Rabbi Hayim Perelmuter
"On January 4, Rabbi Hayim Perelmuter, professor of Jewish Studies and co-director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies Program, died after a courageous battle with cancer. Many attended his funeral service at KAM Isaiah-Israel Congregation and the prayer service held at CTU January 10."
(The text for this memorial comes from Logos, a publication of Catholic Theological Union. For more writings on Rabbi Perelmuter, see the full issue of Logos: Winter 2001 Vol XIV No. 3 in PDF format.)
Rabbi Hayim Perelmuter: Blessed Are the Peacemakers
By Fr. Paul Bechtold, CP
CTU Founding President
Note: This is an edited version of the reflection Fr. Bechtold gave at the CTU memorial service for Rabbi Perelmuter.
For me and for countless others, Rabbi Perelmuter exemplified the very best in that noble faith tradition that has enriched our world with the knowledge of the true God, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob. This Immortal People is the title of a book translated by Rabbi Perelmuter. Immortal People indeed. The source of innumerable blessings to us all.
Would you reflect for a moment what is must have been like for Rabbi Perelmuter to have been the only non-Christian person on our faculty [at the outset]? What a strong sense of his Jewish identity he must have had, what a secure self-image! He was well aware of latent, even overt, anti-Semitism among Catholics. John Pawlikowski had written his doctoral dissertation on this very topic, Anti-Semitism in Roman Catholic Teaching Material. Rabbi Perelmuter's scholarship, his self- possession, his sterling character, quickly won for him the esteem, indeed, the affection of his fellow faculty members.
Rabbi Hayim Goren Perelmuter. A true Israelite. A Jewish scholar. Rabbi Perelmuter made a notable contribution to CTU by his courses and seminars. He gave rich insights to his students by his treatment of the Jewish roots of Christianity. I recall some titles from long ago: "Liturgy of the Synagogue," "Varieties of Modern Judaism." In 1973 he team-taught "Israel, People of God," with Joseph de Vault of the Jesuit School of Theology in Hyde Park, and Wesley Fuerst of the Lutheran School of Theology. How ecumenical can you get? A course taught by a Jesuit, a Jew, and a Lutheran.
Rabbi Perelmuter was a living symbol of the open, ecumenical character of CTU. At a time when the typical Catholic seminary faculty was entirely clerical, with no lay person, woman, much less minister or rabbi allowed, Rabbi Perelmuter comfortably fit into the CTU faculty. In no sense was he ever an outsider.
Rabbi Perelmuter was my friend, my dear friend. In these later years we always embraced upon meeting. We kept in touch by occasional notes and cards. When Father Senior told me last fall that Rabbi Perelmuter had a pacemaker inserted, I wrote Hayim to tell him that just a year ago I had received a pacemaker and that it was a great boon to me. He replied with a warm and gracious note. In it he enunciated a ninth beatitude, "Blessed are the pacemakers."
Rabbi Hayim Goren Perelmuter. Pacemaker. He set the pace for us in so many ways. Pacemaker in scholarship. Pacemaker in wisdom and humanity. Pacemaker in spirituality. We bless his memory.