Vol. II, No. 2, June 2006
News and Views

From a Personal Dream to Global Reality:
Bat Kol Expansion Toasted at President's Reception

First it was sung in English, and then again in Hebrew-rousing choruses of Happy Birthday, dear Maureena-by an enthusiastic crowd of over 50 Jerusalem friends and colleagues. A grand piano accompanied the songsters before slipping quietly back into familiar Mozart strains for the wine-sipping celebrants.

"If anyone had asked me," Maureena said, "I would have told them that the focus today should be on the tremendous changes we have just made at Bat Kol. That's what's so important and exciting. All this fuss about my birthday is a little bit embarrassing." But her wide grin couldn't deny her delight just the same! Professors from Bat Kol study programs, directors of other education institutions around Jerusalem, and leaders of church and other religious communities all gathered to toast her health, happiness, and Bat Kol successes.

She is right about those "important and exciting" changes at Bat Kol. The May 23^rd reception was a very special day in Maureena's life for a number of reasons: a new international Board of Directors had been constituted and met for the first time, new Bat Kol personnel were announced and presented to the assembly, and the main talk around the room-in the official meetings and at the reception-was all about what was happening at Bat Kol, such as the new outreach programs being developed, completing the long-time dream of greater international reach for the study programs of this 23-year-old Institute.

As if to tie the present moment to significant historical markers, the reception was held at Ratisbonne Institute in Jerusalem, the scene of many years of work by Sr. Maureena when an academic association was created with the University of St. Michael's College, part of the University of Toronto School of Theology. Graduate-level courses of study were taught by an array of qualified professors, including a number of Rabbis who later joined the faculty of Bat Kol. With the closure of Ratisbonne, new teaching methodologies were incorporated into new courses, drawing more heavily on Jewish literature and scholarship. Christians would be able to learn a better way to read and exegete the biblical texts with these new rabbinic tools for excavation.

Blame it on Nostra Aetate!  With the publication over the last couple of decades of the various Church documents that followed that sea change in thinking of the Catholic Church in its new relationship with Jews and Judaism, the rock was struck-and the spark was ignited. A ‘bat kol' danced into the very soul of Sr. Maureena, enflaming her imagination about these new methods of teaching Scripture-using Jewish sources, within a Jewish milieu.

The flame crackled, sputtered, and heated up. New input was added to the fire, and in 2000 a new study program was developed to bring Christians engaged in teaching ministries to Jerusalem from around the world to study.

A new mantra was repeated wherever someone would listen: the most effective biblical study is with the Land, the People, and the Book. All three needed to be present for an ideal teaching milieu. Jerusalem would become the heart and soul of Bat Kol's academic focus.

That ideal will never be lost, but the reality is that most people around the world will never be as fortunate as our Bat Kol alums who have spent time in study programs here in the Land! An international teaching element to extend the program was needed to deliver the message and the method outside Jerusalem, right around the world. Bat Kol sparks would fly in every direction, and alight wherever there was a receptive mind. The keen burning desire to study the Word would be realized in many more places of the globe.

To do it, good people were needed to help us. Two Sisters of Sion, Teresa Brittain [England] and Marge Zdunich [Canada]-themselves both alumnae of Bat Kol study programs-have taken an apartment in Jerusalem to be closer to the planning center. Sr. Teresa as Acting Dean will begin a restructuring of activity to launch the expansions. As part of that activity, Sr. Marge will develop study programs to offer in centers on all five continents-beginning slowly, and building as demand and resources permit. New funding campaigns need to be developed, and role definitions refined as the staff enthusiastically responds and adapts to these new challenges.

To offer a steady guiding hand-supportive and encouraging, while monitoring the finances and guarding the Bat Kol mission statement-a new Board of Directors was named this spring. Newly appointed are Dr. Anne Anderson, Vice-Chair of the Bat Kol Board, Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of St. Michael's College in Toronto [and a co-founder of Bat Kol]; Sr. Maureen Cusick, Superior General of the Sisters of Sion, Rome; Sr. Helena O'Donoghue, Leader of the Sisters of Mercy South Central Province, Dublin; and Rabbi Dr. Michael Marmur, Dean of Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem.

