Like a moth to the flame: Kafka and the Good Friday prayer for the Jews

...on Sandro Magister's site, www.chiesa.

He references two essays, one by Bishop Gianfranco Ravasi and the other by Rabbi Neusner. Bishop Ravasi's essay opens like this:

One day, responding to his friend Gustav Janouch who was asking him about Jesus of Nazareth, Kafka said: "That is an abyss filled with light. One must close one's eyes if one is not to fall into it."

What a profound statement. Especially in the light of the two prayers of the traditional Roman Rite, both the new (which prays for the illumination of the hearts of the Jews) and the original (which referred to their blindness).

One also has some sympathy with the Jewish fears. After all, is not a moth fascinated by the light of the flame?