NYPD chaplain, 'source of strength,' Rabbi Alvin Kass, dies at 89

In talking about his career choices as a young man, Rabbi Alvin Kass, the NYPD's chief chaplain and a department cleric since 1966, once said he had doubts about his.

Kass recalled being accepted to Harvard Law School and about to start his first year.

"But two weeks before the term," Kass told a reporter, he "realized I wanted to become a rabbi. I felt I would get more inner satisfaction from helping people spiritually than from practicing law."

Count among those people city cops going back nearly 60 years.

Generations of guidance

After Kass died Wednesday at the age of 89, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch described in a statement how the third rabbi in department history at the time of his appointment, was a source of "strength, guidance and faith for generations of police officers and their families."

Tisch and scores of other NYPD brass, as well as officers from precincts and commands across the city, gathered Wednesday outside New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan for the ceremonial dignified transfer of Kass’ body to a Brooklyn funeral home.

A cause of death was not given but a rabbinical friend said Kass had been in declining health recently. At the time of his death, Kass was rabbi emeritus at East Midwood Jewish Center in Brooklyn. A funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at the center, 1625 Ocean Ave.

Spry and vigorous well into his late 80s, Kass was appointed to be the NYPD's chief chaplain in 2002, or, as former Police Commissioner William Bratton told Newsday on Thursday, "the guardian angel among the guardians."

At promotion and award ceremonies, as well as police funerals, Kass would be there to congratulate, or console, astounding crowds with his ability to give memorable speeches without notes.

"He was just phenomenal," Bratton added.

The former commissioner recalled that when his father, also named William, died in 2016, Kass and a group of hundreds of NYPD officers made the trip to Massachusetts for the funeral. Kass read a evocative poem that left all gathered in tears, Bratton said.

A familiar face

When not at East Midwood Jewish Center, Kass could frequently be seen milling about police headquarters in lower Manhattan, chatting with officers of all ranks. His invocations and benedictions often capped police ceremonies. He was head of a 12-member chaplains unit for the department. The first Jewish chaplain was Rabbi Abraham Blum, appointed in 1906, followed in 1922 by Rabbi Isidore Frank, Kass’ immediate predecessor, according to NYPDHistory.com.

Kass described in an interview among his most memorable and impactful work was during the Sept. 11 terror attack at the World Trade Center, in which 23 police officers lost their lives. Kass described being at police headquarters on Sept. 11, 2001, and at a center set up inside. He would look back at the counseling and prayer and listening that day, and so many more to come, as among his most important contributions the NYPD and the most memorable.

Kass also was among clergy and dignitaries who assembled in the weeks after the attacks for the Prayer for America memorial service at Yankee Stadium. One of those taking part was Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, now the chief chaplain for the FDNY, who Thursday remembered Kass as a special man.

"I want to say he was an extremely caring, passionate individual who really was dedicated to the spiritual well-being of his congregants at the synagogue and NYPD," Potasnik said.

In his role as a rabbi, Kass had the ability to relate to those of all faiths in doing his work, Potasnik noted.

Spiritual awakening

The 9/11 attacks seemed to awaken in some rank-and-file officers a need to get acquainted or reacquainted with their faith, or at least their spiritual side, Kass said in a 2006 interview with a newspaper at Columbia College, where he graduated in 1957.

"Before 9-11, there was a certain stigma to seeing a chaplain," Kass told the alumni newspaper, Columbia College Today. "Some people are macho and it’s hard to go for help. After 9-11, everyone needed help. People sought meaning among the meaningless. Suddenly, the importance of spiritual administrators became apparent to everyone."

After college, Kass served in the Air Force as a chaplain before becoming a rabbi at New York congregations in Queens and then Brooklyn, according to the NYPD.

Kass is survived by three children: Daniel, Lewis and Sarah Kass. Their cities of residence were not available and they couldn’t be reached for comment. He is also survived by three grandchildren. His wife Miryom predeceased him in 2017.

Interment on Friday will be at Cedar Park and Beth El Cemetery in Paramus, New Jersey.

Donations can be made in Kass’ honor to the NYPD Shomrim Society, East Midwood Jewish Center and The Jewish Theological Seminary from which he graduated.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.