New Delhi
27 January 2006
To reach out to Indians, Israel has undertaken a unique project of
inscribing the Bible in Hindi. The "People of the World Inscribe the Bible" is part of an
international project where individuals from different countries across the globe inscribe
verses from the Bible in their own language.
The first verse of the Bible was written in Hindi during the inaugural ceremony of the
project at the Book Fair at Pragati Maidan on Friday. Israel's Ambassador to India David
Danieli and Pastor Isaac J Shaw, Executive Director of Delhi Bible Institute were present
on the occasion.
Mr Dan Oryan, head of literature section in the division for cultural and scientific affairs,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, said the idea was "to open Israel to public" in
collaboration with countries of the world. The individuals who inscribe the Bible will be
entitled to a certificate of honour.
"The complete collection of the original inscriptions from all over the world will be
deposited in the House of the Bible, which is to be constructed in the Valley of the Bible
in Israel," he told this newspaper.
The Bible Valley, spread over 25 thousand acres, is estimated to take a decade to be
built. Visitors can have the "Biblical experience" in terms of dress, trees and herbs, food
and building methods employed in ancient times. A Bible Valley brand of wine is also
planned.
"We hope to bring Hindi to the Bible Valley when the inscribing is complete," Mr Oryan
said. He added that the Lalit Kala Academy has been approached to design the cover
and select pages of the book. There is also a plan to inscribe the Bible using certain
regional Indian languages like Marathi and Tamil.
A similar exercise was held in October last year at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The project of
inscribing the Bible will be taken to the London Jewish Book Fair in the United Kingdom
in February and then to France, Lithuania, Geneva in Switzerland and Buenos Aires in
Argentina.
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