Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Rabbi and Doctors Mingle At Calvary Gala

If ever the idea of loving kindness was a statement of fact — rather than an ideal — it was expressed by youthful Rabbi Rachmiel Rothberger, Jewish chaplain at Calvary Hospital, in his invocation delivered at the hospital’s upbeat 30th Annual Award Gala.

Addressing the 450 black tie guests at The Pierre, the rabbi thanked Calvary Hospital president and CEO Frank Calamari, its Chairman of the Board Dr. Thomas Fahey Jr., Sr. V.P. Emeritus Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the evening’s honoree Frank D’Amelio, Executive Vice President, Business Operations & CFO Pfizer, Inc., “for the honor.” Also touted was Calvary’s executive medical director Dr. Michael Brescia, who has been with the hospital for 50 years.”

Citing Psalm 89:3 which states: “For I have said the world shall be built with loving kindness,” Rabbi Rothberger said, “looking round the room, we can positively proclaim that we aspire to model the verse on building the world with loving-kindness as we represent a full spectrum of cultures of the world. Calvary Hospital a truly unique place. The only fully acute palliative hospital, we are blessed with the power to unite people of all walks of life…in our programs.”

Though Calvary Hospital has long had a Jewish chaplain, this past November it announced a joint Calvary and Yeshiva University collaboration to serve the needs of observant Jews who need access to the best end-of-life care.

Honoree D’Amelio who accepted the award from past honoree Steven Golub, Chairman of the Board of the Calvary Fund, said: “When one member has cancer or a terminal disease, then the entire family is affected.” Like many in the audience whose loved ones were cared for at Calvary, he touted the hospital’s unique —“and rare”— loving care and support for patient and family. Most resonant was Mr. D’Amelio’s comment, “at Calvary, a room is not a patient room but rather a tabernacle or sacred place.” That Calvary Hospital serves as the vestibule to the ‘other side.’” That “the strip of black tape on the floor across the doorway of each room is a reminder that we’re crossing into a sacred place.”

Following up on the Yeshiva-Calvary shiddakh/shiddukh (marriage/merger), I was informed that the two staff rabbis who offer pastoral care are graduates of Y.U.’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), that kosher meals, a kosher pantry, kosher refrigerator and sink are available and that Jewish patients are included in the Einstein Pelham Parkway eruv —and more!

Emceed by WOR’s “The John Gambling Show” host John Gambling, with a performance by tenor Michael Amante, plus post-dinner dancing, I cannot remember as happy — or grateful a hospital benefit crowd as were the guests that night.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.