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Federation Star
Celebrating Jewish Life in Collier County, Israel and the World
Federation Star
Happy New Year!
Published by the Jewish Federation of Collier County serving Naples, Marco Island and the surrounding communities
Published by
2500 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Suite 2201 Naples, Florida 34109-0613 Phone: 239.263.4205 Fax: 239.263.3813 www.jewishnaples.org Email: info@jewishnaples.org Officers Board Chair: Jane Schiff Vice Chairs: Karen Deutsch (Chair Elect), Marc Saperstein, Beth Wolff Secretary: Rosalee Bogo Treasurer: Elliot Lerner Immediate Past Chair: Alvin Becker
Board of Directors
Frank Baum, Patti Boochever, Harvey Cohen, Marcia Cohodes, Amanda Dorio, Paula Filler, Merlin Lickhalter, Robin Mintz, Les Nizin, William Petasnick, Joel Pittelman, Stuart Price, Nat Ritter, Michael Rubenstein, Jamie Satz, Betty Schwartz, Arlene Sobol, Steve Strome, Jay Weiss, Jeff Zalasky, Board Member Emeritus: Phyllis Seaman
Past Board Chairs
Gerald Flagel, Dr. William Ettinger, Ann Jacobson (z”l), Sheldon Starman, Bobbie Katz, Rosalee Bogo, Judge Norman Krivosha (z”l)
Synagogue Representatives
Cantor Donna Azu, Sue Baum, Rabbi Ariel Boxman, Steve Chizzik, Rabbi Ammos Chorny, Rabbi Mendel Gordon, Rabbi Mendy Greenberg, Rabbi Mark Gross, Rabbi Howard Herman, Rabbi Adam Miller, Roberta Obler, Rabbi James Perman, Dr. Arthur Seigel, Daryl Sissman, Rabbi Fishel Zaklos
Staff
Jeffrey Feld: Federation CEO/President Reneé Bialek: Program Director Alicia Feldman: PJ Library Coordinator Marcy Friedland: Capital Campaign & Planned Giving Director Janine Hudak: Admin. Coordinator Nathan Ricklefs: Database Manager Kirk Wisemayer: Annual Community Campaign Director Teresa Zimmerman: Finance & Operations Manager
Federation is the central Jewish community-building organization for Greater Naples, providing a social service network that helps Jewish people locally, in Israel and around the world. As the central fundraising organization for Jewish communal life in our area, strength is drawn from organized committees of dedicated volunteers. Programs include: • Annual Campaign & Endowment Fund • Celebrate Israel • Educational & Cultural Programs • Israel Advocacy Committee • Israel Scouts • Jewish Book Festival • Jewish Community Relations Council • Jewish Young Professionals • Jewish Russian Cultural Alliance • Men’s Cultural Alliance • PJ Library • Publication of the Federation Star, Connections and Community Directory • Women’s Cultural Alliance • Women’s Division • Youth Activities Committee – sponsoring youth education and scholarships for Jewish Summer Camp and Israel Experience
JEWISH FEDERATION
January 2022
Reneé Bialek Program Director
T
his month is filled with Book Festival events, Zoom meet and greets and more! Catholic-Jewish Dialogue will discuss “On Heaven and Earth,” a book written by Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Pope Francis. Everyone is invited to attend this free book discussion event on Sunday, Jan. 16. Save the date: Rabbi Skorka will give a live presentation on Sunday, Feb. 20 at 3 p.m. $18 tickets can be purchased via our website at www.jewishnaples.org. The MLK Jr. Parade will be a virtual program on Monday, Jan. 17.
The Jewish Book Festival will offer a wide variety of genres, with something for everyone! The month of January, there are four virtual and in-person events — Jan. 6, Jan. 12, Jan. 19 and Jan. 25. PJ Library and Jewish Families with Young Children are invited to the park for activities and fun on Sunday, Jan. 30 at 3 p.m. Please make a reservation with Alicia at programs@jewishnaples.org. The People of the Book Jewish Book Festival is next month, Wednesday, Feb. 2. Tickets are being sold on the website. If you would like to be a patron for People of the Book, please contact me. As a POB Patron, you will enjoy dinner with author Joshua Greene before the presentation. Please register at www.jewishnaples. org or via our weekly e-blasts for each of these programs. The Zoom link will be emailed two hours prior to the start of each program.
