Evangelical Lutheran School of Talitha Kumi, Beit Jala

History | The Berlin Mission | The Jerusalem Society | Contact Info

In the story of the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus from the dead, the Evangelist Mark writes: “And taking the child by the hand he said to her, “Talitha Kumi!” which means, “Little girl, I tell you to get up.” (Mark 5:41)

The large, wooded campus of the Evangelical Lutheran School of Talitha Kumi is located above the town of Beit Jala, adjacent to Bethlehem, 12 kilometers south of Jerusalem. The school enrolls approximately 900 Christian and Muslim boys and girls in preschool through Grade 12. Founded by Lutheran deaconesses in the nineteenth century, the school is proud of its educational traditions and relationship with the German churches, most notably the Berliner Missionswerk, the main financial sponsor.

History

In 1851 Theodor Fliedner, the founder of the Diakoniewerk in Kaiserwerth, Germany, and four deaconesses established an orphanage in Jerusalem for Arab girls. This was the first educational program for the female youth of Palestine. By 1858 thirty-two Arab, Jewish and Armenian girls, boarded in an orphanage, were students in Fliedner’s school. In 1868 a new house opened with the present name. The enrollment later increased to more than 500 girls. In 1905 a deaconess school and teacher training program for Middle Eastern women began.

The First World War ended this work. The British interned the deaconess sisters in Egypt, but in 1925 the deaconesses returned to Talitha Kumi; the school reopened the following year with room for thirty-five boarding school students.

In 1933 home economics and sewing school and a kindergarten training program were added. By 1939 seventeen deaconesses were working in Talitha Kumi, which included an elementary and secondary school. The teaching training and the deaconess school were discontinued, however. The outbreak of the Second World War again brought the work in Talitha Kumi to a halt; the deaconesses were once again interned by the British.

According to the armistice agreement in 1949 after the Jewish-Arab War, Talitha Kumi was part of Israel, which took control of the land and building in Jerusalem, but work continued in the Jordanian section of Palestine. The Jerusalem Society transferred its parish in Beit Jala to the Kaieserwerth deaconesses as the base for a new Talitha Kumi. Arab refugee children living in difficult conditions were accepted as students as a new elementary and secondary school, including a vocational building, were constructed.

Two kilometres from Beit Jala a new Talitha Kumi opened officially in 1961. In 1975 the Berlin Mission adopted the school, and coeducation began in 1980 with the enrolment of boys. Building continued with the addition of the new biology classroom, chemistry laboratory, language lab and sports facilities. Program innovations continued despite the disruptions to the school’s operation during the civil unrest and political restrictions of the Intifada of 1988-1991.

Changes continued. The Palestinian Autonomy Authority assumed responsibility for education in 1994. Vocational training began in 1995, and in 2000 Talitha Kumi received the official PNA License for Community Colleges. In 1997 the school became part of the UNESCO- Schools network.

The Berlin Mission

The Berlin Mission is the school sponsor of Talitha Kumi and shares educational responsibility with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (ELCJ), which maintains three other schools and a boy’s boarding school.

The Berlin Mission oversees the partnerships between the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg and the affiliated Evangelical Churches with churches in the Middle East, on the Horn of Africa, in Latin America, in East Asia, in Tanzania and in southern Africa.

The Mission Society receives subsidies from churches in Germany. However, to an increasing degree it is dependent on voluntary contributions and gifts in order to fulfil the many tasks and requests of its partners overseas.

The Jerusalem Society

The Jerusalem Society began its Lutheran mission activity in Palestine in 1852. It saw its calling in the founding, maintenance, and promotion of Lutheran schools and parishes in the Holy Land.

In 1959 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (ELCJ) became autonomous. Today this church encompasses four parishes, four schools and a boy’s boarding school on the West Bank and a fifth parish in Amman, Jordan’s capital. Arab bishops have led the church since 1979.

In 1975 the Jerusalem Society transferred its work to the Berlin Mission, which took over the responsibility for Talitha Kumi in the same year. The Jerusalem Society within the Berlin Mission supports the parish and school work of the ELCJ and arranges school sponsorships for Palestinian children.

Guesthouse

Tourists, pilgrims, youth groups and individual travelers stay at the Talitha Kumi guesthouse the year round. It has over 48 beds and three large recreation rooms. Guests can choose between single, double or triple bedrooms with breakfast, half or full board as desired. Autos can also be rented. The unusual combination of a school with a guesthouse facilitates contacts between young Palestinians and their families. Visitors who come to Talitha Kumi for the day receive help and advice in planning their individual programs or in arranging to meet Palestinians from the Church, the schools, or other groups. German volunteers, students from the Hotel Training School and Arab co-workers help to make such visits special experiences. An up-to-date price list can be obtained through the Middle East Desk of the Berlin Mission.

Contact Information