The Culman Series:
Ancient Treasures, Modern Scripts
In honor of Peter W. Culman, long-time ICJS board member and passionate supporter of its educational outreach, the ICJS presented a series of discussions that explored how the Jewish and Christian imaginations are shaped through the encounter with biblical personalities. Chizuk Amuno Congregation hosted the series, which was held in November. Several hundred par-ticipants heard some of the region's most gifted teachers and preachers explore the spiritual significance of biblical figures on their respective communities. Rabbi Joel H. Zaiman, Senior Rabbi, Chizuk Amuno Congregation, and The Reverend Flo Ledyard, Associate Faculty, College of Preachers, Washington D.C., spoke on Moses. Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg, Senior Rabbi, Beth Tfiloh Congregation, and The Reverend Robert Leavitt, President, St. Mary's Seminary & University, discussed Mes-siah. The series concluded with a presentation on Jonah by Rabbi Marc Margolius, Congregation Beth Am Israel, Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, and The Reverend Michael Curry, Rector, St. James Episcopal Church. The series drew a larger than ex-pected attendance and high praise from participants as many members of the audience commented on both the intellectual nourishment and spiritual inspiration of the program.

The Baltimore Congregational Project
The Culman Series helped launch the third ICJS Congregational Project, which ran for four Thursday evenings in February. Hosted by the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, this program brought together an extraordinarily diverse cross section of our community with over two hundred members of thirty con-gregations. While structured as town meetings, the heart of the program was the series of small group discussions where members of various congregations offered diverse viewpoints on biblical characters. For many of the participants, the ses-sions were a homecoming of friends from previous projects; for others it was the opportunity to develop new friendships. The biblical characters discussed were Moses, Ruth, Jesus, and Jonah. The intention of the program was to provide an oppor-tunity for Christians and Jews, blacks and whites, men and women to come together in religiously grounded dialogue. The programs met with great enthusiasm and imagination.

The Fall Mini-Course
Dr. Rosann Catalano and Rabbi David Sandmel offered a course entitled "Biblical Israel, Rabbinic Judaism, and Christianity: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Exploration." Over seventy people attended the course, which was held at Beth El Con-gregation. Dr. Catalano and Rabbi Sandmel presented a survey of the religious world of Second Temple Judaism, as well as the political realities of first-century Palestine, which together provide a key to understanding the emergence of both Chris-tianity and Rabbinic Judaism. In addition, the roots of the traditional antagonism between Jews and Christians were placed in their historical and theological context. The feedback from the participants was overwhelmingly positive; the most consistent comment was, "The course was too short."

The Genesis High School Project
The fourth annual Genesis High School Project, hosted by Baltimore City College and The Bryn Mawr School, brought to-gether seventy students from twenty-three area high schools. Once again, under the guidance of ICJS-trained facilitators, students from diverse backgrounds revisited the stories of Cain and Abel, The Tower of Babel, The Binding of Isaac, and Jacob and Esau. In an age where "teenagers" are often labeled with the troubled chiches of the pop media, this program surfaced bright and curious students eagerly interested in a conversa-tion about diversity. In the process, they honed their speaking and listening skills while learning about their differences. This program is supported by the Becker Family Fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation and Baltimore Equitable Insur-ance Foundation.

Clergy Outreach Project
In addition to the Presbyterian Study Group that met last year, the ICJS has configured three additional denominational groups: Episcopal, Lutheran, and Methodist. Designed to pro-vide an opportunity for clergy to discuss their Christian understanding of the God of Israel and its ramifications for Christian views of Jews and Judaism, these groups met indi-vidually and collectively, utilizing the R. Kendall Soulen book Christian Theology and the God of Israel. Dr. Soulen addressed each of the groups, meeting with the Episcopalians in the fall and with the Lutherans and Methodists in February. The Episcopal Study Group concluded with an overnight retreat attended by ICJS Scholars Leighton, Catalano, and Sandmel, as well as several noted Episcopal seminary professors. The discussions probed at some of the deep-seated, often unex-amined aspects of Christian thought that infringe on the everyday life of the local congregation.

Young Adult Study Evenings
With encouragement from board members Patrice Cromwell and J. P. Sarbanes, the ICJS staff has convened a group of young adults in the Baltimore area to launch this new outreach initiative. The purpose of this program is to find new ways to engage young adults in the educational life of the ICJS. Dr. Rosann Catalano conducted the first session in January, a text study of the Jacob and Esau story. The plan is to bring this group together approximately three evenings a year.