At The Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies, Eighth Eternal Light Award Dinner, on February 18, 2007 in Sarasota, Florida, Rabbi A James Rudin received the 2007 Eternal Light Award. The following is the text of Rabbi Rudin's acceptance speech:

Thank you Gail Whiting.

Marcia and I feel like country bumpkins tonight. After all, we live on Sanibel, a small island in the Gulf of Mexico a hundred miles south of here. There are only 6000 permanent residents and for us to be in Sarasota with its stop lights, four and six lane roads, and many tall buildings is a bit un nerving.

Indeed, the only time we see a crowd such as this on Sanibel is when tourists walk the beach looking for shells or when residents protest the possibility of a fast food restaurant coming to our island.

Marcia and I are pleased that our daughter Jennifer is here, taking just a few hours off from movie making on location in New Orleans. She returns to her work tomorrow on a 7 AM flight. Jennifer is the Disney casting director in Burbank, California. Thank you Jen.

Her sister Rabbi Eve could not be with us because she is in Philadelphia supervising the convention of the North American Federation of Temple Youth. I asked Eve: “It’s choice….a chance to have a great meal and see your father receive an award or spending three days with 1200 teenagers in a hotel in cold Philadelphia.” Marcia, why did we teach our children to be such dedicated hard workers? Where did we go wrong?

Next Sunday is Oscar night. But for me, this is my Academy Award, and I am grateful to the selection committee.

But without Marcia’s constant love, her continuing support and understanding of my interreligious efforts, I could never be standing here tonight.

I also want to acknowledge the presence of my sister in law, Nan Rudin of Alexandria, Virginia. Nan has known me longer than any one else here; in fact she attended my high school graduation. Joining Nan is Syd Manekofsky, who was a prominent leader in the Soviet Jewry movement in Washington, DC some years ago.

Oscar winners spew forth a list of folks who made their awards possible. I, too, have a list of people who make this night special, and I will briefly albeit rapidly thank each one in alphabetical order.

Shula Bahat, the Associate Director of the American Jewish Committee.

Jane Bracken, our Center’s Administrative Associate.

Tom Buckridge, our Center’s Interim Director.

Father Michael Cooper, my colleague as a Center spiritual adviser.

Bishop Frank Dewane, the new leader of Southwest Florida’s Catholics.

Eileen Donovan, a prominent Catholic leader in southwest Florida.

Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, the United States Interreligious Director of the American Jewish Committee.

David and Giuletta Harris, David is the Executive Director of the AJC.

Dr. Arthur Kirk, the President of Saint Leo University.

Andrew and Ruthie Maass, Andy is the President of the AJC’s SW Florida Chapter.

Edda Post, the Chapter’s Executive Director.

Douglas Renfroe and Lorraine Murphy-Renfroe, the Cantor and Music Director of Congregation Bat Yam on Sanibel.

Carol and Mort Siegler, the Co-Chairs of tonight’s Eternal Light Dinner.

Paul Sper, our Center’s Treasurer.

Linda Taggart, our Center’s Program Director.

And it is only the alphabet that causes me to mention her last….

Gail Whiting, our Center’s Chair.

And to Rabbis Gary Klein and Michael Eisenstat, and Father Len Petrowski, and all the other Center Board members who are here. Thank you all.

I have always been attracted to pioneers…men and women who took chances and shattered traditional borders, boundaries, and beliefs.

People who achieved breakthroughs in all fields of human endeavor….medicine, science, space, sports, education, music, literature, theater, dance, civil and human rights, politics, and religion.

Pioneers who faced skepticism, ridicule, travail and pain, but who ultimately triumphed and who through their efforts are forever part of our collective memory bank.

And, more specifically, I have always admired the “halutzim,” (the Hebrew word for pioneers), the men and women who drained swamps, planted crops, vineyards and forests, created new communities and became a decisive force in the creation of the modern democratic State of Israel that you and I love so much.

In all cases, the pioneers in every field, halutzim, not only transformed their physical and psychological environments, and, this is the key point, the pioneers were themselves transformed by their efforts.

I strongly believe that we, you and I, are also pioneers, halutzim, in the work of building new human bridges of mutual understanding and respect between Christianity and Judaism, between Christians and Jews, and we, too, are transformed by our efforts.

And our work is just that….a pioneering effort.

Remember, it has only been 42 years since the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council’s “Nostra Aetate” Declaration and the Catholic Church’s extraordinary effort to develop new positive relations with the Jewish people. It has only been 21 years since Pope John Paul II, in a pioneering moment, visited the Great Synagogue of Rome and declared to the entire world the Jewish covenant with God is eternal and “irrevocable,”

It has only been 13 years since the Vatican and Israel established full and formal diplomatic relations. And it is only seven years since John Paul II visited Israel, an event I was fortunate enough to be part of.

And it has been less than two years since the German-born Pope Benedict XVI visited the synagogue in Cologne.

And here in Florida it is only 9 years since the founding of our Center, the only such Center south of Baltimore, and our Center, as you have heard, grows from strength to strength. Our Center serves the rapidly increasing---exploding is a more accurate term--- number of Jews and Catholics who are moving to Florida’s West Coast….from Tarpon Springs in the north to Naples in the south….we are truly living in a time that is a “pioneering moment.”

For nearly forty years I have been privileged to be an active participant in the historical pioneering changes that are currently underway between Jews and Catholics. Thanks to my beloved American Jewish Committee, and now the Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies, a collaboration between the AJC and Saint Leo University, I consider myself one of the halutzim, the pioneers, in reversing the lachrymose history between our two faith communities.

I am sustained in that pioneering effort by the Hebrew prophet Zachariah who taught us to be “prisoners of hope,” asiray ha-tikvah. I am sustained by the love of family, friends, and colleagues. And I am sustained by the support of the people who are here tonight.

You, like I, have been given something that previous generations never had, the opportunity to be part of one of the great success stories of history: the building of mutual understanding, mutual respect, and mutual knowledge between Catholics and Jews, between Christians and Jews.

It is in that spirit that I accept this wonderful award. I close with the words from Robert Browning’s poem, “Rabbi ben Ezra.” The subject of Browning’s poem was great 12th century Jewish sage and scholar.

You will surely remember the poem’s opening lines:

“Grow old along with me; the best is yet to be.”

Thank you very much.