Wiesel, Gov. Patterson join celebration of Kermaier installation as president of the New York Board of Rabbis

By Jeanette Friedman

NEW YORK–Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Prof. Elie Wiesel and New York Governor David Patterson participated in the installation of Rabbi Yaakov Kermaier, spiritual leader of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, to his new post as President of The New York Board of Rabbis. Congregants and well-wishers packed the East 62th Street sanctuary on the seventh night of Chanukah as Kermaier and the other NYBR officers and members of the Board of Governors were installed. Master of Ceremonies was the humorous and highly-regarded Rabbi Joe Potasnik, Executive Director of the rabbinical board.  Potasnik’s wit and wisdom are familiar to fans of his WINS and WABC radio programs. The Chanukah candles were blessed by world-renowned Cantor Joseph Malovany.

The New York Board of Rabbis, the largest interdenominational rabbinical organization in the world, includes rabbis from many Jewish pathways who focus on matters of common interest.  The Board’s extensive chaplaincy program provides rabbis wherever needed – in hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living centers and centers for the disabled. Additional programs involve professional development seminars, advocacy for social justice and community education.

As he bid farewell to past-president Rabbi Charles Klein of Dix Hills, Potasnik thanked him for “turning the silver he had been given into gold.” Concluding his term, Rabbi Klein explained the history of the interdenominational organization.  He carried out the ceremonial “changing of the guard,” by handing Dr. Walter Molofsky, President of Fifth Avenue synagogue, the Torah Mantle that resides in the Board President’s home synagogue.  Throughout Rabbi Kermaier’s term, it will remain in the Holy Ark of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue. Klein applauded Potasnik for his leadership and recognized the valuable work of Rabbi Diana Manber, founder of Dayenu, the group’s domestic violence prevention unit.

As keynote speaker, Prof. Wiesel delivered a Talmudic inquiry on the role of a rabbi and his followers, wondering aloud if the rebbe is a friend to the chassid, or if the chassid is friend to the rebbe. Speaking in parables and scriptural and rabbinical anecdotes, he pointed out that the rebbe is a teacher who deposits in his students wisdom received from heaven, history and knowledge. Weisel spoke about rabbis as leaders and members of the community, noting that the quest for truth does not remove them from humanity, and emphasized that Torah knowledge used without fear of God may be considered evil and abusive.

Wiesel also spoke of the suffering and the challenges we face when history is too turbulent, when people of all religions lose faith in the economy, in the political system, when ideals and values are ridiculed and wisdom is downgraded. He said it means that we are more challenged than ever to be good people, to care about others. He also spoke about the need for a strong Jewish State, and the importance of its survival to the Jews in the Diaspora.  He recalled his first meeting with the Dalai Lama, who asked that Wiesel teach him how to teach his people how to survive in exile.

The key to Jewish survival, said Wiesel is continued study of the knowledge of Torah, “The Book” that has kept the Jewish people alive for millennia.

In his inaugural address, Rabbi Kermaier, who was the rabbi in Hong Kong before his appointment to the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, spoke of how Jacob’s favoritism of Joseph ripped the brothers apart. He noted that the opposite of such schisms was characteristic of the NYBR, where rabbis spend time working on programs, using the vast expanse of their common ground to pursue the goals of Knesset Yisrael, talking amongst themselves as brothers. He underscored the importance of a safe Israel, and spoke of the perils of a nuclear-capable Iran and Ahmadinejad’s efforts to delegitimize the State of Israel. 

The rabbi recalled the ancient Greeks, who viewed fire as the dominant, all-powerful element in the world.  He said that the late Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Goren, saw important symbolism in the fact that fire could not consume a small, pure cruse of oil. He concluded by saying that a united House of Israel with moral clarity and a sense of mission is represented by this cruse of oil. Even an inferno of hatred cannot consume it.

The Israel Defense Forces Choir performed Chanukah songs and an Israeli medley that included a memorial to fallen soldiers of the IDF.  All joined together in singing Jerusalem of Gold. A celebratory buffet, complete with latkes and sufganiot, capped the evening.

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Friedman is the San Diego Jewish World bureau chnief in the greater New York City area.