Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy, Communications: Thank you all for being here tonight. This week in cities from New York to Tel Aviv, in countries from Ethiopia to Mexico, millions of Jews will be lighting the menorah and celebrating Hanukkah. Children will be spinning their dreidels, devouring their sufganiyot, friends will be exchanging gifts, and families will be sharing their love.
But we cannot deny that these celebrations will be somewhat muted given these tragic antisemitic terrorist attacks in Australia yesterday. Jews were targeted as they celebrated the first night of Hanukkah. There is no denying that the Australian government's response to the rising tide of antisemitism across the nation in recent years has left the approximately 100,000 Jews in Australia less safe.
I am proud to live in New York, a city with the largest Jewish population in the entire world, and I'm even prouder to work for a city and a mayor that cares about our Jewish community and will do whatever is necessary to protect us. The stories of the Festival of Lights symbolizing the Jewish people's survival are refusal to lose hope, a stubborn yet powerful refusal that has lasted for thousands of years.
Many of you have heard my story. Even when my family was persecuted for their Jewish faith in other nations, they never lost hope. Hope to come to this nation, hope to come to this amazing city, hope to raise children who are proud of their Judaism, and hope for their children to turn their American dream into a reality.
And as their son, who has been a deputy mayor in the greatest city in the world, my family's hope, our people's hope, has been realized. It's been an honor to serve this city and to have a small part in making our city safer and more affordable and the best place to live and raise a family. But I want to stop and thank the man leading the five boroughs who has spent the last four years supporting and uplifting all New Yorkers, but specifically the Jewish community, that so many have turned their backs on.
He stood with us as we marched in Israel Day parades. When we made two trips to Israel, I was proud to pray by his side at the Kotel. He stood by us in the days after October 7th, upholding the moral clarity of our leadership in City Hall and never wavering in his belief that the hostages had to be released and that Hamas had to be destroyed. He stood up against antisemitism when hatred poured through our streets and our college campuses, without fear, without apology, without compromise.
No matter how our communities reacted, Mayor Adams assured our safety, our security, and our prosperity. And he stood up when antisemitic attacks targeted Jews around the world, like he did yesterday. It was never easy to speak out, to ignore the voices of hate that grew louder and louder, and I can tell you better than anybody else, as I have witnessed the vitriol and the injustice leveled against him over the last four years. But it was always the right thing to do, and so he did it.
Hanukkah is the story of our people's perseverance through persecution, and the reminder that our faith in each other and in God kept the flame of the human spirit alive. That's what the menorah we are lighting tonight represents. The Hanukkah of Hope, right here, is made from fragments of missiles and projectiles launched at Israel.
Last year, during Hanukkah, it was lit in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, turning the pain of war into light and healing the hopes of the Jewish people. The artist Eli Gross is here with us tonight, and we are grateful for his work that stands as an emblem of that hope. In the uplifting spirit of this holiday, I'll invoke the immortal words of Rabbi Sacks.
Never believe that a handful of dedicated people can’t change the world. Inspired by faith, they can. The Maccabees did then, so can we today. So, without further ado, the man I'm about to introduce has led the Maccabees of our time, guiding over 300,000 dedicated public servants to keep our city safer, stronger, cleaner, and more affordable.
He's kept them inspired by faith in his leadership, and he has inspired them to change the world every day. Because the Maccabees did not waver in the face of struggle. They did not lose hope, they did not lose faith and neither have we.
As the mayor said yesterday, may we never forget that even in moments of darkness, moments that seem like they might last forever, that there will always be light. So please join me in welcoming the person who will always help the community find the light, our leader and my friend, the 110th mayor of the City of New York, Eric Adams.
Mayor Eric Adams: I wanted to come down among you because all of these ropes keep us away for each other. I just really wanted to remind all of you that I'm on your level. I am not here to be deified. I'm not here to be treated as though there’s a level of royalty that's associated with being the mayor of New York. I want you to know that your pain, I feel your pain.
And my staffers who are here from the commissioner to my highest ranking Jewish appointee, Deputy Mayor Levy. Moshe, who’s running our Office to Combat Antisemitism. Police Commissioner Tisch, and the awesome job that she has an obligation [to do]. Commissioner Tucker, and what he represents. Fred Kreizman, who has been in government [for] so long. And many of you don't know but, when I think of Benny– Benny raise your hand.
