Rabbis Hail New Archbishop Who Feels Right At Home

Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, left, and Archbishop Timothy Michael Dolan. Photo by Tim Boxer

by Tim Boxer

The Rev. Timothy Michael Dolan, formerly of Milwaukee, was welcomed as the new archbishop of the Big Apple by the New York Board of Rabbis last week at Park Avenue Synagogue.

Adjusting his black skullcap, Dolan looked at his yarmulke-covered Jewish audience and remarked, “At my church I’m the only one who wears a skullcap. Here, I feel among so many friends.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg observed: “We have a cardinal, archbishop, governor, mayor and a few rabbis. I’d say we are close to having a minyan.”

The ceremony also honored Dolan’s predecessor, Cardinal Edward Egan, archbishop emeritus of New York.

Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue started with a bit of spiritual humor:
Three clergymen talked about

how each wanted to be remembered by visitors to his grave. The priest said, “I hope they’d say I was a good man who brought his flock closer to God.”

The minister said, “I hope they’d say I tended to the needs of my congregation.”

The rabbi said, “I hope one would say to the other, ‘I think he’s moving.’”

Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, NYBR executive vice president, recalled coming to St. Patrick’s Cathedral with tickets for a special event. He noticed an old woman sad of heart.

She said she wanted desperately to come in but had no ticket. Rabbi Potasnik had an extra one and gave it to her.

The woman thanked him: “Only in New York do you get into church with a ticket from a rabbi!”
As Rabbi Yaakov Kermaier of Fifth Avenue Synagogue presented a shofar to Egan, the cardinal chuckled, “I’m going to Juilliard to learn how to play it.”
The humor didn’t end there. Rabbi Charles A. Klein, NYBR president, told about a widow and widower who met for an introductory meal. After dessert the old man asked, “Will you marry me?” and the elderly woman said yes.

Next day the man couldn’t remember if she had said yes or no. He called her. “When I asked you to marry me, did you say yes or no?

“I said yes. By the way, I’m glad you called. I couldn’t remember who I spoke to.”

Not to be outdone, Cardinal Egan shared a story about McGuiness who got into a fight and was thrown into a vat of beer. “Oh Lord,” he pleaded, “give me a mouth worthy of this occasion.”

Amazing Fathers Of The Year
When the National Father’s Day Council selected Jonathan Tisch to receive a Father of the Year Award, he overheard his three children asking, “Did we get to vote on this?”

Tisch, co-chairman of Loews Corporation and CEO of Loews Hotels, joined five other distinguished gentlemen at the 68th annual event at the New York Sheraton, including Ronald Wurtzburger.

As president of Peerless Clothing, the largest producer of menswear on the continent — whose clients include Calvin Klein, Chaps, Donna Karan and Izod — Wurtzburger has his hands full. Yet he finds time to serve as co-chair of the menswear division of UJA and vice president of Park East Synagogue, where he calls Rabbi Arthur Schneier “my mentor.”

Six years ago, after Wurtzburger was stricken with prostate cancer, he got involved in helping others who were suffering from the same disease.

“Your children see you working for good causes,” he said, “and soon they do the same. Our grandchildren now do the same. They gave their bar mitzvah money to other children in need. I wish my parents could see how their guidance enabled three generations to work for charity.”

MSNBC journalist Chris Matthews, as emcee of the awards ceremony, also honored Duke University basketball coach Michael Krzyzewski, ABC journalist George Stephanopoulos, motor legend Al Unser and Gen. David Petraeus who was detained in Washington by his commander in chief.

Tisch was on familiar ground at the Sheraton. He said he began his career in the hotel industry in 1968 when it was the Americana, a Loews property. “I started out behind the desk.”

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