Grace Cathedral, San Francisco

Holy Week and its accompanying story of the Passion of Christ can be a painful yearly reminder to many Jews of the ugly and often deadly history of anti-Semitism. Based on the distorted understanding of the death of Jesus held by some Christians, all Christians bear a responsibility for eradicating the legacy of the terrible sin of anti-Semitism. How has the character and role of Judas in the Christian imagination contributed to anti-Jewish sentiment and behavior? In an irreverent and outrageous personal essay and performance, the noted British cultural critic and writer Howard Jacobson impersonates one of history’s most hated figures and argues passionately to rehabilitate Judas from his condemned role as the ultimate greedy betrayer.

Roving through history, literature, art, and film imagery, Jacobson uses his skewering wit and insight to reveal the way that the figure of Judas has been used as a bludgeon against Jews for centuries. Originally produced in 1993 for BBC Channel 4, no U.S. broadcaster has shown Sorry, Judas. Its national premiere was at the 2004 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Director Celia Lowenstein employs a clever arsenal of visual devices to enliven the argument- - for example, staging a discussion among twelve religious scholars (including Karen Armstrong and the Bishop of Durham) as the tableau from the Last Supper. The Times of London pronounced Jacobson’s work “a mixture of exquisite bad taste and sterling good sense.”

A panel and audience discussion will follow the 51-minute film.