Worlds collide in unlikely ways. Such as when I read that the American Jewish Committee gave its Isaiah Award for Exemplary Interreligious Leadership to Christian Stückl, director of the Oberammergau Passion Play.
Sounds obscure, but it happens that for Betsy Ray, heroine of one of my favorite childhood series, Oberammergau’s passion play was a pivotal experience, recounted in detail in Betsy and the Great World, an account of her “Grand Tour” in 1914. She and her friend Tilda visit this Southern German village that every 10 years stages a world famous passion play. Needless to say, though Betsy “had heard of it all her life,” it was new to me. But I was swept up in her descriptions of villagers imbued with a sense of holiness.
Never did I wonder if anti-Semitism was present in the play. At the young age when I first read the book, I didn’t even know what a passion play was. In subsequent readings, I was too caught up in Betsy’s story to wonder.
But Stückl, who became the play’s director in 1990, made it a goal to remove the anti-Jewish tropes that were present in the production, including the centuries-old accusation that Jews murdered Jesus. More than removing anti-Semitism, Stückl added to the production to highlight that Jesus was Jewish and present a more honest reflection of his upbringing.
What makes Stückl’s efforts remarkable and necessary is the uniqueness of the passion play. Betsy explains that all the parts in the play are acted by the villagers. “In the Passion Play, the actors would not wear wigs or false beards . . . they call each other often by their names from the Passion Play . . . Judas, Pilate.” This is not mere acting, but embodying. To the extent that, as Betsy tells it, a woman who once played Mary would no longer do so if she was married.
“Anti-Semitism has no place in the lives of the performers,” said Stückl, reflecting that in a production where actors personify their roles so internally, any anti-Semitism could also be absorbed, even if sub-consciously.
Did Betsy notice anti-Semitism in the play? Likely not, both because such tropes were so widely accepted and she was probably too wrapped up in the magical production.
It takes great courage to change a deeply revered 300-year-old tradition, making Stückl most deserving of AJC’s award.
Shana Goldberg may be reached at shana@ijn.com
Copyright © 2022 by the Intermountain Jewish News
