2006 - Rothberg International School

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FOCUS 32 13
Bible Translators Program Flourishes
in the Land of the Bible
Nestled in the mountains of the
Jerusalem suburb Mevasseret
Zion is the Home for Bible
Translators (HBT). Established in 1995,
the Home runs a program together
with the RIS for bible translators who
come from abroad to study Modern
and Biblical Hebrew, translating and
text analyses.
Miriam Ronning, a Bible translator
from Finland who has been living in
Israel for the last 25 years, organized
the program out of her love for the
Bible and for Israel. “I personally exp
perienced the difference between
translating with and without a Hebp
braic background,” explains Ronning.
“We talked to linguistic societies who
acknowledged the lack of Hebrew
amongst their translators. Our studp
dents are all professional translators
before they come here. They all come
out of their love for the Bible.”
Most of the students who come are
citizens of African and West African
countries, such as Cameroon, Toga,
Benin, Chad and Nigeria. However,
there is an increasing presence from
Zumbeck Molonz
Asian countries. This year, the Home
has students for the first time from
Papua New Guinea and Mongolia.
Zumbeck Molonz, from Papua New
Guinea, has been peripherally invp
volved in Bible translation since 1972,
when he worked as a consultant
for a linguistic organization to help
its members learn his language. He
worked in the pastoral ministry for
the Lutheran Church before coming
to work as a Bible translator. Although
Papua New Guinea is a small country,
about the size of the state of Californp
nia, its population speaks a total of
855 indigenous languages. Thus, the
need for a national team supervised
by the Bible Translation Association
that will work together to translate
the Old and New Testaments into all
of those languages.
Molonz came to Israel together with
a colleague from the team, Victor
Opung. “Our main interest is that we
want to learn the language and not
have others come and teach it to
us,” he says. “This is a wonderful start.
Knowing Biblical Hebrew enriches
knowledge and understanding of the
text.”
Although most students at the Home
for Bible Translators leave their families
back home when they come to study
for a semester at the RIS, Bayaraa Gar
ram came to study together with his
wife Yanjaa, who was also accepted
to the HBT program. In addition, the
couple has two children, Michael, 4,
and Grace, 2. Instead of living at the
Home in Mevasseret, the couple lives
about 10 minutes away in a small
rented apartment. Bayaraa and Yanjaa
are the first students from Mongolia to
study at the RIS. Bayaraa is also the first
student to receive a scholarship for his
tuition from the Foreign Ministry becp
cause of his outstanding academic
performance.
Bayaraa is currently a graduate studp
dent at the Gordon-Conwell Theolp
logical Seminary outside of Boston,
although his Bachelor’s degree, from
a university in Mongolia, was in Bankip
ing and Finance. Both Bayaraa and
Yanjaa grew up in Ulaanbaatar, the
capital of Mongolia. Bayaraa worked
Bayaraa and Yanjaa Garam with children Michael and Grace.
as a finance manager for six years
and was simultaneously involved
with the Christian Ministry. All along,
he was extremely interested in how
the Bible [Old and New Testaments]
came to be translated into Mongolp
lian and wanted to try to access the
original texts. However, he knew neitp
ther Hebrew nor Greek and was thus
limited to English translations. Before
commencing his graduate studies,
Bayaraa worked as a project manager,
overseeing the translation of a Bible
dictionary into Mongolian. The projep
ect took two years and the end result
was 900 pages. He also worked as a
translator in different fields, including
economics and finance, as well as
Bible related material. Only after accp
cruing a significant amount of translp
lating experience did he embark on
graduate studies in the United States.
“My vision is to translate both Bibles
into Mongolian from their original
languages,” he says. “There is a need
to reflect the original Bible as closely
as possible.”
Yanjaa studied in a teacher training
college to become an elementary
school teacher and she also received
her B.A. in Business Administration.
However, she too left her original
field of study and began working as a
Mongolian language tutor and Englp
lish language translator for five years
for Christian missions in Mongolia.
She then worked as a project manap
ager for World Vision, a humanitarian
Christian organization, which helps
to improve the condition of children
in developing countries. While her
(cont. on page 16)
Nativ directors, past and present, pose at the 25th anniversary gala dinner. From left to right:
RIS Vice Provost Shimon Lipsky Nativ 1-8
David Keren Nativ 9-24
Yossi Garr Nativ 25
Newsletter of the
T he Nativ College Leadership Program Rothberg in Israel, International a joint venture School of the
Hebrew University and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaip
ism, celebrated its 25th anniversary at a gala happening in the Shalp
lom Jerusalem Hotel in early January. Over 230 people were in attendance,
including alumni and current students.
RIS Vice Provost Shimon Lipsky was the first director of the Nativ program
and has been involved in all aspects of the program. He helped to create
the program and served as its director for eight years. When he first came
to work at the RIS, he supervised Nativ’s academic program. “The success
of the program has been overwhelming,” asserts Lipsky. “It has served as a
model for programs of a similar nature that combine leadership training and
academic studies.”
Nativ’s popularity has been growing in recent years. This year, a record numbp
ber of 64 students studied at the RIS, and David Keren, the director of USY
programs in Israel, expects that number to increase next year. “I think there
has been a change in the mindset in the USY movement. People are beginnp
ning to understand that spending a year in Israel before college is a valuable
option,” Keren explains. “Of course, as the program becomes more popular,
word of mouth helps, and so does the quality of the program.”
Nativ students spend an exclusive mini-semester and autumn semester at
the RIS. They live at Beit Nativ, in Jerusalem's center, and participate in culturap
al and social activities within the Nativ Institute. During the spring semester,
participants choose between living on a kibbutz and community service.