Assuming new roles and responsibilities are Sr. Dr. Maureena Fritz, president of Bat Kol and now also Chair of the Board of Directors; Dr. Jack Driscoll, Vice-Chair, and Director of the Development Office; and Rev. Glenn Edward Witmer, Secretary-Treasurer and Director of Liaison with Academic Institutions. Their first meeting in Jerusalem on May 23rd approved and endorsed the ambitious new plans and goals of Bat Kol Institute.

In a special moment during the meeting, the names of Jack Rudin and Pierre Lenhardt were proposed-and unanimously approved-as Honorary Board members, the former for his long-time generous financial support of Bat Kol's academic work around the world, and the latter for his exemplary teaching of Talmud for so many years, at Ratisbonne and for Bat Kol.

That evening, on the patio of Ratisbonne Institute, the buffet tables thinned, the wine bottles were emptied, and the guests prepared to gather in the Rashi Room for formal introductions and talks. But just before that began, the strains of the birthday melody lingered as Maureena cut through the large cake-right between the icing shapes of the "8" and "0" that graced the center. Three score and ten years might be the biblical expectation for a full life. But the new Chair of the Bat Kol Board of Directors has already reached four score! "What is happening with the growth of Bat Kol is the best gift I could ever have received!"

"Happy birthday to you, Maureena!"
"And many mo-o-ore!"

-Glenn Edward Witmer
Secretary-Treasurer and
Director of Liaison with Academic Institutions

Photographs of the new appointees, and other reception scenes, will shortly be posted on the Bat Kol website: www.batkol.info. Be sure to take a moment to see the new people, and read the brief captions of identification.

 

A Reflection from Br Jack Driscoll  C.F.C. Ph..D

Vice-Chair of the Board, and Director of the Development Office

"I have just returned from my tenth teaching visit to the continent of Africa. Since the summer of 2000 I have had these opportunities to teach Scripture in seminaries, catechetical centers and educational institutions, to Christian laity, priests, women and men religious in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Hartebeesport in South Africa, and Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia. For me, and perhaps for you as well, the dimensions of Africa defy our experience of geographical size. Within the borders of Africa, with its 55 countries, one could fit all of the United States, all of China, all of Europe, with enough room left for Argentina! Flying north from Cape Town towards Europe, a passenger is 35,000 feet above Africa for ten hours!"

"On this trip I spent three weeks in Zambia, a land-locked nation in southern Africa. My seminar series, titled Experiences in a Close Reading of the Five Books of Moses, continued daily each morning from 9.00 to noon. There were 64 women and men in attendance, from 8 congregations, average age about 30, from seminaries, convents, and catechetical centers, of which there are many in Lusaka. The course was an eye-opener for all of the participants, even some with graduate degrees in scripture and theology. Few Christians have yet to be introduced to Talmud Torah, [the study and doing of Torah], or Scripture, using the ancient rabbinic sources and methodology. This is what I have been studying for the past 12 years in Jerusalem, and what I have been privileged to teach there, and, as well, in India, Australia, Canada, the Philippines, Rome, Dublin and other venues. The fact that we had almost perfect attendance each day, (in spite of a national holiday in the middle of the first week!) will attest to the attractiveness of studying the Old Testament texts (the Hebrew Scriptures) in the manner in which Jesus and his disciples would have known them."

"We asked questions of the sacred text, noticed dimensions of incidents regularly unrecognized, argued about possible interpretations of passages based on our own life experiences. Does it make any difference that the Divine Name continues to change from God to Lord to Lord God in the early chapters of Genesis? Has the Lord given the gift of Sabbath to all humanity? And why is Sunday not ‘the Christian Sabbath'? Did you know that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their public policies of oppression of the poor? Why is Moses, whom the Lord lauds as the greatest of all prophets, prohibited from entering the Promised Land? How does a priest of a pagan religion construct a judiciary for the Chosen People?  In a culture where tribal loyalties regularly trump values like truthfulness, can people appreciate the magnitude of the willingness of Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, to "Leave your country, leave your relatives, leave your father's home, and go to a land that I will show you"?

