(JTA) — After moving his inauguration ceremony to Saturday night to accommodate his Shabbat-observant supporters and later canceling the event altogether due to the Omicron outbreak, Eric Adams will now be sworn in as mayor of New York City in an even flashier but less Shabbat-friendly fashion: shortly after the ball drops to bring in the new year in Times Square.
Typically the inauguration of New York City’s elected officials takes place on January 1 at noon.
With January 1 this year falling on a Saturday, meaning the midday ceremony would be happening on Shabbat when observant Jews typically do not travel, Adams decided to shift the ceremony until later in the evening after Shabbat ends so his observant Jewish supporters could attend.
The previously planned event was scheduled to take place indoors at Brooklyn’s King’s Theatre but was scrapped due to the large numbers of Omicron cases currently spreading through New York City.
Adams has long had a strong base of support within New York City’s Orthodox Jewish communities. In the crowded primary, Adams was a favorite of Orthodox groups in Brooklyn, along with Andrew Yang.
Though he did not win a majority of the vote in heavily Hasidic Borough Park in the November general election, Adams gave the Hasidic community there a shoutout in his victory speech.