Lubavitch seminary honors Codey with honorary doctorate

by Robert Wiener
NJJN Staff Writer

Joking that “only in America could a former altar boy become a graduate of the Rabbinical College of America,” New Jersey’s acting governor, Richard Codey, accepted an honorary doctorate of human letters from the Morristown-based Lubavitcher seminary at a Sept. 25 dinner in East Rutherford.

The governor, his wife, Mary Jo, and oil company executive Sherry Wilzig Izak were presented with diplomas as the college celebrated its 50th anniversary at the Meadowlands Sheraton Hotel.

Izak and Mary Jo Codey are the first two women ever to receive doctoral degrees from the RCA.

According to presenter Murray Laulicht of West Orange, a former president of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ, the governor was honored for his “Jewish heart” and as a “real mensch who has been involved with many Jewish values,” including “Holocaust education, family, human rights, human dignity, and equality.”

As he accepted the certificate, Codey said he read The Diary of Anne Frank as a high school student and “became absolutely enthralled” with the chronicle of the teenage girl who hid in an Amsterdam attic with her family for more than two years, until they were captured and imprisoned in Bergen-Belsen, where she died at the age of 15.

“All children should read the diary to learn about discrimination. If it happened once, it can happen again. It’s a lesson for all of us,” Codey said.

“A year ago I could not have imagined being the governor of this great state,” he told the audience. “But when I was asked to move into the governor’s mansion, I said, ‘Listen. I was born and raised in Orange. When you’re born and raised in Orange, you’re trying to get out of public housing, not into it.’”

Even as he praised the rabbinical college for its educational values, Codey said that “not all education comes from school.” He praised his wife for teaching him about courage as she battled depression while raising their children, noting that such life experiences “formed the basis of my public service” and made “mental illness a personal issue for me.”

Codey said he believes in advocating “for people who’ve been left behind.”

“I tackle every problem with the same simple notion: The role of government is to help people, and for that to happen, government must work for everyone — not just the wealthy who can afford political lobbyists.

“Government should be a force of compassion [that] should reach out and help families who struggle every day with mental health,” he argued. “It should make sure our schools are a safer place for our children and should make us aware of the latest medical breakthroughs in a search for cures for the incurable — and that’s why I am a strong supporter of stem cell research.”

Accepting her award with a simple “thank you,” the governor’s wife was saluted by Laulicht for “speaking out on how necessary it was to empower other women to confront the illnesses of breast cancer and depression.”

The first lady said she did not wish to compete with the lengthy address by Izak, the evening’s first honoree.

Izak, a philanthropist and CEO of the Jersey City-based Wilshire Enterprises, which develops oil and gas resources, saluted her “superheroes,” including her late father, Siggi Wilzig, an Auschwitz survivor who was one of the founders of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.

Robert Wiener can be reached at rwiener@njjewishnews.com.

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