The Pope The Cardinal and The Rabbi

The Pope The Cardinal and The Rabbi

The Pope, a Cardinal and a Rabbi walk into bar.  Just kidding, well sort of. As most everyone knows, Pope Francis has come to America. I found it ironic that his visit to our country coincided with Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement and the holiest day of the year for us members of the tribe. Not only do we have 2 major religious events on the same day but, it just so happens that 20 years ago, my Rabbi had a front row seat when Pope John Paul II came to Giants Stadium.

Back in 1995, the Senior Rabbi at Temple B’nai Jeshurun (TBJ), where the Berkowitz family has been a member for the past 24 years, was Rabbi Barry Greene. A little history about TBJ:  It is the largest and oldest reform Jewish congregation in the state of New Jersey. It was founded in 1848 in Newark, by the influx of mostly German Jews coming to America from Eastern Europe. German Jews were big on assimilation. In other words we can know we’re Jewish but we don’t you to know we’re Jewish.

When my family first joined TBJ, I was one of a handful of congregants to wear a yarmulke (a Jewish skullcap) during services. That’s the way I was brought up – when in Temple, you wore a yarmulke. I learned that Germanic Jews very often shied away from any outward display of Judaism, which I discussed with Rabbi Greene.

In the 1950s, Rabbi Greene served as a Chaplain in the US Navy. His commanding office was Rear Admiral John O’Connor, Chief of Naval Chaplains. Yes, that John O’Connor, who would go to become Cardinal O’Connor, Archbishop of New York…and that’s how The Pope, The Cardinal and The Rabbi came together in Giants Stadium.

Rabbi Greene was invited by Cardinal O’Connor to sit with his delegation on the day the Pope spoke in New Jersey. Just like Bob Uecker, there’s my Rabbi, “sitting in the front row.” Might not have been the front row, but it sure was close. A couple of daze later, I happen to run into Rabbi Greene on Millburn Avenue just as he had left the one hour photo store (remember those???), where he picked up his pictures from his day with The Cardinal and The Pope. He very proudly shared those photos with him, and was quick to point the red skullcap The Pope was wearing. “Look,” he said to me. “The Pope is wearing a yarmulke.”

To this day, every time I put on my bright orange and blue yarmulke, I can’t help but think “just like The Pope.” Only mine is a slightly different color.