Transcript: Mayor Adams Delivers Remarks at Temple Emanu-El's 180th Anniversary Celebration

April 4, 2025

Mayor Eric Adams: To my colleagues in government and to the parishioners here at this amazing display of faith. 180 years you have been here providing refuge for so many New Yorkers. Think about that time frame. 

You were here before the invention of the first telephone. Went on and you think about just that device. It went from the device from Alexander Graham Bell, went to eventually a rotary phone, then a touch [phone], then a flip phone, then a smartphone, and then a phone with everything on it and we can't stay off it. 

But throughout that time, the device may have changed, but God remained the same. So one size fits all. 

The last time I was here, it was after the October 7th massacre. And I stated then and I'll state it again, Hamas must be destroyed and every hostage must be returned home. This is not a moment of trying to be theoretical and philosophical and intellectual. It's just a common sense approach. 

And each time I look over the relationship the Jewish people have had with every group that struggled, from the civil rights movement to those who dealt with tragedies. Israel was the first country to go to Haiti during the terrible hurricane. Moments after moments, you were there. 

And so I say to all, we all need to be present now as antisemitism has been normalized across the entire globe. And if you're not safe here, if you're not safe here in New York City with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, then there's a signal you cannot be safe anywhere. 

And I'm committed and dedicated to that, not only to do the substantive things that we have done. I heard about all the calls we received on the Israeli Day Parade and people told us not to hold it. And I stated, not in this city. 

We will never run and never allow hate to overcome our commitment and dedication, but also the symbolic things of standing up, speaking out and sending our Ivy League institution a very clear message that you cannot be a safe haven and continue to produce those that not only hate Israel, Jews, and hate the country, America. 

We have to be clear in our voices. We cannot be inconsistent. And I said it then and I'll say it again. I'm not your mayor. I'm not just a citizen. I'm your brother. Your pain is my pain. And I will continue to stand with you and your right to be safe in your city. May God bless you for another hundred and eighty years. Let's continue to lift each other up. Thank you very much.

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