Last night, Temple Emanu-El held a special Shabbat service honoring Timothy Cardinal Dolan, who retired last month after 16 years as the archbishop of New York. This an an excerpt of the rabbi’s remarks.
In the Jewish lectionary cycle we are currently reading the story of the Exodus from Egypt. Moses appears repeatedly before Pharaoh demanding, “Let my people go.” Moses had never imagined himself in this role. And when first called by God to assume it, he objects: “Who am I that I should stand before Pharaoh. Who am I that I should rescue the Israelites from Egypt.”
Indeed, the rabbis of old wondered why God chose Moses for the task. And to answer, they share a legend, not in the Torah, but recorded in their own commentaries, about Moses tending the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro. One day one of those sheep wandered away from the herd. Moses realized that one was missing. And so, he backtracked to find the sheep crouching by a pool of water drinking thirstily. And then lifting the animal in his arms, he said, “Had I known you were thirsty I would have brought you water myself. Now you must be tired. Let me carry you back to the rest of the flock.”
God observed the kind-hearted shepherd and declared, if this man demonstrates such concern with the flocks of a mortal, I will entrust to his care my flock, Israel.
In the coming days, we will bid farewell to an individual who for both Catholics and non-Catholics alike has become a shepherd. He has given his love to the people of this city, and it has loved him back.
Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan is an individual of such extraordinary warmth and compassion, to call him a mensch is not just trite but inadequate. His manner creates an intimacy that is truly rare. He makes you feel at home in his presence.
At his core, even with all the administrative responsibilities that come with leading the Archdiocese of New York, Cardinal Dolan is what he has always been — a pastor. The ability to look at another human being and witness the pain and the joy and the loneliness and the image of the Divine — that is what makes him so rare.
In the world of interreligious affairs, there are those who seek to rally allies and there are those who seek to become friends. Allies are important. We need them when our community or our values come under attack. But too often relationships between religious leaders and communities are rooted in allyship and its inherent quid pro quo.
I much prefer friends. Friends do not need to be asked to show up. And to the Jewish community Cardinal Dolan has been a devoted friend. Whenever an event occurred, nearby or far away, that he knew would affect our community’s physical or emotional safety, he would call and ask, “Josh, can I come over and pray with you tonight?”
After the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, the first call I received was from Cardinal Dolan. He was in Rome, and he phoned because he wanted all of us to know he was thinking of us, that he would be present for us whenever we needed him, and because he wanted the Archdiocese to make a contribution to relieve Israel’s suffering and he was seeking guidance from local rabbis as to where the funds should go.
And none of us will ever forget his public, published statement just hours after the attack supporting Israel’s right to defend itself. He knew that Israel would come under rhetorical assault from every direction as soon as it even contemplated responding to Hamas. And he wanted to make clear where he stood. It was an extraordinary act of solidarity.
But I think my favorite interaction with Cardinal Dolan reaches back to his earliest years as New York’s archbishop. I was serving a congregation in Westchester at the time, but was in the city walking around Midtown when this man wearing an Irish flat cap and a warm smile nodded to me on the street as he passed. A scarf covered his collar so nothing about his dress identified him. And it took me a moment to realize who had greeted me. But when I did, I remember saying to myself, “I would like to meet this man someday.”
The pulpit of Temple Emanu-El has given me many blessings. One of them has been the opportunity not just to meet Cardinal Dolan, but to become his friend. And I am so thankful.
Davidson holds the Peter and Mary Kalikow Senior Rabbinic Chair of Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York.
