Rabbi Bernhard Rosenberg has been appointed township chaplain by Edison Mayor Antonia Ricigliano, 10 months after she and other municipal officials terminated him from his 18-year position as part-time police and fire chaplain.
In eliminating the chaplain’s job last May and the $3,800 annual stipend that went with it, the township maintained that the municipality lacked an ordinance for appointing chaplains, as required by state law.
Rosenberg was skeptical of the explanation at the time and since then has waged a campaign to be reinstated as a chaplain.
“I am very happy that my dignity has been restored,” said Rosenberg. “Even when they terminated me I never stopped helping police, fire, and emergency workers who came to me for guidance with personal problems. The title is irrelevant.”
Rosenberg will receive no pay as “township” chaplain.
“The entire issue has really almost taken on a life of its own,” Ricigliano told NJJN. “The rabbi understands we were not able to give him any remuneration, but I always invited him to our events as he always had been by previous mayors.”
Ricigliano said the township council is still working on an ordinance allowing for the appointment of a police and fire chaplain, precluding the appointment of anyone to that position in the interim.
“But in this instance I’m not assigning him to any particular branch,” she explained. “It’s very generic.”
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
One Response
Baruch Hashem, Rabbi Rosenberg is a great man and quietly does many acts of Chesed for the Tzibur of Edison. May Hashem give him strength to work 18 (at least!) more selfless years on behalf of the Edison community.