"Do the responses to these questions have anything to do with addressing the burdens of poverty, disease, unemployment, corruption, suicide, and illiteracy that plague the nation of Zambia and challenge the leadership and mission of the next generation of teachers and religious leaders?"

"Yes. Decidedly yes! Talmud Torah, the study and doing of the Words of guidance and injunction in sacred scripture, the Bible, can bring individuals and communities to acts of loving kindness towards the oppressed; can increase alertness to problem-solving and power-sharing among neighborhood and district leaders; can help refine priorities for those who fashion public policy; can bring comfort, consolation and companionship where there is distress, despondency and isolation."

"I give thanks to the Lord who continues to give me the good health, the energy, the continuing education, and the opportunities to bring the revelation of Divine Truth to many who are hungry and thirsty: for proper nutrition and a decent quality of life, but also for a sense of belief and confidence in a Lord God whose love is everlasting and unconditional. It is with the help of many of you who will be reading this reflection that I and my colleagues in the Bat Kol Institute in Jerusalem can continue our vocation as teachers of Sacred Scripture."
 

Bat Kol Centers

India. Bat Kol Kottayam, Kerala. Chairperson: Sr. Joan Chunkapura Bat Kol Alumna 1998.

"We are very happy to share with you the joy of starting a program ‘Women in Distress'. Fifteen to twenty women are coming regularly to learn job skills like tailoring, massaging, beauty parlor management, pickle making, soap making, sanitary pad making, binding books, etc., at TRADA. ‘Women in Distress' is an extension program of TRADA for the wives of the alcoholics and women who are widowed or separated and is designed to empower them through skill training to become self-reliant. 

"We have a Bible study group for the women and they are celebrating the Sabbath with the weekly parashah. We are proud of these women who find meaning in their lives through the power of Word of God, to tide over their crises, and who find solidarity in this weekly gathering. These women are middle class and upper middle class each of whom has court cases with their husbands or their family. This is wonderful experience for me to share the Word of God with these women who have found women in the bible who stood up for human dignity, love, compassion and peace. The name of the new group is "HAVER." There is a real bonding between the women. ...I have written a book, Women for Women."

Philippines. Bat Kol Manila. Kathleen Coyle writes, "We Manila Bat Kol members were delighted to welcome Maureena and Elizabeth to Manila and to share some mystical insights around the Shabbat table. On March 18 Helen Graham and I met to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and we drank to Maureena's80th birthday and her continued good health."

"We are ending a busy school year. Here at the East Asian Pastoral Institute 65 participants-sisters, priests and lay leaders-will end their course and return to their ministries and missions.  My module on the course was Paradigm Shifts in Theology, so I hope they continue to shift their paradigms not only in theology, but also in liturgy and in pastoral practice. In January, I gave the same course to the leaders of the archdiocese of Mandalay, Myanmar. It was a moving experience to hear these leaders recall stories about how they continue to minister to their people under an oppressive military regime. The sisters in Myanmar will soon begin a theology program which will be affiliated to the Institute of Formation and Religious Studies, Manila, from which they will get their degrees. They will come to Manila for higher studies. Their theologates have been closed since the military took over in 1966.

"Before Christmas the Franciscan Sisters in Singapore and Malaysia invited me to give them a scriptural retreat. Their gospel commitment is lived out in their daily visits to building sites with lunches for Indian and Bangladeshi laborers who have to wait for three months to get their first pay check.

"Kushner reminds us that God's voice is so powerful that God tempers it by creating different sounds (different echoes) for each person. So together with the echoes of Bat Kol lingering in our unconscious, may we continue to be the echo of God to our families and communities."
 