He has stood side by side in documenting all that we've done in the last four years. And Menashe– and even the honorary Jewish person, Tiffany Raspberry. You know, we smile because it keeps us from frowning. [When I was] backstage, I was standing next to Devorah Halberstam, who lost her son, Ari, on the Brooklyn Bridge.
When I go to the Grand Rebbe, I stop by her son's gravesite all the time. People have a tendency to believe when the bullet leaves the barrel of the gun and it hits the body of the intended target that the pain dissipates. The physical pathway only gives equal to the emotional trauma that rips apart the anatomy of our community, particularly the Jewish community.
And there's so many euphemisms and eloquent terms that people want to use to mask their hate.
Folks, I said this over and over again: You really need to understand that this is not about a piece of property in the Middle East. This is not about Israel. This is about Jewish people. And they can use whatever terms they want. They can sugarcoat it all they want.
But someone must be honest, because it wasn't Israel when you were put in your quarters in Rome and couldn't come out at night. It wasn't Israel when you had to leave Spain at a particular time. It wasn't Israel when Moses had to leave. It wasn't Israel when the war happened and the Holocaust happened.
Let's not allow people to make us believe that this is about just a location on a map. This is about the comfortability that people have with hating Jews across the globe. And as we today acknowledge Hanukkah, it means dedication.
We have to be dedicated to stopping the ignorance, to stopping the false narratives that are out there, to stopping those who want to start spreading this hate even more. How dare the country that watched what happened did not mention antisemitism one time? This wasn’t just an attack on people, this was an intended target on Jewish people. And you have been there for every group.
And so my question to you today, it is time for you to ask your friends that you have been there for, where are they now? Where are they now? You can't be neutral in this conversation. You cannot be a detached spectator watching these horrific actions take place every day. And I am here today standing with you because it is out of preservation.
Because they come from you today, they [will] come from us tomorrow. And no one knows that better than our communities. We've always been side by side. And we've lost an entire generation that don't understand the history that we had together. And we need to remind them of that. And that's part of my mission when I leave office.
You need to really understand, I am going nowhere. I am not going anywhere. And we have a job in front of us in the next administration. Because the message must be clear. If you are the mayor of the City of New York, that means you are the mayor for the Spanish speakers. That means you are the mayor of the Asian population. That means you are the mayor of those who speak different languages in different communities.
That go to mosques, synagogues, Baptist churches, Buddhist temples, Sikh temples. You have to be the mayor for everyone. And you cannot be a mayor when it is convenient. And be consistent in your message. Because you can't say Israel does not have the right to exist when we have a city that's called the Vatican that represents the leadership of the Catholic community.
You can't say Israel does not have a right to exist when you have the monks of Tibet that understand the power of what their religions stand for. You can't say Israel does not have a right to exist when you have Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan, and other countries that stand up in their religious beliefs. Be consistent with your message. And not inconsistent.
And so, I want you to know that there are those of us in this city that feel your pain. And know what you are going through at this moment. But do not live in fear. Do not stop outside your synagogue and determine if you are going to go in or not. Do not contemplate before you get into the subway system that you are going to take off your yarmulke.
Do not pause and go to your shiva and say you are not going to wear the Star of David. If we live in fear, they won. We cannot live in fear. We would not tell our young people in this city that you have to be afraid to be Jewish in this city. We would not tell any group they have to be afraid of who they are.
I would not tell an African American to be afraid to be Black. I would not tell a member of the LGBTQ+ community to be afraid of who they are. I would not tell a Muslim to be afraid of who they are. I would not tell an Asian. I would not tell any group in this city to be afraid of who they are.
There are more of us than [there] are of them. And so, what we’re asking today, on this night of Hanukkah, [is] where are the Maccabees? Where are the populations that are willing to stand up and fight against darkness? I am a Maccabees. And I want the rest of the Maccabees to stand up and fight for what is right.
And so we are days away from the conclusion of this administration. But the end of the mayoralty means the beginning of what we are going to do together. I thank this community. I thank the people of the City of New York. And I thank all of us for standing up for what is right. God bless us all.
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