Cherished encounters with the Jewish community

OUR NEIGHBORS' FAITH: Bishop Emeritus Edward B. Scharfenberger

Perhaps the most enduring joy and privilege of my calling is what does not end with a transit into retirement (Dec. 5, 2025). By that I mean it’s the relationships, indeed the friendships, that have been offered me, not the least by members of Jewish faith. What I write is but a black-and-white snapshot of only a few of the many rich encounters I cherish with the Jewish community. 

My engagement in Catholic-Jewish dialogue seemed quite natural, given my own Jewish heritage — my maternal grandfather was a Russian Jew — but also because I “soft-landed” into the Capital Region, which has a long and strong history of interfaith dialogue among members of the Catholic community and what I Iike to think of as, in the words of Pope Saint John Paul II, “our elder brothers and sisters.”

Reflecting on the past 12 years, I cannot say exactly which came first or what stands out most prominently. So many moments of what I can only call graces in all sizes echo in my heart. Within moments of my arrival, in April 2014, I was greeted with great warmth from the Jewish community, a wonderfully eloquent welcome from Rabbi Rena Kieval on the eve of my episcopal ordination and, from a woman I did not know and hope I thanked, a simply presented challah bread, my favorite. How did she know?

Not long after, my good friend Dr. Michael Lozman, late and beloved, approached me with a proposal for the erection of a Holocaust memorial, a venture that he hoped we would support together with the engagement of members of both our communities of faith. The torch he carried now passes on as this work-in-progress proceeds under the superb leadership of Dan Dembling, President of Capital District Jewish Holocaust Memorial, Inc. 

So many memories well up and I am certain to omit the mention of the many persons and experiences that should be included in the ongoing history of Catholic-Jewish relationships in our community fostered so lovingly by my immediate predecessor, Bishop Howard Hubbard. As he had before me, I was honored and privileged to travel with local Jewish leadership, joining Rabbi Scott Shpeen and members of the Congregation Beth Emeth, on a tour of religiously and historically significant sites in Eastern Europe (Oct. 28-Nov. 7, 2017). This, too, was but a natural component of our local interfaith dialogue as both our faiths are far from local, each with a history, proactive and interactive, that spans centuries, with all the hopes, wounds, joys and sorrows that attend a long-standing relationship, the ties that (I believe) forever bind us.

Not long after the European trip, I was invited by the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) to participate in a Modern Orthodox dialogue which, as it turns out, has branched out far beyond the Albany Diocese. Our first meeting — when three rabbis, a priest and bishop (sounds like the start of a comic narrative) — walked into a kosher steak house (Le Marais) in Manhattan. The vibe seemed instantly warm and engaging. By the end of the lunch we were already talking about holding an official meeting in Jerusalem! While this has not yet come to pass due to a number of impasses first from the pandemic and from global politics, our dialogue has developed into a significant one that even broaches theological perspectives on past and current events. 

In June of 2019, Pope Francis appointed me to the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. Among my interfaith activities, I have kept in frequent contact with Cardinal Kurt Koch, who is the Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and also a member of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. I have always been happy to share the breadth and depth of this particular dialogue. It is my desire to keep the Holy See informed of my personal experiences in various levels of interfaith dialogue, both local and national. 

On a broader front, I cannot fail to mention my participation in the USCCB-Orthodox Union/Rabbinical Council of America Dialogue as well as the National Council of Synagogues, members of which I traveled with to locations in Alabama in May of 2022, to experience together a powerful narrative of a people who, not unlike Jews and Christians, have suffered from violence and persecution for many reasons. The history of slavery and its vestiges in the United States left a profound impact on us.