South Africa. Bat Kol HaRefuah, Cape Town.  Sr. Cynthia Thompson, OP, Chairperson writes: "My year began with a ten-day stint in Zimbabwe being part of the Dei Verbum Course.  There were 38 participants coming from Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Because of  the economic situation there were fewer Zimbabweans this year than previously. The participants were enthusiastic and most encouraging. On one of the days three participants from previous courses visited and it was great to hear how they have used some of the programs taught during their six-week course. Early February saw us moving into Goodwood prison in Cape Town where we did a six-week Basic Bible Seminar with twelve prisoners. Although there were many more Catholics in prison only twelve attended regularly and really enjoyed the course. They wanted us to keep coming back, but the Chaplain only gave us permission for six weeks. We have done a few "Windows on the Word" programs with people from different parishes and this has proved to be very helpful in their prayer groups and for individual prayer."  

"We were fortunate to be able to attend the lessons Br Jack Driscoll gave the Christian Brother novices [April/May]. He always inspires us and whets the appetite for more havrutah.  Jack has the knack of opening Scriptures and revealing the wonderful gems that we hastily gathered and shared. It was during this time that the Bat Kol group, Inge (Hoffman) and her friend Val, Freda (Delport) and I met up with Jack for lunch. We took him to the Jewish restaurant, which was nearby, as we did not want to spend too much time going places, but rather, have valuable time with Jack. It really was a great re-union. We all felt so very much at home and shared, reminiscing over our experiences in Israel during the Bat Kol Program, as well as what we have been doing since then. It was an extra-ordinary few hours spent together. Jack was interested and caring and we all departed having experienced precious time with a ‘big brother.' As Jack had been closeted the whole week at the Christian Brothers' house took him for a short drive around part of the Peninsula so that he could see some of the beauty of the Cape."
 

South Africa, Johannesburg. Bat Kol HaSimcha.  This group continues to meet every Thursday to study the weekly parashah together. Marie André receives a copy of the weekly South African Jewish Report which, besides news and Shabbat times, has interesting articles on Jewish life. For example, ‘Counting the Omer', ‘Shavuot and What it Stands For', ‘The Strict Conditions which Apply to Eruvim' ("Jewish" areas within a city) etc. Our knowledge and understanding of Jewish life continues to grow.

Meetings take place in the parish centre adjoining the Catholic Bible College. Margaret Mollett, Rector of the College, and Br. Kevin McDonnell, cfc, Director of Development, are members of the group. This year the College supported the annual Trinity Festival organized by Holy Trinity Church. New to this year's festival was a Bibliothon, an attempt to read the entire Bible aloud, and the Book of Psalms in as many languages as possible, to celebrate the cultural diversity of the parish and South Africa. Between the staff, students, and past students of the College, Psalms 43-62 were read in 19 languages starting with Hebrew (Marie André), Greek and Latin (Kevin, Fr Gregory was supposed to read the Greek), Afrikaans (Margaret), and ending with Ps. 62 sung in English by the College choir to an arrangement by Sr. Michael Sechogela.

News from Alumni/ae

Canada. Saskatoon. Mary Ann Beavis, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Religious Studies and Anthropology, St. Thomas More College, facilitated a weekly Bible study in her parish where she introduced Jewish methods of interpretation to the study of the weekly lectionary readings. Fortunately, there were lots of readings from Torah, so Plaut's commentary was a much-used resource. Mary Ann is currently working on the final edits for her book, Jesus and Utopia: Looking for the Kingdom of God in the Roman Empire, forthcoming from Fortress Press this fall. She is looking forward to her second Bat Kol experience in Israel this summer.
 

Israel. Jerusalem. Extracts from Sr. Trudy Nabuurs' letter: "Greetings from the Holy Land. 

