Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky

Jewish Community Leader

A) What qualities make the nominee deserving of the Z3 Bridge Builder Award?

Rabbi Jeremy invites people who in their lives have learned to turn negatives into positives. A Palestinian man who grew up hating Israeli Jews and an Israeli Jew turned IDF member who grew up loathing Palestinians gave themselves permission to learn about the "other" and ended up becoming such close friends that they now appear together as a team of two in synagogues around the world, showing through their mutual admiration and friendship how bridges of peace can be born out of an inferno of hate. Rabbi Jeremy is an ardent Zionist in the original meaning of the word. He is deeply in love with Israel, strongly opposed to the current leadership, and works toward building in our synagogue as well as in our community an island of rational discourse. It was he who met those two men and invited them to speak to the congregation, to show how hate can be turned into deep friendship and foster new understandings. Rabbi Jeremy leads the membership in political demonstrations, in invitations to Community political leaders to talk to us from the bima, or in weekday sessions both inside the synagogue and outside on its steps surrounded by politicians, the press and members of the shul and greater community. Mayor Eric Adams, Council member Gale Brewer, and former Borough President Ruth Messinger have attended some of these events.

B) In what ways has the nominee demonstrated exceptional leadership and commitment to their work in bridging divides?

As mentioned above, Rabbi Jeremy invites people from disparate religious and political backgrounds, whether within or outside the Jewish fold in order to foster greater understanding and friendships between people who might not otherwise know or care to know about one another. He has led groups to Israel to meet with members of liberal and conservative groups as well as Palestinians, encouraging trust and friendship. Though American born, his Hebrew is flawless which provides him a gateway into formation of deeper relationships both within and outside of Israel. He spends his summers as a camp counselor at Ramah, and is well known and widely respected by Jewish leadership in this country. His weekly drashes are studded with scholarship, love and thorough knowledge of Torah, and the constant effort to meld the wisdom and beauty of Torah with the exigencies of the present moment in our neighborhood, our community, our nation and the world. That is not hyperbole; it is a description of the passion of this Rabbi to be an agent of peace.

C) How has the nominee's work impacted the Jewish community and beyond?

The religious leaders in the neighboring churches are friends of Rabbi Kalmanofsky. While some of them have provided food services for the homeless, until Covid-19, our synagogue was the only one in New York City that provided overnight shelter to ten homeless men 365 days a year for over thirty years. The program began before Rabbi Kalmanofsky came to Ansche Chesed, and as soon as he learned about it, he eagerly gave it his full support and blessing. It was only due to Covid, and the subsequent renovation of the shul, that the program had to come to an end.)
Additionally, Rabbi Kalmanofsky has also fostered a program of helping recent arrivals from war-torn and dangerous countries to settle into the city, find permanent homes, enroll their children in school, connect with government services, and get acclimated to living in a new land. My wife and I, along with a number of other volunteers, have for the last three years, befriended four families from three countries, all new arrivals from Afghanistan, Myanmar and Ukraine. We helped them register their children for school and for summer programs, find employment, find English language learning centers, guide them through government food programs, help them get medical care, teach them about American postal services, and show them around our synagogue, and all-in-all, demonstrate through our actions what we mean by Tikkun Olam. All this done by our lay leaders with the blessings and constant encouragement and financial support when necessary, of Rabbi Jeremy. The Upper West Side Community is all the richer in word, in spirit, and deed by the efforts, vision and drive of Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky.