Passion Plays and Oratorios, ‘Christ Killers,’ and the Magic Trick of ‘Deus Ex Machina’

One of the most popular passion plays, the Oberammergau, has been performed since 1634 in the village of Oberammergau, Bavaria. The elaborate production, which features much more than the trial and passion reenactments, runs over five hours. It includes text, music, choral passages, and tableaux vivant representations of Old and New Testament scenes. The play is performed every ten years for a period of five months. The original script has been criticized for rampant anti-Semitism. A 1980 revision toned down some of the anti-Jewish passages but the accusation that the Jews killed Jesus remained. The American Jewish Committee expressed concern that more than two million people had seen the Oberammergau Passion Play since the end of World War II. The 2010 version made more radical changes. It eliminated the most toxic anti-Semitic passages and presented Jesus as a dedicated Jew. In one scene Jesus holds a Torah scroll and recites the Shema, one of the most sacred Jewish prayers.

If anti-Semitic passages are still included in performances in cities like San Francisco, which has a sizable Jewish population, it’s likely they are still featured in passion plays and musical productions that are performed throughout the United States and in Europe, where there are reports of rising anti-Semitism.

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