Asked to teach a class on leadership skills at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1983, Pitzele presented fifth year rabbinical students with biblical concerns: “You’re Moses; what are your issues?” The students pointed out that he was teaching the Midrash — Jewish interpretive tradition. He sees this technique as “identifying personal challenges embedded in the mythic structures of the Jewish religion, and continually acting them out. For example, the re-enactment of the father/son relationship goes back to Abraham and Isaac. The personal is also archetypal.”

Pitzele relates the story of a woman playing Miriam on her deathbed: “The woman received the farewells of her brothers, and of the young women who have danced with her. Then, alone, she reflects on what her death will mean to the Israelite people. Miriam is aware that she has been their water-finder, their dancer, their mother. She fears that without her, the tradition will become too priestly, too hierarchical. She is afraid too that her concern for the natural world will not be carried on. Later, I got a letter from the woman who played Miriam. She has started an ecological movement in her synagogue. They call themselves the Sisters of Miriam.”

A faculty member at the Jewish Theological Seminary and certified psychotherapist, Pitzele is the author of Our Fathers’ Wells: A Personal Encounter with the Myths of Genesis (Harper San Francisco, 1995) and Scripture Windows: Towards a Practice of Bibliodrama (Torah Aura, 1998), considered the “how to” manual for seminars at the Institute for Contemporary Midrash Training. “Bibliodrama transforms the Bible into a mirror through which participants confront the most important aspects of their lives,” he says.

“As Jews, we worship in community. Bibliodrama is a way to make the Bible accessible and relevant; it can help us to practice Judaism. It can contribute to both individual and communal transformation,” he continues, stressing that anybody can take part in Bibliodrama.

“I actually hate the term ‘Bibliodrama,’” he says. “People are afraid that they are going to make asses of themselves, that it’s all about being dramatic, but there is no stage. It’s hard to explain what it really involves — you have to experience it. I might change the name to ‘Biblical Transformations.’ I’ll give a $100 prize to anyone who comes up with a better name.” Pitzele adds: “Even children age seven and up can participate in Bibliodrama. They will really groove on it.” When a workshop participant says: “I’m never going to read the Bible in the same way again,” Pitzele feels he has done a good day’s work.