These programs are advertised in the weekly e-blast, which is sent out on Monday mornings. If you are not getting them, please let me know so we can get you connected. We have a variety of groups and committees at Jewish Federation of Greater Naples, such as PJ Library, Jewish Families with Young Children, Cardozo Legal Society, Catholic-Jewish Dialogue, Israel Advocacy Committee and Jewish Community Relations Council. Please join the group and/or committee that best fits your needs. A taste of each one can be found throughout our website at www.jewishnaples.org. If you have an idea for a program or want to be a guest speaker or facilitator, please contact me at rbialek@ jewishnaples.org.
Rabbi Skorka: what promotes fellowship in a shared history By Richard Price, CJD Committee Member
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apal Bulls are official statements by the head of the Roman Catholic Church, sometimes applied to imperial documents. Bulls bearing the seal of the reigning Pope’s dealing with Jewish matters were numerous. A Bull issued by Calixtus II around 1120 was a general Bull of Protection for the Jews, who had suffered in the First Crusade and were maltreated by Christian neighbors. It forbade killing them, using force to convert them and otherwise molesting them. Innocent IV in 1247 urged an end to murder and persecution for the baseless blood libel. Sixtus V in 1586 relieved the Jews of many oppressive social and economic restrictions that had been imposed upon them by Paul IV and Pius V. These examples and others have one redeeming attribute. They were humanitarian in intent. Murder, maltreatment, forced conversion and other forms of molestation were forbidden. Nevertheless, these all too few constructive papal and ecclesiastical pronouncements, overturned and overshadowed by a plethora of blatantly antisemitic and abhorrent decrees, failed in four fundamental respects. First, they ignored the peoplehood of the Jewish community as legitimate, with common concerns and aspirations mirroring other communities of that time and geography. Second, they failed to recognize and/or respect the ethical and moral values of the Jewish community, cherished by the Jewish people as well as developed through a Jewish commitment to scholarship. Third, they did not respect nor appreciate the divine nature of Judaic teachings to the Jewish people and Judaic philosophy as an inspiration and contribution to the establishment and moral underpinning of Christianity. Finally, they never internalized the intensity of Jewish faith and collective opposition to conversion. By these measures, Christians shared common antisemitic
prejudices, with a wide historical trail of catastrophic results for the Jewish people. On June 5, 1960, Pope John XXIII created the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. At that meeting the secretariat’s members and consultors were surprised to receive a second mandate, an interreligious one dealing with Catholic-Jewish relations. Pope John had had a conversation with Jules Isaac Amitié, an 81-year-old French Jew who was leader of a Paris-based study group of about 60 Jews and Christians. Amitié had proposed a program of action that could radically change Christian-Jewish relations by first correcting those “theologically inexact concepts and presentations of the Gospel of Love” that place Jews in spiritual and physical ghettos. Isaac had prepared a memorandum that sketched the history of Catholic teachings, legislation and actions toward the Jews. Ultimately, Pope John XXIII mandated that the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity should also facilitate reflection on “the Jewish question” during its preparation for their council. A few knowledgeable Jesuit colleagues suggested consulting the so-called “Jewish pope,” Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress and co-chairman of the World Conference of Jewish Organizations. Goldmann produced a memorandum that stressed Catholic-Jewish “cooperation in opposing all forms of racial prejudice and religious intolerance.” The result of all this, was the promulgation of Nostra Aetate’s six-year journey. The final vote by the Bishops on Oct. 28, 1965, the day of solemn proclamation, saw only 88 of 2,312 bishops registering dissent. Nostra Aetate helped open the church to living dialogues with other communities of faith — respecting each one’s identity, ritual and conduct. This dialogue begins with “what human beings have in common and what promotes fellowship” in a shared history. For us, the Jewish community of Naples, Rabbi Skorka’s presence and a
25-year history with Pope Francis is living proof of “what promotes fellowship in a shared history.” Discussion between rabbis and Catholic officials is not unique. But the nature of a true dialogue between Rabbi Skorka and Pope Francis is truly historic by its depth, intensity and durability. To quote Rabbi Skorka, “Nostra Aetate enabled Jorge Bergoglio (Pope Francis) and I to become brothers. We were given the opportunity, and the duty, to advance the journey that Nostra Aetate began by being living examples of its possibilities for the members of our respective communities and for the world. Perhaps it was all meant to be.” To quote Pope Francis, “So I thank [the Holy Spirit] for allowing this to happen for being with us on this journey, brother and friend, these are my feeling for him.”
RABBI SKORKA When: Feb. 20 at 3 p.m. Where: In the Ballroom of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, 625 111th Ave. N., Naples. The Ballroom is in the building directly behind the church. All are invited. For tickets: jewishnaples.org This program is brought to you by the Catholic-Jewish Dialogue of the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples.
