of God.”

So finally the Christians are against fundamentalism that means they don’t accept only one “true” interpretation of the God’s guidance in the Torah/Bible and are ready to work with the others on creating a joint interpretation of the God’s guidance. The proclaimed Christian “status of non-fundamentalists” might be interpreted as an invitation for the Jews to get involved.

– “I think that the way to make true changes is identity. You can never take a step in life if it’s not from behind, without knowing where I come from, what last name I have, what cultural or religious last name I have”.

So the Christians understand that each human group has its own unique identity and without clearly understood identity a human group cannot organize its normal life. The Jews have the same understanding. Thus both human groups, the Christians and the Jews, may compare their groups’ identities and hind what unites them as the humans created by God and living along the God’s guidance – again, here is God in any definition including an atheistic one.

– “It important for every Christian to visit Jerusalem and the Holy Land because of revelation. For us, it all started there. It is like “heaven on earth.” A foretaste of what awaits us hereafter, in the heavenly Jerusalem. … Perhaps it would be more correct to say “you cannot live your Christianity, you cannot be a real Christian, if you do not recognize your Jewish roots.” I don’t speak of Jewish in the sense of the Semitic race but rather in the religious sense. I think that inter-religious dialogue needs to deepen in this, in Christianity’s Jewish root and in the Christian flowering of Judaism. I understand it is a challenge, a hot potato, but it can be done as brothers. I pray every day the divine office every day with the Psalms of David. We do the 150 psalms in one week. My prayer is Jewish and I have the Eucharist, which is Christian”.

So the most authoritative person in Christianity, the Pope, acknowledges the fundamental importance of Jewish roots in Christianity that creates a joint Judeo-Christian identity. Moreover the Pope called for ‘bonds of true fraternity’ between Jews and Christians at meeting with chief rabbis as could be seen at http://www.jpost.com/Elections-2013/Pope-calls-for-bonds-of-true-fraternity-between-Jews-and-Christians-at-meeting-with-chief-rabbis-354371 . At this meeting Chief Rabbi David Lau called on Pope to establish international inter-faith conference to combat violence in the name of religion.

Our rabbis have to join the Christians in spelling out Judeo-Christian identity traits and in tailoring our political and social actions to the joint Judeo-Christian identity. And all that should be done with the goal of not just combating violence in the name of religion but of building a better world for everybody based on the Torah/Bible guidance.