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WEEK OF DECEMBER SUBWAY BOMBER INSPIRED BY ISIS ◄ P.3
14-20 2017
WOMEN OF FAITH RELIGION How three groundbreaking spiritual leaders view their roles in the community
City Council Member Dan Garodnick at the September 2016 ribbon-cutting for the new Trygve Lie Plaza on First Avenue at 41st Street. Photo: Daniel Avila / NYC Department of Parks
BY CHRISTOPHER MOORE
They became the role models they didn’t have. And they did it years before our #MeToo age, with its dramatic shifts in gender politics and women’s empowerment. A year after arguably the world’s most famous woman in politics did not break a glass ceiling, these women — in the realm of religion — do it every day. These Manhattan-based women of faith, at different stages in their New York careers, play different spiritual and professional roles — one at a university, one at a church, one at a synagogue. From different traditions, these women share traits too, like a talent for busting barriers with grace and good humor. Now they’re ready to mark the holidays of 2017 and the New Year with their services. And their own service, too.
Jewelnel Davis: ‘The win is in the diversity’ The Rev. Jewelnel Davis says that part of her work is to walk tenderly through difficult emotions. “This is going to sound sad, and I’m not sad about it,” she says in her basement office at St. Paul’s Chapel at Columbia University. “Chaplains are the keepers of secrets and the keepers of the dead. A lot of the time we are listening to where the soul aches.”
“We are listening to where the soul aches,” says the Rev. Jewelnel Davis, Columbia University chaplain. Photo: Christopher Moore Davis has been listening for 22 years at Columbia, where she is also an associate provost. She likes the challenge and the idea of always being “in learning mode,” she says. “I think one is always humble. One is always aware that there is less that you know than you think you know.” She talks with appreciation about the diversity at Columbia, including a Catholic ministry with links to the neighboring Corpus Christi Church, a vital Hillel presence and a “very active Muslim population.” Davis purposely does not conduct her own weekly services, as some university chaplains do, not wanting to zero in on one faith tradition. Instead, she oversees a rich array of programming, representing a broad swath of beliefs — as well as agnostics and atheists. But she did arrive with a specific sense of mission. She wanted the university to interact more with nearby areas, including Morningside Heights but also reaching out to Washington Heights and Harlem. “We have been able to rebuild and shore up relationships with the communities,” she says, adding that the mission only became more crucial in the aftermath of the university’s high-profile development to the
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north. The idea of becoming a university chaplain came from Davis’s mentor, Jacob Neusner, an academic scholar on Judaism. At a pivotal crossroads, Davis wondered what was next in her career. Neusner asked Davis if she had ever considered becoming a university chaplain. “I said: Do you know any black people who are university chaplains? Do you know any women who are university chaplains?” Davis remembers. “And he said, ‘I don’t know any and it doesn’t mean you can’t be the first.’” After a long tenure at Bard College upstate, Neusner died last year. But he left Davis with powerful memories of their conversations. “I really liked Jack Neusner’s style of teaching and his fundamental belief that religion had to make the link between faith and the life of the mind,” Davis says. She grew up in the Baptist faith, but her work with Neusner underlines her passion for crossing religious traditions. “The win is in the diversity,” she says. Today she estimates that about 40 percent of her job is in one-on-one counseling sessions. But she’s also been a high-profile presence during
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WHAT NEXT FOR GARODNICK? POLITICS In an exit interview, the outgoing East Side Council member reflects on three terms in office, ponders a political future, recounts his accomplishments — and heads for the TV and the kitchen BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
After 12 consequential years in the City Council in which he steered to passage more than 60 pieces of legislation, Dan Garodnick is ready for a small, short break: He’s going to finally take the time to watch “The Wire.” And that’s not all. The 45-year-old Democrat, who is leaving office on December 31st because of term limits, will be trading in politicking and
governing for a new regimen – grocery shopping, cleaning, jogging and cooking for his family. “I make a mean spaghetti and meatballs. Also sausages, fried chicken and chili. Nothing particularly healthy,” he says. “I feel like this is my moment.” Don’t expect it to last. Garodnick is on a very short list of the political players most likely to mount a credible run for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s job in 2021 when the incumbent must depart City
CONTINUED ON PAGE 19 Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, December 15 – 4:11 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com
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