Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams Hosts a Jewish Heritage Month Celebration

May 24, 2022

Joel Eisdorfer, Senior Advisor to the Mayor: Good evening. Thank you all for joining. As many of you know, my name is Joel Eisdorfer and I proudly serve as senior advisor to the mayor. On behalf of Mayor Eric Adams, welcome to Gracie Mansion for the mayor's first Jewish Heritage celebration. Your support is greatly appreciated. Thank you. I have been privileged to work for Mayor Adams since his time as a senator and borough president. And I've learned so much from him about leadership service and public safety. Although our great mayor has hosted many Jewish heritage celebrations when he was a state senator representing Crown Heights and then as Brooklyn borough president, this is the first one he's holding as mayor.

Eisdorfer: Speaking about first, Mayor Adams is the first mayor to serve in the ranks of the NYPD and be elected to the highest office in our city. As the mayor often says about himself, when speaking about his long standing relationship with the Jewish community, "I'm an old friend, not a new friend." As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." As we have always witnessed with Mayor Eric Adams, he has never been silent when it comes to defending the Jewish community. He has never been silent when it comes to standing up for our cops and public safety, and he will never be silent when it comes to fighting for the success and prosperity of each and every New Yorker. It is now my honor to introduce to you my boss, my friend, the 110th Mayor of the City of New York, the honorable Eric Adams.

Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Chief Advisor to the Mayor: Hey, hi everybody. How are you doing? How are you guys doing? Okay, there's a slight change of program. Mayor Adams wanted me, his chief advisor to the mayor, to give a special thanks... Come back, Joel... To our senior advisor, Joel Eisdorfer for ensuring that tonight's event was an awesome success. I'm going to take liberty to give a little love to Judy Rapfogel. Where you at, Judy? Judy, you know we love you and thank you for all of the stuff that you've done for us for many years. So without any further ado, it's indeed an honor and a privilege for me to present to each and every one of you, someone who has been a true friend, an advocate, a brother to our Jewish community, someone that you know on an intimate level, someone that when we needed you, you were there for. Our 110th Mayor of New York City, Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you so much, and it's great to be here. I see so many familiar faces. Before I speak, I want to just bring all my colleagues that are here that represent the city in such a strong way, starting with The Bronx DA, Darcel Clark. Darcel?

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Mayor Adams: Thank you. Councilman Ari Kagan.

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Mayor Adams: And just in between the electeds, I want to bring on my good friend, Consul General of Israel, my good friend Consul General Zamir. Consul General.

Asaf Zamir, Consul General of Israel: Thank you, Mayor. It's such a relief to speak before you because it's very hard to speak after you and leave an impression. So I thank you for this amazing opportunity. And thank you for having us and thank you for holding the Jewish Heritage Month for the first time in Gracie Mansion, what a beautiful home, but more than anything, thank you for your unwavering support of the Jewish community and of Israel, the country I come from. Shalom Yisrael, everyone.

Zamir: One of the first meetings I had in New York was with the head of a Jewish organization that told me the story of his organization. And it started out at his organization helping Jews when Jews moved to New York and had nothing and membership in this organization was membership people made in order to get things. They needed help. They needed assistance. And tens of years later, and the same organization has become a philanthropy, a charity. It gives out. It helps other communities. It helps other people, and it truly shows through that example, the amazing story of the Jewish community in New York, the amazing change it's made and how it's evolved into a super power influencing the city, contributing to the city in so many aspects.

Zamir: There's a sentence in Hebrew, [speaks in Hebrew], things you see from there, you do not see from here. And I want to tell you as a guest, a new resident in this city, the things you see from Israel about the American Jewish community, you don't always see from there. You are a model for pluralism in Judaism. You are a model for acceptance. You are a model performing relationships with other communities and living together in coexistence. And when you come and learn from inside the [speaks in Hebrew] of this community, it makes you me. Very, very, very proud to be a part of it.

Zamir: And even though it's not the easiest of times, and even though antisemitic incidents in this city have quadrupled in the last year, everyone here knows we've been through worse and we've always won and we'll win this together. But we can't do it alone and gladly, we have a lot of help and primarily help from the city, from the mayor's office. And on top of that, from a mayor who I am happy to say and proud to say is an amazing friend to the Jewish community. An amazing friend to Israel and [speaks in Hebrew] will be in Israel very soon and visit and we'll host him there. So thank you very much. Happy Jewish Heritage Month. Let's make it an amazing month. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: Councilman Jim Gennaro.

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Mayor Adams: Councilwoman Vernikov.

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Mayor Adams: Our favorite congresswoman, Congresswoman [Carolyn] Maloney.

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Mayor Adams: So, we're going to break it up with a little entertainment and bring on Shulem Lemmer to give us some entertainment.

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Mayor Adams: Oh man. So we going to just save our best for last, our two council persons that are here. Borough Park. I know Borough Park is in the house. You know? Kalman Yeger, Councilman Yeger.

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Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And our last elected for the night, I know Williamsburg is in the house. I saw you out there. Lincoln Restler.

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Mayor Adams: So we want to honor one of our own, a great young man and a beautiful family with a proclamation. Inspector Taylor, would you come up?

Richie Taylor, Inspector, Police Department: Mayor, thank you. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: In 2005, he graduated from the police academy with honors and began his career on patrol in Brooklyn South before being promoted to Sergeant in 2010, Lieutenant in 2014, Captain in 2016, Deputy Inspector in 2020, and Inspector in 2021. Inspector Taylor has served in over 10 commands, including the 1st precinct, 61 precinct, 63rd precinct, 67th precinct, 88th precinct, PS Area 1, and several more as you can see.

Mayor Adams: Before becoming a police officer, Inspector Taylor was a New York State emergency medical technician and a member of Hatzalah, one of my favorite organizations, as well as just being a first responder and a real leader and the community. So on behalf of 8.8 million New Yorkers, we want to honor Inspector Taylor, representative of all the men and women that served and protect us in the city. Say a few words, Inspector.

Taylor: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Though, as we all know in the Jewish religion, the foundation of Judaism is Hakarat Hatov, appreciation for good. Mr. Mayor, I know I speak for everyone here and every member, especially the New York City Police Department when I say we have so much to be thankful to you for. You've given us a great police commissioner, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, who was just in many different Jewish communities in the city since she took office in the short time. Mr. Mayor, you set the tone of the city about public safety. We finally feel that City Hall and the Office of the Mayor has the backs of your New York City police officers. Thank you so much.

Taylor: I was very fortunate to meet Mayor Eric Adams when he was a captain in Manhattan South. I was in the police academy as a recruit. We learned about, of course, tactics. We learned about public safety. We learned about community affairs. I learned more in my conversations with Mayor Eric Adams probably than I did in the entire police academy. Mr. Mayor– 

Taylor: Oh. I know that's why the commissioner, before she was police commissioner, she was chief of detectives. Now we know why.

[Laughter]

Taylor: Thank you. Like I said, the police commissioner has come into so many different Jewish communities already in a few months in office. I know she's coming to more. I know she's always there with the chief advisor. I also... We owe a tremendous amount of Hakarat Hatov, of appreciation to the chief advisor to the mayor, our chaplain, Dr. Ingrid Lewis-Martin. I love you. Thank you so, so much. And, of course, the senior advisor to the mayor that we heard from already, who spoke so eloquently, Joel Eisdorfer, our friend of the entire community. Thank you so much, Joel. Of course, last, but certainly not least, my amazing supportive wife, Miri. She lets me do the work that I do with teamwork and she understands it and she gives so much. Thank you so much, Miri. I love you. Thank you. We have five daughters, my daughter, Alexis here, [inaudible] Taylor. Thank you so much.

Taylor: One fun fact, I know the mayor mentioned it, that I was assigned to the 88th Precinct. The fun fact is, before he was mayor, he was also a Lieutenant, a Lieutenant in the 88th Precinct and I heard the legacy of you, Mr. Mayor, and the 88th Precinct when I first was assigned there on how you truly cared about public safety, community affairs, and efficiency. You showed the way as a Lieutenant in the 88th Precinct on how you can only do altogether, but you can lead that example. As we know, Moshe Rabbeinu, they compared to a candle. He was a light and the reason that Moshe Rabbeinu is compared to a candle is because he gives over that light to many more candles and makes a lot more light without any diminishing from his own candle.

Taylor: Mr. Mayor, you signify that. You are the true finest example of that. I thank you for the recognition. I thank you for taking the lead. I thank you for your service. And above all, of course, with HaShem's help, with God's help, we will absolutely see the results. We see the progress, we will keep the progress going, and we will continue the safety and security under Mayor Eric Adams. Thank you so much.

Taylor: It's only fitting to, as we talk about the foundation of what we want to do in New York, it's only fitting that we have our police commissioner here. Commissioner, can you please say a few words?

