Volume 31 Issue 36 18 Nov 2022 24 Heshvan 5783

Nostra Aetate – In Our Time

Interfaith Understanding – Breaking Down Barriers
Catholic Students Experience Judaism at Emanuel

On Friday 11 November 2022, Emanuel School hosted 32 Year 10 students from Marcellin College and St Ursula’s College, as part of a pilot program in response to the Nostra Aetate (In Our Time), a Declaration by the Second Vatican to create dialogue between Jewish and Catholic people, in particular to help Catholic students learn more about Judaism. 

This initiative was the brainchild of Cathy Brown, (Network K-12 Religious Education Officer, Secondary Focus, Mission & Identity Directorate of the Sydney Catholic Schools) who approached the Executive Council of Australian Judaism (ECAJ). ECAJ President NSW, Jillian Segal AO contacted Margaret Lowe to involve Emanuel in the pilot, and the idea began to take shape.

Ms Lowe and her team put together a packed morning for the visiting students, who joined our Year 10s for the day. The students participated in Kabbalat Shabbat with the High School, including the wonderful ruach and many of our guests got stuck into the dancing! One Marcellin College student commented to his teacher, “That was very different from what we are doing!”

Braiding challot

They then learned about Shabbat from Morah Roth and enhanced these messages by decorating glass Shabbat candle holders and making challah together. Some of the St Ursula’s College students even showed the others how to braid and the visiting staff thoroughly enjoyed making their own challot too!

After that, the students were exposed to the lessons about responsibility and ‘speaking up’ – being upstanders – that we can learn from the Holocaust, with a presentation from Kim Slender and Vic Alhadef, who has been instrumental in orchestrating the Nostra Aetate dialogue between the Jewish and Catholic communities.

At morning tea, the students sampled a range of ritualistic and traditional Jewish foods, from matzah to rugelach. The group then joined the whole school for the Remembrance Day Ceremony on the basketball courts and it was moving to see the students representing the hope for the future.

They then learned a little about Israel and our Year 10 Chavayah trip from Mr Bloom. Many of the Catholic students hope to go on pilgrimage to Israel in the future.

Finally, Morah Adina explored the Jewish calendar and Jewish sacred objects with the group. The Catholic students had a chance to share their own sacred objects, rituals and practices so that the students from both schools could see that while our rituals may look different, many of them come to teach similar things. 

The students got on very well with each other, forging many new friendships and ended the day with a delicious falafel lunch. The general feeling from all three schools was that inter-faith dialogue is enriching and fun and we hope to continue the relationship between our schools and deepen the exchange next year.