Volume XXII, Issue XVI | www.thejewishvoice.org Serving Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts
SENIORS
10 Cheshvan 5777 | November 11, 2016
Archbishop: We all want God BY FRAN OSTENDORF fostendorf@jewishallianceri.org
PROVIDENCE – Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, was the draw as close to 600 people fi lled St. Dominic Chapel on the Providence College campus on Nov. 3. The crowd was a mixed faith group, judging from the number of kippot in the audience, as well as other religious garb. Dolan, the keynote speaker in PC’s Theological Exchange Between Catholics and Jews lecture series, was charged with talking about “Catholic and Jewish Dialogue: 2000 Years But Just Beginning.” He spoke about the Second Vatican Council’s Nostra Aetate, the landmark document that decried anti-Semitism and asserted that Jews could not be blamed for killing Jesus. Issued 50 years ago, it opened a dia-
Cardinal Timothy Dolan logue between Jews and Catholics that forever improved the
relationship between the two religions. Dolan pointed out that John Paul II, who served as pope from 1978 to 2005, went on to restart a conversation that had been interrupted many years earlier. “He wanted to recover the primacy of the spiritual. The church’s most natural ally was the Jews,” Dolan said, adding that the pope believed that the Jewish community would share his sense of urgency in this matter. That sense of urgency stemmed from a trip John Paul made to his native Poland, according to Dolan. In a Warsaw square during the Communist era, as thousands and thousands gathered, people began to chant: “We want God. We want God.” As Dolan recounted, JohnARCHBISHOP | 2
OP-ED
Jesse Itzler
Why Trump dominated Jewish coverage of the 2016 campaign BY ANDREW SILOWCARROLL JTA – On Monday [Nov. 7], one day before Election Day, I received a call from a reader. She identified herself as a Reform Jew, 46, from Chicago. She had praise for JTA and our daily newsletter, but also a complaint: Our emphasis on the Trump campaign, including charges over the weekend that a cam-
paign ad of his was reminiscent of anti-Jewish propaganda, led readers like her to believe that we were clearly biased in favor of Hillary Clinton. I was able to say in all honestly that our staff had been discussing that very idea moments before she called. On our homepage that morning were 11 stories about the campaign. Four of the stories I would call “neutral” in the sense that
they focused on both candidates (one reported on a poll in Israel, another on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying his government won’t intervene in the U.S. elections). Six stories focused on Trump or his campaign. No story focused exclusively on Clinton or hers. That suggests something, but not political bias. We try to be 2016 CAMPAIGN | 26
Itzler inspires as the community celebrates the Annual Campaign BY STEPHANIE HAGUE SHAGUE@JEWISHALLIANCERI.ORG Inspiration and motivation were the keys to the evening as the community celebrated Oct. 30, at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island’s annual campaign event. Held this year at Temple Emanu-El, attendees heard a lively presentation from entre-
preneur, philanthropist and author Jesse Itzler about his professional journey and the life lessons he learned while living with a Navy SEAL for 30 days. Itzler shared anecdotes about his business endeavors, such as writing the New York Knicks theme song, from which he created an entire “sports music” industry, his initial fi rst failing ITZLER | 16