2019 -- S 0977

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LC002833

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2019

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

HONORING RABBI WAYNE FRANKLIN ON HIS RETIREMENT AFTER THIRTY-EIGHT

YEARS OF FAITHFUL AND DEVOTED SERVICE TO THE TEMPLE EMANU-EL

CONGREGATION AND THE WIDER COMMUNITY

     Introduced By: Senator Gayle L. Goldin

     Date Introduced: June 13, 2019

     Referred To: Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar

     WHEREAS, Rabbi Wayne Franklin, Senior Rabbi at Temple Emanu-El since 1981, is a

native of Wharton, Texas. He graduated from Yeshiva University in 1965, and was ordained at

the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1970, where he was awarded an Honorary

Doctorate of Divinity in 1996; and

     WHEREAS, For the past thirty-eight years, Rabbi Franklin has been the spiritual leader

of Temple Emanu-El and has performed his myriad pastoral duties, from comforting the sick and

marrying couples to teaching the Jewish faith to children, converts, and people of all ages and

walks of life, with grace, wit, and abiding integrity; and

     WHEREAS, Perhaps the most enduring legacy of Rabbi Franklin’s tenure has been his

passion and tireless support of the concepts of inclusivity and understanding. Rabbi Franklin

knows all too well what outcomes can result from narrow-mindedness, hatred, and the shunning

or exclusion of those that look and/or think differently than others; and

     WHEREAS, Rabbi Franklin has long been a leader in the interfaith community, both

locally and with the National Council of Synagogues. Thanks to his leadership and guidance,

Temple Emanu-El purchased a section of Swan Point Cemetery where interfaith members of the

congregation can be buried together, and the Board of Directors changed its rules to allow

members married to non-Jewish people to serve on the Board. Rabbi Franklin has been invited

numerous times to speak to theology classes at Providence College, and has stated that he

believes “one of the missions of Judaism, a central mission, is to try to make peace in the

world…..and you don’t do it by talking to yourself. You do it with other people”; and

     WHEREAS, Rabbi Franklin has served on numerous boards and committees throughout

his distinguished career including serving as Chair of the Community Relations Council of the

Jewish Federation of Rhode Island, Chair of the Rhode Island Interfaith Commemoration of the

Holocaust for thirty-four years, as a member of Miriam Hospital’s Ethics Committee and its

Jewish Traditions Advisory Committee. He also serves as the Secretary/Treasurer of the National

Council of Synagogues, and is a member of numerous interfaith groups including the Rhode

Island Rabbis and Priests Dialogue and the Abrahamic Accord, co-chairs the Rhode Island

Catholic-Jewish Dialogue Group, and was a member of the Providence Faith Community, and

Law Enforcement Leaders Dialogue Group; and

     WHEREAS, Rabbi Franklin has received numerous awards and honors in recognition of

his exemplary leadership within the Jewish and Interfaith communities. He was the first recipient

of the Jewish Federation’s Tilles Award and the Jewish Federation’s Never Again Award in

2003. In 2004, he received the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) Interfaith

Leadership Award, and in 2018, received the Joseph W. Ress Community Service Award,

presented by the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island. Rabbi Franklin was also awarded an

Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Providence College in 2017; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

hereby honors the esteemed Rabbi Wayne Franklin on his retirement as Senior Rabbi of Temple

Emanu-El after thirty-eight years of faithful and devoted service to the congregation and the

wider community. May we all always live by his eloquent statement, “We’re all children of

Adam and Eve. We are all fundamentally brothers and sisters. Nobody’s better than anybody else,

no matter the religion, no matter the nationality, no matter the color of your skin”; and be it

further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Rabbi Wayne Franklin, Senior Rabbi, Temple

Emanu-El.

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LC002833

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