The International Council of Christians and Jews would like to extend its good wishes and respects to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI upon the announcement of his retirement from the Chair of Peter. Throughout his pontificate he has been a strong promoter of interreligious understanding, particularly between Jews and Christians, as called for by the Second Vatican Council declaration Nostra Aetate.

A few days ago the ICCJ has sent a letter to the Hungarian Prime Minister His Excellency Viktor Orbán. You may find the text of that letter on this website www.iccj.org. Now we are inviting all ICCJ member organizations world wide and institutions and individuals involved in Jewish-Christian dialogue, to support the letter sent by the ICCJ. Please, find the details of our request below, in the letter I wrote to all ICCJ member organizations:

Thanks to the tireless efforts of Heppenheim resident Karl Netzer, a Hebrew translation of Judith Buber Agassi's book "Jewish Woman Prisoners of Ravensbrück" could be presented to the press this morning in the Martin Buber House in Heppenheim. The book was gratefully received by Revd. Dick Pruiksma, General Secretary of the International Council of Christians and Jews. The ICCJ is based in the house of Judith's grandfather Martin Buber and she was born in this house.

On the threshold of the New Year 2013, the Executive Board of the ICCJ wants to thank you for the excellent cooperation in the past year. Without doubt, the New Year will see a continuation to our friendship and collegiality. In the coming year a large number of activities fills the ICCJ agenda. We will be happy to keep you informed about all this. There are several options which we would like to list for you.

Two feminist scholars, a liberal rabbi and an ordained Lutheran minister, in dialogue about the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Bible, called in Hebrew the TaNaKh, known to Christians as the Old Testament -- this has been called "the shared testament" or shared scriptural heritage of Jews and Christians.

In the last few weeks, we have all witnessed much violence in the Middle East and in other parts of the world. As you have seen on this Web site, we in the ICCJ have been deeply concerned about the strengthening of antisemitic elements within Hungarian society. But in the midst of all this activity, let’s not forget that we are also in the Christian season of Advent, leading up to the joyous festival of Christmas, and that next week, Jews throughout the world will celebrate Chanukah.