Thursday 19 November was the date for the latest meeting of the regular dialogue between the Uniting Church and the Jewish Community in Australia. Seven Uniting Church members and six Jewish participants met at the Jewish Museum of Australia, in St Kilda, Melbourne, for a day of sharing, discussing, and exploring. Such dialogues have been held since the early 1990s, and are proving to be an important foundation for developing mutual understanding and respect across the two faith communities which are represented. Out of this dialogue has also grown a significant national three-way dialogue, involving leaders of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities.
The dialogue met at the museum because its current feature exhibition was entitled Women in the Bible: Tricksters, Victors and (M)others. The morning session was built around this theme, and incorporated time for the participants to explore the exhibition and see how Jewish and Christian artists have depicted figures such as Sarah and Hagar, Rebekah, Miriam, Ruth and Naomi, Esther, Yael, the Queen of Sheba, and the “woman of valour” (honoured in Proverbs 31). The exhibition also included portrayals of various aspects of Eve, in the stories of creation, temptation, and expulsion, recorded in Genesis, as well as artworks considering the theme more generally” “is the Bible sexist?”, and “women reclaiming the Bible”. (The exhibition runs until mid-March, and is well worth a visit.)
Rev. Elizabeth Raine provided the Uniting Church input with a lively paper on select “Women in Christian tradition”. She recounted the engaging tales of Thecla, deconstructed the patristic veneration of women as virgins and martyrs, and highlighted the feisty independent women portrayed in the Gospels (Mark 7, John 4, Luke 10, and at the cross). In the second part of the paper, Elizabeth provided a detailed analysis of Luke’s presentation of the young mother, Mary, who demonstrated fervent faith, passionate determination, courage, and unswerving action. Discussion after the paper explored resonances between the Lukan Mary and key women in the Hebrew Bible, as well as the patriarchal tendencies at work in the way that Mary has become tamed, domesticated, and placed out of reach of most women (and men). Participants explored the proposal that the reconstructed Mary (of Luke 1–2) could well serve as a role model for women of faith in the contemporary world.
Ms Peta Jones Pellach led the Jewish input with a consideration of “Women in Jewish tradition”. This paper covered some key biblical figures—Eve, the matriarchs (Sarai and Rivkah, Rachel and Leah), Miriam, Devorah, Ruth, Channa, Esther, and the “woman of valour”. Peta then highlighted the figure of Beruriah—the only female in rabbinic literature who was accepted as an authority on Jewish Law. She observed that the rabbis valued women mainly as mothers, and not as scholars; so Beruriah is quite an exception. Nevertheless, Peta commented on the recent introduction of Miriam’s Cup into the seder meal, alongside the cup of Elijah—a sign which signals some equality in the way that the ancients are remembered today—and observed that the present age is one in which more Jews are engaged in serious study of matters Jewish than ever in history—and 50% of these people are women. In this session, Josie Lacey also commented on the thirty-five documents of Babatha found at Ein Gedi, near the Dead Sea-letters dating from 94–132CE. In these documents, it is clear that Babatha was a literate Jewish woman of means who was engaged in the public realm of property and legal matters. This helps to shed light on a hidden stream within the history of Jewish women.
The afternoon session was devoted to a free-ranging discussion of a quotation from Rabbi J.B. Soloveitchik, whose views have been influential amongst a certain sector of Jewish society. Writing in the 1960s, in the early days of Catholic-Jewish rapprochement, the rabbi expressed scepticism about the value of interfaith encounters apart from the discussion of strictly “non-religious matters”. Participants in the debate explored aspects of this view which might still have some merit, as well as ways in which many of the developments in society—and in specific faith communities—have rendered this view irrelevant. The discussion was engaged and intense; as has become the way in this particular dialogue, it was conducted in a setting of firm friendships which manifested genuine interest in the mutual discoveries which were being made.
This meeting of the dialogue was the final one for two long-term participants. Peta Jones Pellach is moving to live in Israel early in 2010, and so was farewelled with best wishes. Rev. Michael Barnes is taking leave of the dialogue after more than a decade of involvement, as he prepares for further studies; he, too, was farewelled with appreciation. Peta and Michael have been the most recent co-convenors of the dialogue, so the co-ordinating role is now moving to Elizabeth Raine and John Squires (for the Uniting Church) and Jeremy Jones (for the Jewish community). The next dialogue will take place in April 2010, and will include discussion of the key theme, Exile, as well as a consideration of the recently-issued international statement, A Time for Recommitment: building the new relationship between Jews and Christians.
Report by Rev. Dr John Squires
Pictured left to right: Lauren Moss, Rabbi Ralph Genende, Jessica Taft, Jeremy Jones, Rev. Glenda Blakefield, Rev. Matt Wilson, Peta Pellach Jones, Rev. Dr John Squires, Rev. Professor Howard Wallace, Rev. Elizabeth Raine, Rev. Michael Barnes, Josie Lacey