2021 Lent and Pentecost Programme

Hana Bendcowsky, an Israeli Jew from Jerusalem with a M.A. degree in Comparative Religion from Hebrew University and 14 years of practical experience in interfaith activities in Israel and abroad, is in charge of overseeing the daily running of the Center’s diverse educational programs, contributes to the preparation of educational materials in Hebrew, and teaches in the Center’s various educational programs. In addition to being the program director of the Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations, Hana works as a free lance tour educator in Jerusalem for groups involving over 1,500 individuals a year, mainly Israeli Jews and primarily study tours in the Christian Quarter. 

Dr. Marcie Lenk devoted her intellectual life and career to organizing educational programs and teaching Jews and Christians (and people of other faiths) to understand and appreciate the basic texts, ideas, history and faith of the other.  She lives in Jerusalem, where she currently serves as the Academic Director of Institute Saint-Pierre de Sion, Ratisbonne: Bat Kol Christian Institute for Jewish Studies. She teaches patristics at the Studium Theologicum Salesianum at Ratisbonne Monastery, and Jewish and Christian texts at Ecce Homo Convent, and the Tantur Ecumenical Institute. For the last six years she served as director of Christian leadership programs at the Shalom Hartman Institute.  

She received her Ph.D. at Harvard University in 2010 with a dissertation entitled, The Apostolic Constitutions: Judaism and Anti-Judaism in the Construction of Christianity, and earned an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School, as well as an M.A. in Bible and B.A. in Mathematics and Jewish Studies from Yeshiva University.  Dr. Lenk has lectured in Europe, Israel, and the United States, and has taught Early Christianity, Hebrew Bible, and Rabbinic Literature at institutions such as Boston University and City College of New York, as well as at Jewish and Christian seminaries in Israel and the United States. 

Born in New York City, Debbie settled in Israel in 1972. Her Ph.D. is from the Hebrew University on the social history of Jewish women's education. She is one of the founding members of Kehillat Yedidya, an Orthodox synagogue in Jerusalem's Bak'a neighborhood which integrates Halacha (Jewish religious law) with feminism, tolerance and pluralism. Debbie is involved with Jewish religious feminism, interfaith dialogue and the religious peace movement. 

Stephanie Saldaña grew up in Texas and received a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College and a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School. In 2004 she went to Damascus to study Islam on a Fulbright scholarship. At the remote Mar Musa monastery in the Syrian desert she found a new relationship with God as well as her future husband, Frédéric, a French novice monk. They now live in Jerusalem with their two children. Saldaña teaches at the Honors College for Liberal Arts and Sciences, a partnership of Bard College and Al-Quds University. She has written two books, The Bread of Angels: A Journey to Love and Faith and A Country Between: Making a Home Where Both Sides of Jerusalem Collide, and is the founder of Mosaic Stories, a project to preserve the threatened cultural heritage of the Middle East through research and storytelling. 

Fr. David Neuhaus is a Jesuit priest, who was born in South Africa, but has lived most of his life in Israel.  He holds an M.A. and PhD in Political Science from Hebrew University, and Pontifical License from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. As a professor he is teaching at the Ratisbonne Seminary, Bethlehem University, and the Seminary of the Latin Catholic Patriarchate. David Neuhaus was the Patriarchal Vicar for Hebrew-speaking Catholics for 8 years, between 2009 and 2017, and the Coordinator of the Pastoral Care for migrant workers and asylum seekers in Israel. 

“Fr. JP”, is a member of the Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).  He was ordained in 1980 and has a Masters of Sacred Theology from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California as well as a Masters of Fine Arts in Theatre from The Catholic University in Washington DC.  He has served as Director of Novices, Assistant Provincial, Director of Formation, and Provincial Assistant for Native Ministry in his years of internal governance within the Jesuits.  He also has ministered with Native peoples on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota working as teacher, superior, president, and superintendent of schools at Red Cloud Indian School.  Prior to coming to Tantur, he was at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He was a participant in Tantur’s 6-week program in 2013 and today is the Rector at Tantur Ecumenical Institute

Dr. Georgios Tsourous is a social anthropologist and an Associate Fellow at the Centre of Ethnographic Studies in the University of Kent. His ethnographic research, funded by the British Academy, involved the investigation of the sociocultural relations between the Christian communities in Jerusalem with a focal point the Church of the Holy Sepuclhre. He has also conducted research in shared sacred sites, religious heritage sites and monastic communities in wider Israel/Palestine, Egypt and Greece. Dr Tsourous advises agencies, organisations and governmental bodies in the UK supporting the Christian communities in the Holy Land. 

Frederic Masson is the Program Director at Tantur Ecumenical Institute, responsible for the oversight of Tantur's continuing education programs and offerings for visiting groups.  Frederic is from the Alpine Mountains of France.  He has lived for 15 years in the Middle East, spending his time between Syria and Jerusalem.  Frederic is a member of the Syriac Catholic Diocese of Jerusalem, and has completed his theological studies with the intention of becoming ordained clergy.  He brings to his position experience with ecumenism, sustainable tourism and Inter-religious dialogue. He is married to Stephanie Saldaña,  a poet, university lecturer, and author of The Bread of Angels. Together they live at Tantur with their three children.