Editorial
Good News — Bad News

Jerusalem — The Mideast Jewel

The Talk — Youth Asks

Our Roots
Angels — How Similar Are We?

What do?
Catholics and Jews Believe

Enlightening News

News Items

Jewish and Catholic Icons

Archive

Jewish and Catholic Icons

JEWISH

Leo Baech
(1873-1956) Unified German Jewry

Born in Lissa, Posen, Prussia, he received a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Berlin, Germany. He held Rabbi positions in various German cities, especially Berlin (1912-42). Known as a liberal, he became a moral resistance against the Nazis. Through his agency he provided Jews with economic aid, emigration assistance, and educational and spiritual opportunities.
After suffering five arrests, he was put into the Theresienstadt concentration camp. He was one of the 9,000 survivors out of 140,000 inmates. While he was interned, he set up education classes including lectures on philosophy. On May 8, 1945, he was liberated by the Russians.

After the war, he taught and lectured in England and the United States. He spoke about the pros and cons of German Jews who had committed themselves to assimilating with western European civilization.

Sally Prisand
(1946-present) A Pioneer in Judaism

Born on June 27, 1946 in Cleveland, Ohio, she attended a Conservative synagogue. Having studied Hebrew at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, she received her Master of Arts in 1972. She was the only woman student at school and latter worked as a rabbi.

When she was ordained in 1972, she was not only the first woman rabbi in America but also the first woman ordained by a Theological seminary.

As an assistant rabbi, she served at the Stephan Wise Free Synagogue in New York City, she preached at Congregation Beth El in Elizabeth, New Jersey. In 1981, she was a full time rabbi at the Monmouth, New Jersey Reform Temple. Because of her success, the Conservative movement decided in 1981, to ordain women rabbis. The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion has approximately 50 percent female students in their classes today. Truly she is a woman of her times for Judaism.

CATHOLIC

Jame Keller
(1900-1977) A Man of Hope

Born on June 27, 1900 in Oakland, California, he was the fourth of five children. In his late teens, he entered St. Patrick’s Seminary, Menlo Park, California. Instead of the diocesan priesthood, he entered the newly formed society, Maryknoll. Ordained a Maryknoll priest in 1925, he spent the next twenty years recruiting students and raising funds for Maryknoll missions.
Gradually, he had an idea from an ancient Chinese proverb: “it’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness”. Soon he preached on this idea. His followers became known as the Christophers from the Greek words for Christbearer. They applied the principles of the Christian Gospel in the marketplace of everyday life.

The Christophers, a non-profit organization was founded in 1945 by Fr. Keller using print and electronic media to spread a message of hope and understanding to people of all faiths not just Catholics. The Christophers movement depends on individual contributions. There are no chapter groups, meetings or dues. They depend on charitable contributions to continue its mission of encouraging individuals to serve God and humanity.

Finally Fr. Keller believed that every person regardless of race, color or creed, shy or insecure, had something to give to the world.

Dorothy Day
(1897-1980) The noted Catholic Worker

Born on November 8, 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, she and her family moved to Chicago. Not completing her studies at the University of Illinois, she moved to New York City where she worked for the socialist paper, The Call. She wrote about poverty on the Lower East Side of New York. She encouraged strikes against the wealthy oppressors. She went on hunger strike. She was a confirmed communist. In 1925 she experienced a conversion to the Catholic Faith. She applied Communist ideas to achieve religious truths of Jesus. She stated, “Communism and Religion may seem mismatched, but how good a match are capitalism and religion? The scandals of businesslike priests, of collective wealth, the lack of a sense of responsibility for the poor, the worker….There was plenty of charity but too little justice….we believe in an economy based on human needs, rather than on the profit motive.”
She founded The Catholic Worker paper with Peter Maurin. They cried out against injustices, social evils, wars, women’s rights, and poverty.

After a lifetime of voluntary poverty, she left no money not even for her funeral. The Catholic Archdiocese of New York buried her. The late Cardinal O’Connor began her cause for Sainthood. The Vatican approved the cardinal’s request. However, controversy about this request continues today.