The fear of civil war being imminent is real, and those living in places like Ramallah are experiencing daily fighting in the streets between Hamas and Fatah factions. Bethlehem is experiencing much of what is happening in Gaza, so we continue to try to assist in Bethlehem according to our means. For the region's 60,000 Christian community, the wall looks set to crush the first shoots of re-growth in the business crucial to their livelihood-pilgrimages and tourism. A car journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem used to be no more than five minutes. Now, with checkpoints and security checks it can take up to three hours.

"Thanks to those who continue to send support, it all helps, no matter how small. We are eternally grateful. Above all, we urge you to continue to pray for this worsening situation, as often only God can intervene in a way not possible for us to do. Let us continue to support in ways we are able, so that we can keep hope alive. I also pray that those who so courageously keep working for justice will have the perseverance to continue, and that we may continue to see the signs of hope that are there."

Slovakia. Bratislava Lucy Hidveghyova, Bat Kol alumna, '01, 03, 04, 05 shares her exciting news with us: "I will make the oral defense of my PhD thesis in September this year. My topic is, 'The Place of David Flusser in the Historical Jesus Research'. I have been accepted to study at the University of Cambridge, England, and I have been awarded a full scholarship to cover all my expenses for a two-year Masters' degree program, to commence in October. Thank God!  The degree, in Jewish-Christian relations, is the only such program on the graduate level of study in Europe. I am so happy that I will be able to study there and get a solid education in the field. Isn't it wonderful how our dreams come true! It was on Pentecost precisely 13 years ago that I first went to Israel. It was a short pilgrimage but I fell in love with the Land and its people. When I think that, at that time, I knew so very little about Judaism, and just a bit more about the Scriptures... Immediately I became interested in many issues, and I see now that the learning in front of me is unending. I wish to learn as much as my capacity will allow, with God's help, and make my contribution to the work of Bat Kol and to the continuing challenges of the Christian- Jewish dialogue. I would like to encourage everybody who dreams about great things!"

United States. Houston. Gretchen Tickle writes: "Here in Houston we are going through a lot of changes in the structure of our daily religious life. Our diocese of Galveston-Houston recently became an archdiocese. Our bishop for over a quarter century retired and a new archbishop is on board. In my own parish, our pastor retires in two weeks. The new pastor begins the day after I return from Jerusalem. In all of these changes, one thing remains constant. The Word of God guides us even while challenging us. My small group meets erratically but the discussions continue via phone/email long past the time that we can be together. I look forward to spending time with the Bat Kol students in Jerusalem. The blessing Glenn tells us to expect is received forty-fold."

Zambia. Br. Liguori Gillespie explains his absence from Zambia. "Greetings from Manchester, England. I'm back for medicals and reconnecting with my home province for the next few months but hope to be in Lusaka again at the end of August. The only thing of note from Lusaka is Jack's visit and program during the first two weeks of May. For the keen 50-plus participants it was a wonderful Jewish opening up of parts of the depths of the Torah that other teachers schooled in the ordinary Christian scholarship could never reach. It was a delight for me to be there for the whole course to relearn the Bat Kol approach to Talmud Torah. On a personal level, it was a joy to have a few days visit to Livingston with Jack to experience the Victoria Falls, even though officials of the Immigration Service hauled us off the bus at one stage because Jack did not have his passport with him. The course was quite hard work for Jack because he somehow deleted or could not access the detailed course that he had prepared so carefully on his computer in Jerusalem and he had to recreate his notes for the students, etc. But it all worked out fine on the class days.

From the Editor. It was wonderful to read about the changes that have taken place in the Bat Kol Institute with a new international Board of Directors being constituted, Maureena, Jack, and Glenn assuming new roles and responsibilities, and two Sisters of Sion joining the permanent staff.

      A very big ‘Thank you' to all those who have contributed to this issue, Bat Kol alumni/ae are spreading the Word all over the world. I will be attending the Bat Kol program on Teshuvah.

Marie Andre Mitchell SND de Namur, Editor. Bat Kol Alumna 2001, 2002, 2004.

Please send submissions to marieandre@telkomsa.net