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, Police Department: Good evening. I am sorry that I am delayed, but apparently I am right on time. I am thrilled to be here and I want to say congratulations to the honorees. This is tremendous. Mayor Adams has made it his mission to make sure that we recognize those trusted messengers, those ambassadors that can go into the community and explain what we want to do, what we need to do, and that we're all together in this. I truly say it takes a village to make this city what it needs to be, to make it safe, to make it compassionate, to make it have faith that we will see better days. And with all of us here together, we can celebrate the triumphs that we have. We can celebrate the people that make this city better and thank you all for being here while we do it for ours here. Be well.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. We're also joined by Inspector Caban. I know I saw him earlier. Abe, I know he was in the house. I remember many years ago, Abe, you coming into the 88th precinct talking about one day you could be mayor of the city. I remember that relationship. Thank you for that. Let me say this as we conclude, particularly to this community that I know so well, spent so many years with. I was in Park East Synagogue last weekend and I shared with them the story of dropping my son off to college for the first time and watching as he went to American University and speaking with the head of the school, questioning him over and over again until finally he placed his hands on my shoulders and he looked at me and smiled and he said, "Eric, I just dropped my daughter off to school in Carolina."

Mayor Adams: I knew just by that statement that he knew that I was going through separation anxiety. Eight years of watching a child turn into a young adult and become a man, I was not willing to turn over my son to someone that didn't get it. I said to myself, "He gets it." So I'm saying to you, the couple of hundred of you here that are celebrating Jewish heritage, I can't place my hands on each one of your shoulders, but I get it. I get it that you're troubled about the antisemitism that's not only pervasive here in New York, but that's cascaded across the entire globe. I get it that COVID was unfairly targeting businesses in your community with fines and forcing you to close down and demonizing you just because of your religious beliefs over and over again. I get it that you're watching this violence, bullets carving highways of death, taking children over and over again, children killing children. I get it.

Mayor Adams: I get it that fear has almost engulfed us. COVID has seen us take our loved ones to hospitals never to see them again. And many of your leaders losing their lives during this COVID battle. I get it. And I know how we're feeling. Every time we hear of another innocent person riding in the subway system and shot, 11 year old baby shot, over saturation of guns in our community, government becoming so challenging and difficult just to provide the basic services that you deserve to have. I get it. Well, I want to tell you something. You have a mayor that gets it, and January 1st, 2022, I'm bringing that energy of getting it to make sure we can get some things done in this city and finally turn this city into the city that we deserve. We can get it together.

Mayor Adams: We have real challenges ahead of us and that was amplified today when in Texas 15 people were shot, all of them innocent. Many of the ages were from two to four years old in school. A lone gunman came in, 18 years old, took the life of his family member, then went to the school and took the life of our babies. We must be focused on gun violence. No matter how prosperous we are, no matter what we are, if we can't live safely in our city free from violence, then we are prisoners in the city that we love. So I need you, I need you to raise your voice. There are days that the commissioner and I feel as though we're the only ones that are actually back in our Police Department. We feel as though we are alone. Everyone silently tells us, "Support the police." We cannot do this with a whisper.

Mayor Adams: This community knows how important law enforcement is. It is time for us to go on a major public relation campaign and telling the entire city and country, "We support our police. We want our police. We want our police to do their job." Every billboard should talk about that. Every newspaper should have ads inside them. Radio shows, you should talk about supporting the police. Your Twitter handles, you should talk about supporting the police. We are too silent on those who are watering the tree of public safety with their blood every day. For us, it is time for us that we sit in the shade of the freedom that they're giving us. It's time for us to raise our voice and say, "We need our police in our city and we stand with our police in our city."

Mayor Adams: They place themselves in harm's way. And that doesn't mean we can't scrutinize those who don't deserve to have the nobility of public protection, but we should not blanket everyone who adorns that uniform and serves and protects us. That's the mission we must leave here with today. The mission is safety. If we are not safe, we will live in our city in disgrace. And we're going nowhere. I firmly believe in every part of me it's New York or nowhere. The only place I want to live in is New York City. This is the greatest city on the globe. And you know that of the Jewish faith, we are the Tel Aviv of America. The largest Jewish population outside of Israel is right here in New York, right in New York. So we have a job to do. As we bring our city back, we're not going to allow the naysayers to get in our way. We're not going to be distracted by the noise.

Mayor Adams: We are laser focused on bringing New York back, laser focused. And I'm not going to be a general that's going to send my troops into battle. I'm going to lead them into battle. I'm going to work hard for you. I'm going to be committed. I'm going to make sure your tax dollars are used to give you the services you deserve. Our city is ready for the right type of leadership. You chose me as your mayor. I received the largest support from this community so I'm not going to deny you. I'm not going to allow you to live in the betrayal we witness in this city. It's time to bring our city to the level we know it deserves. Let's do it together. I believe it. You believe it. Thank you for coming out tonight.

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