Rabbi Leon Klenicki, left, longtime interfaith director and co-liaison to the Vatican for the Anti-Defamation League, is greeted by Pope Benedict XVI during a 2007 ceremony during which Klenicki was knighted for his groundbreaking work in Catholic-Jewish relations.
Photo courtesy ADL
Rabbi Leon Klenicki, center, appeared two years ago for the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County at a Catholic-Jewish dialogue program it cosponsored with the Diocese of Metuchen, ADL, and St. Peter’s University Hospital. With him are program chair Jack Kirshner, left, and the Rev. James Loughran, director of the Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute in New York.
Photo by Debra Rubin
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January 29, 2009
Rabbi Leon Klenicki, the longtime interfaith director and co-liaison to the Vatican for the Anti-Defamation League, was remembered as a pioneer in interfaith relations.
Klenicki, who spent the last several years of his life in a retirement community in Monroe, died Jan. 25 after a 10-year bout with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, according to his wife, Myra Cohen Klenicki.
A funeral service was held Jan. 27 at Congregation Etz Chaim-Monroe Township Jewish Center.
Among his many honors, Klenicki was made a Papal Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great on Aug. 27, 2007, by Pope Benedict XVI. The award, bestowed for Klenicki’s contributions in creating positive relationships between Catholics and Jews around the world, is the highest that can be bestowed on a non-Catholic.
“Rabbi Klenicki was a giant in the world of interfaith relations,” said Etzion Neuer, executive director of New Jersey ADL. “I was lucky enough to have worked with him for several years and to have learned from him. Over the span of his lifetime that was devoted to Jewish-Christian relations, he was not just a witness to the warming of the relationship, but an active participant.”
Neuer characterized the rabbi, a native of Argentina, as “a brilliant scholar, charming,” and with “a remarkable ability to be witty in several languages.”
“I rarely saw him without a smile, and I will miss him dearly,” he added.
ADL national director Abraham H. Foxman, who eulogized Klenicki at the funeral, remembered his more than 30 years with the organization. He “worked tirelessly to promote understanding and respect between Christians and Jews while making historic contributions in creating positive relationships between the faiths,” Foxman said in a statement. “He could talk to Jews and Christians with equal facility and ease. It was amazing to witness the depth of respect the Catholic leaders showed Rabbi Klenicki. This was because he was always honest with them, ready to criticize them when necessary, to praise them when appropriate, and always be constructive in the relationship.”
‘Work of reconciliation’
The Rev. Lawrence Frizzell, director of the Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University in South Orange, knew Klenicki since the early 1970s and expressed great sorrow over his death.
“He came here frequently and we had many opportunities for collaboration,” recalled Frizzell. “His passing is certainly an occasion of sadness, but also an occasion of gratitude for the many years he gave to the work of reconciliation between Christians and Jews. May his memory be held for a blessing. Hopefully, his work will continue and will certainly be remembered.”
In a letter to Myra Klenicki released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal William H. Keeler, its moderator of Catholic-Jewish relations, said: “This faithful son of Torah leaves behind more than 30 years of scholarship and leadership in interfaith relations. For the Catholic Church in the United States and Latin America, Leon was a pioneer in the promotion of a vision of Catholic-Jewish relations that drew inspiration from the Second Vatican Council and the vital streams of contemporary Jewish thought.”
In an interview two years ago with NJJN, Klenicki spoke of his lifelong interfaith vocation.
“For many years we engaged in what I call ‘tea and sympathy,’” said Klenicki. “We got together and smiled and complained about the past. For many years we had only one concern — recognition of the State of Israel.”
Having resolved that issue, Klenicki said, he saw two major concerns remaining — dealing with worldwide anti-Semitism and the historical “use and abuse” of traditional texts by Catholics to persecute Jews.
He was the author and coauthor of hundreds of books and papers dealing with the theological and practical aspects of improving relations between Catholics and Jews.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recommended to all U.S. bishops and cardinals to observe Holocaust Remembrance Day by using as a liturgy the work prepared by Klenicki and Dr. Eugene J. Fisher called, “From Desolation to Hope: An Interreligious Holocaust Memorial Service.”
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his son, Daniel; his daughter, Ruth Finkelstein; and his grandson, Eliyahu Finkelstein.
‘A sense of self to the end’
FOR RABBI Benjamin Levy of Congregation Etz Chaim-Monroe Township Jewish Center, conducting the funeral of the man whose influence was largely responsible for his becoming a rabbi was a moving experience.
Levy led the Jan. 27 service for Rabbi Leon Klenicki, the longtime interfaith director and co-liaison to the Vatican for the Anti-Defamation League.
“To me, being around such a tzadik [sage] who was so devoted to God and the Jewish people made me want to emulate that,” said Levy.
He compared Klenicki — whom he had known for more than 20 years — to a teacher with a hidden lesson. “Ultimately it’s not what the teacher says but how he lives his life that is ultimately the curriculum,” he explained.
“He was actually one of my mentors,” said Levy. “I met Rabbi Klenicki in Astoria, Queens, where we both lived, and he was instrumental in my decision to become a rabbi. He would have a havura at his home…. He and his wife were role models to be around.”
Before he became a grandfather, Klenicki would also take Levy’s young son around Astoria. “He was the ultimate zayde,” said Levy.
In the last several years of Klenicki’s life, when his health was declining, he and his wife, Myra, left Manhattan for the quiet of suburbia, settling in the Ponds in Monroe. The couple had been to the township several years earlier for the bar mitzva of Levy’s son, Elim.
After joining the synagogue, Klenicki spoke at Rosh Hashana services, attended Shabbat services, and participated in the Saturday-morning Torah learning sessions. “Everyone fell in love with him,” said Levy.
To the end, Levy said, Klenicki “still had that humility and sense of humor and was still sharp intellectually. He maintained a sense of self to the end.”
— DEBRA RUBIN
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