The devastating events of September 11^th coupled with the ongoing violence in the Middle East continue to shape the priorities and perceptions of our world. Almost none of us can take the common details of everyday life for granted. We are bound together by a shared experience of the violence that shadows our lives and by hope in those who confront our new challenges head on.

At the ICJS, our work has been graced by the spiritual, intellectual, and financial gifts of many remarkable people from all denominations and walks of life. Since we first published In A Word in 1999, we have honored their support and paid particular tribute to three of Baltimore's most cherished institutions -- the Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation, the Meyerhoff Family Foundations, and Mercantile-Safe De-posit & Trust Company.

This spring, as the dedication of our diverse community grows to match the challenges we face, we salute two dear friends who have served our mission with great resources of kindness, commitment, and scholarship. To us, Rich and Janis embody the undaunted spirit so richly present in the many heroic individuals who embrace this difficult work.

Janis Koch - A Personal Journey
Janis Koch began her relationship with the ICJS in 1989. A linguist with a real interest in "things theological," she enrolled in a course on "Judaism and Christian Beginnings" at the Ecumenical Institute, led by Chris Leighton, then the "youthful" ICJS Executive Director, and Rabbi Donald Berlin of Temple Oheb Shalom.

"That course changed my life and, for a time, ruined my life," Janis recalls. "When I started, I was a typical anti-Judaic Christian. I spent the first nine weeks of the course angry and confused, but polite -- unlike some of my classmates. They were really unhappy. The room was packed with tension. Going to class was sometimes unpleasant, but I enjoyed writing my paper, so I concentrated my energies on that." Janis' paper, "An Analysis of the Jewishness of the Lord's Prayer in the Gospel According to Matthew," was written in English with passages in Greek and Hebrew.

She devoured the reading list, which included a little book by Philip A. Cunningham. Jewish Apostle to the Gentiles not only took away the anger, frustration, and incomprehension of the first nine weeks of the course, but also proved to be her first encounter with a different Paul -- a chance meeting that has fueled her scholarly passion for the last twelve years.

When the class was over, Janis searched for more reading lists on Christian-Jewish relations. "I did so much reading, I got swamped. I was in so far over my head that I could actually feel my faith draining away. That's when Chris invited me to become part of the Maryland Interfaith Project."

Soon after, Janis took another course, "Faith and Prejudice in Jewish-Christian Relations" at St. Mary's Seminary. This time the class environment was congenial, but her paper on the history of Jewish-Christian relations up to the 15^th century and its relation to the Holocaust tore her apart. "The writing was agonizing, but I was introduced to Holocaust studies -- another passion. I was appalled by the ways Jews were treated. I wanted to be part of the healing process -- to heal the world."

Janis gratefully acknowledges Rabbi Donald Berlin and Chris Leighton for helping her to find places where she could go to process all the reading she had done. Rabbi Berlin invited her to visit Oheb Shalom, where, as a Christian, she found a spiritual connection to Judaism. At the Institute, she attended classes, wrote some articles for the ICJS newsletter, and participated in the Preaching Colloquia. She even put on her linguist hat to translate an article from English to Russian for Chris. Most recently, Janis taught our Mini-Course, Rescuing Paul, while she reframed the ICJS Web site. She now maintains our Web site, helps edit our publications, and attends almost all of our evening programs.

Her journey has come full circle. Janis now listens to, makes sense of, and lives with the complex issues that incite her passions. She has become a teacher and a guide who finds joy in giving something back to the institution that nurtured her. "I believe in the ICJS, so I want to invest my time, thought, emotion, and money. The work is very, very difficult, but it's where God put me. ‘Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’"

Richard Shenfeld - A Short Life Well Lived
Anyone who says that death and taxes are the only sure things in life didn't know Rich Shenfeld. He was as reliable as a Swiss watch, and for the past decade I counted on him mightily. It mattered not the program -- Preaching Colloquium, Scripture Forum, public lecture, Rich was there: engaged in the study and enthusiastic about the prospect of learning the ways in which Jews and Christians go about the task of study and prayer. And it mattered not whether I was the primary presenter or a respondent: I knew as surely as I knew just about anything that within twenty-four hours, my phone would ring, or the light would be blinking on my answering machine, or an e-mail would be waiting for me, and it was always the same message. "Hi, Rosann. It's Rich. I really liked your re-marks at yesterday's program. I'm wondering when we can have lunch." I learned quickly not to be lulled by his gentle manner and unassuming demeanor. I was in for a rigorous, intense, and exhilarating conversation! From each of them I came away with a bit of an intellectual limp, a sign that I had wrestled, survived, but was forever changed.

Richard Shenfeld died suddenly on March 15, 2002, and the many worlds he inhabited have each been irrevocably dimin-ished by his death. One of those is the world of the ICJS, which knew him as a dedicated friend and staunch supporter of its work. What made Rich such an extraordinary participant, teacher, and learner was his knowledge, his devotion, and his love for the Judaism that animated his entire life. After his beloved Colleen, Hannah, David, and Leah, his Jewish faith was his raison d'être.

When I arrived at the ICJS in January of 1994, Rich Shenfeld was already a "regular." I cannot remember a single topic that didn't engage his interest. His appetite for study and learning was immense. In the course of these past eight years I came to know him first as a fierce, but friendly, interlocutor, and then, over time, as colleague and friend. Our friendship began with Job and the whirlwind speeches and found its way through Noah and the flood; the Law in Jewish and Christian imaginations; the binding/sacrifice of Isaac; the Hagar cycle; religious particularity and the search for God; the Joseph stories; New Testament parables; the apocalyptic imagination; Adam, Eve, and the garden; and the dying of Jesus. Some conversations occurred over lunch, others took place on the phone, and still others occurred through the exchange of long letters, back and forth. But the dynamic was always the same: give and take, clarify and restate, listen and talk, think, and think harder. Through it all we came, I think, to appreciate as blessing the distinctive ways in which each of us interacted with our sacred texts, as Jew and Roman Catholic Christian, on the one hand, and as human beings, on the other.

The many people that populate the worlds that Rich Shenfeld helped create and sustain face the daunting task of letting go even as we struggle to find ways of living with and honoring the memory of this good and gentle man. That he ennobled the work of the ICJS and left a profound imprint on our organization is beyond question. That I was blessed by his friendship is beyond words.