The Problem

It is not a problem, but a mystery : a mystery, that is, as sin is a mystery, and the redemption. In fact, the so-called Jewish problem is an aspect of the mystery hidden from eternity, the divine plan for man's salvation, made known by the prophets and by Christ, worked out in history but not fully accomplished or revealed in all its grandeur until the end of time. There is therefore no solution of the Jewish 'problem' without the intervention of grace, no understanding of it apart from supernatural revelation. It belongs to 'those things which proceed from the will of God alone and are beyond all rights of the creature 'and, therefore, according to the sound principle of St. Thomas, 'can only be known to us as far as they are handed down in Sacred Scripture, through which the divine will is made known '(Summa Theologica, III, q. i, a. 3).To this theme of salvation, even with the emphasis on the place of Israel in it, the whole of the Scriptures are devoted ; but the locus classicus is the Epistle to the Romans ix-xi. Leaving aside all the details of interpretation, concentrating on the clearest and most generally accepted sense of St. Paul's words, three facts arc certain :1. The Jewish nation once possessed a unique-and, in fact, the highest-vocation among the nations of the earth ;2. They failed, as only the noblest can fail, terribly and-but for God's grace-without hope of restoration ;3. Before the end they will return, and their restoration will be as glorious as their failure was shameful, for it will correspond to the grandeur of their first calling

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