Bibliodrama in Israel

Bibliodrama in Israel has seen growing activity in recent years.  I have been privileged to run approximately 150 Bibliodramas in Israel over the past decade, primarily in English, though also in Hebrew. These have included people of all sorts of backgrounds: religiously observant Israelis, mixed groups of secular and religious, visiting groups from abroad, intergenerational and interfaith groups. This year I was fortunate enough to receive the backing of an organisation named Kol HaOt, who support Jewish creativity and are based in the Martef Theatre in the German Colony; Bibliodramas were run to prepare for Purim, Pesach, Shavuot and Tisha B’Av. I can report also that on 16th July 2013, Tisha B’Av, around 70 people crowded into a room at the Pardes Institute to experience the Kamtza/Bar Kamtza story (relating to the events leading to the destruction of the Temple), and the creativity, electricity and excitement in the room was palpable during this dynamic 1.5 hours of Bibliodrama.

Other practitioners are active around the country. Notable is Michael Ben-Yishai, a trained psychodramatist, who has run quite a number of sessions in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Afula, Modiin and elsewhere, including for men’s groups, and is constantly developing his practice. Tamar Pelleg, another experienced Bibliodramatist recently returned from the USA, is facilitating workshops in Zichron Yaakov and other locations.   Several other individuals in Jerusalem, Efrat,  Bet Shemesh and the North, have run their own Bibliodramas, and one of them plans to incorporate it as a regular element in a seminary for religious post-high-school women. The entry of Bibliodrama into the Orthodox world – both Israeli and Diaspora – and its acceptance there despite certain elements that might seem rather free-flowing or open-ended, is in my opinion a very welcome and important development. It is facilitated by the resemblance of Bibliodrama to certain elements of midrashic activity, and by its sticking closely to the text. Nonetheless, I believe that more than anything it has been advanced by the fact that the Bibliodrama facilitators themselves are Orthodox, which leads to a level of trust from the outset that opens the doors to more. It is also wonderful to see groups of Jews who ordinarily would not mix that much with other groups, come together to do Bibliodrama.

We also have an Israeli Bibliodrama google group that can be used when someone has a question or needs support. A few of us have met a couple of times to talk and develop ideas. I also ran a training session in my home, with the aim of developing more Bibliodrama in this country.

In the context of the BASICS project (see Interfaith Update) and with the support of Israel’s Interfaith Encounter Association, a group of Christians and Jews met around eighteen times in Jerusalem to experience Bibliodrama on Hebrew Bible and New Testament materials and to come together as a group. It was a lovely experience and some of them have gone on to run Bibliodramas themselves.

It is possible there are some other activities around the country that go under the name of Bibliodrama, but as far as I know, this covers most of what is happening in terms of Pitzele-type Bibliodrama in Israel.