Transcript: Mayor De Blasio Delivers Remarks at Young Israel of Staten Island

April 12, 2017

Mayor Bill de Blasio: I’ve been to a lot of services, but this is immediately unique. I don’t know – I don’t know who created this wonderful humor and warmth. Rabbi, was that you that created this in this congregation? But I’ve never seen a back and forth between a rabbi and a congregation.

[Laughter]

Unknown: [Inaudible]

Mayor: You have a wonderful congregation and a tough audience, don’t you? But you persevere. I’m very, very appreciative to be given the chance to come here. I want to ask [inaudible.]

[Applause]

So I say to the Mets fans – even though this very, very important holiday, we should remember we have a common enemy. Okay? It’s true. I was born in New York, but I grew up in Massachusetts, so I gained a kind of sports affiliation that a child would. But I always have found a solidarity with the Mets because we know in common what we don’t like. Now to all the Yankee fans – all the Yankee fans, I forgive you.

[Laughter]

Rabbi, thank you. Thank you for all that you have achieved here in this beautiful congregation and for all of Staten Island. I know the Borough President –

[Applause]

You should know that the borough president says nice things about you behind your back. And this is not the first time. And Scott, thank you for your leadership. I want to tell you, Scott and everyone associated with the JCC – when they dealt with adversity, I thought they did it with great strength. Great strength and they said – huh?

Unknown: A little louder –

Mayor: Okay, louder? Louder! Can you hear my back there? There you go.

I want to say that Scott and everyone at the JCC, in a moment of adversity, showed tremendous strength. And they were not intimidated and kept doing their great work. I want to thank him for that.

[Applause]

And I’ll be very quick, but I just want to say look – this moment we gather, you get to think about centuries of people who gathered in the same fashion. And something eternal and something beautiful in this faith and the history of the Jewish people. And it’s a reminder than no one will turn back all that you have received through centuries. People will try. Right? We live in an age – no one is surprised by it – we live in an age where some in the world are trying to destroy who we are. Whether they’re trying to destroy the Jewish community, or the State of Israel, or the United States of America, or democracy, or pluralistic society, or multi-faith society. You name it, there are people trying to undermine it. And what we have to remember to be is undaunted. Not to belittle the challenges and the threats, but to be undaunted.

As New Yorkers one thing that’s beautiful about us is we don’t intimidate easily. And anytime there’s been threats – and there have been. There have been. You know, we’re the number one terror target in the world, and anytime there’s been a threat against us, I like to remind people New Yorkers do not scare easily. We don’t get intimidated. We do not let anyone threaten us to change our values and who we are. We maintain a sense of this society, this beautiful, embracing, tolerant, multi-faith society we’ve created in this city. This is the way it’s supposed to be for humanity. The people in the Jewish community in this city inherently know that of all the places on the earth over thousands of years of history, this is one of the places that finally we can say the Jewish people have a home where they are respected and protected. They’re fully the fabric of the community in every way, and all the discrimination, all the negativity of the centuries has been so substantially ended.

We’re not perfect. I’m not trying to say everything is resolved. We still see these horrible incidents of anti-Semitism even in this city. But we’ve come so far in this city, and we’re so much more advanced than so much of the world. And that’s something to be very, very proud of as New Yorkers. Now I will tell you, every time I see Mayor Barkat of Jerusalem or Mayor Huldai of Tel Aviv, I like to remind them that we in New York have something they do not have. Those are wonderful cities, they’re big cities, but if you just take those cities themselves – not all their suburbs and surrounding areas – if you just take Jerusalem or you just take Tel Aviv, there is a larger Jewish population in New York City than in either of those cities. And we’re very proud of that.

[Applause]

A community 1.2 million strong in this city – and one of the things we owe to the world is to show the community is always protected here, so when there’s an incident anywhere in the world – you certainly saw it recently with the threats against the JCC. We’re going to show a response. We’re going to show the NYPD is on the case. We’re going to show the people of New York City stand by the community. And that makes a difference, and I don’t have to tell anyone in the room that doesn’t happen in enough places in the world, but it will happen consistently here. And it’s a message. It’s a message to a lot of countries that should be doing that already, but this is the right way to do this.

In this borough, you have so much to be proud of. I tell you this week that I’ll be spending here, it’s for me a powerful moment because it reminds me of just how extraordinary this city is when you go borough-by-borough. You see how much the city has achieved over years and years. A city that was not safe in our recent memory, now safer all the time. A city that people used to be fleeing just a few decades ago, now a place that is growing all the time. We’re going to be 9 million people before you know it. We have a lot to be proud of. 

So, I’ll conclude by saying it’s an honor to be here. As you celebrate a moment so powerful and rich in history – one that people of all faiths appreciate, the holiday filled with conscience, with lessons to us all. Everyone appreciates this holiday also symbolizes the extraordinary and ultimately triumphant struggle of the Jewish people against oppression over centuries that brought you to this day. A community that’s growing and stronger than ever, and isn’t that something to remember when you look at how much people have had to overcome?

And I will conclude by saying I – Brooklyn, when I was first a Council member I represented a variety of communities including the Borough Park community. I don’t know what people like to say here on this day, but we would say, “have a [inaudible] Pesach.” And I hope you find that acceptable.

[Laughter]