Studying the Word of God together

The idea had been discussed for many months and finally a joint study group was inaugurated with more than thirty people gathering together to study the first portion of the Torah, Bereshit (the first chapters of the Book of Genesis). The study group is programmed to meet once a month.

At the first meeting, the members of the two communities introduced themselves after some words from Father Rafic, responsible for the Jerusalem kehilla, and Ilana, the coordinator of the group on the part of the Zion community. Then Benny, seminarian from the Jerusalem kehilla, taught all present one of the songs of the Hebrew Catholic tradition. The group then divided up into “hevruta” (pairs of two, one from the Jerusalem kehilla and the other from Zion) in order to answer together the question: “When did I first encounter the Scriptures?”

At the first meeting, the study was led by Father David and Rabbi Tamar. They both focused on the first chapters of the Torah: the story of creation. The question that was raised for discussion was whether the creation of the human person was good or bad for creation? The round of comments after the first two presentations revealed the richness of studying the Word of God together.

It was noted that this beginning is particularly auspicious as we celebrate this year the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the document of the Second Vatican Council that reformulated the relationship between Catholics and Jews.