| Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, the Rabbi of Temple Israel in Great Neck, New York, for over 50 years, died at his home on August 10, 2002. He was 85 years of age. Two days later, Dr. Eugene Fisher, Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, eulogized his friend at his funeral. Excerpts from the eulogy follow:
Rabbi Waxman, in the words of Cardinal Keeler, has been over the decades the chief religious ‘statesman' of the Jewish People to the Catholic Church, and to Christians in general. In this capacity he has helped to guide us through the numerous controversies of the period, many of which involved at their heart a reconsideration by the Church of the implications of the Shoah for our teaching and self-understanding.
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| Cardinals Keeler and O'Connor talk with Rabbi Waxman in 1997 |
In 1998, the Holy See showed its gratitude to Rabbi Waxman for his many years of work in the dialogue by naming him Knight Commander of St. Gregory the Great, a papal honor dating back to 1831. Interestingly, this was a knighthood originally awarded to those deemed “defenders of the Papal States,” an honor which makes sense if one acknowledges that the best ‘defense' anyone has in life is the honest appraisal and even criticism of close friends. As Cardinal Keeler said in presenting the honor, “Over the years, Rabbi Waxman has been a consistent peacemaker. He has worked for reconciliation between the Jewish people and the Catholic Church. He has been a firm but fair teacher to all of us in the dialogue.”
My friend, Mordy, has helped my generation of Catholics to understand and to see what the future, a future based on mutual esteem and reconciliation between us as peoples of faith called into being by the One God, the God of Israel, might be like for the betterment of all humanity. Mordecai Waxman was in the fullest sense a blessing to the Catholic community of this country and the world. May his name be forever a blessing in our memories.
The CCJU remembers with gratitude the friend and powerful force that Rabbi Waxman was in the improvement of relations between Jews and Christians. In 1997, he received the CCJU Nostra Aetate Award with Cardinal William H. Keeler, archbishop of Baltimore and Bishop Krister Stendahl, bishop emeritus of the Lutheran Church of Stockholm, Sweden, for his “commitment to dialogue and action on important moral, ethical and religious issues." Earlier, Rabbi Waxman had published an article, “Progress in Jewish-Christian Dialogue,” (Towards Greater Understanding: Essays in Honor of John Cardinal O'Connor, edited by Anthony J. Cernera, Sacred Heart University Press, 1995), where he wrote, “And there is reason to hope that another generation will build upon the achievements of this generation and transform possibility into reality.” We believe that he is correct.
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