With a Jewish population of 960,000 people – 11% of the total – New York City is often seen as the center of Diaspora Jewish life. But with an increase in antisemitism in the city, the focus is now on how NYC plans to protect its Jews.
This guided The Jerusalem Post’s conversation with Rabbi Moshe Davis, executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, on Thursday.
Davis was appointed to the role when it was established in May but has worked for the Adams administration since November 2022 as the Jewish liaison in the Community Affairs Unit.
Initially, his role was mainly liaising with the Jewish community and being involved with Jewish events. Then October 7 happened, and “antisemitism exploded.”
“My work as Jewish liaison was about stamping out those fires, making sure the Jewish community was safe, talking with yeshivas and synagogues.”
Adams and his team subsequently decided to create a whole office dedicated to combating antisemitism. The office was created through an executive order, meaning that any future administration would have to publicly recall it to close the office, a decision that would likely cause a significant furor.
Adams signed a second executive order focused on recognizing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. Adams also introduced the historic legislation to the City Council, calling on them to match this commitment by codifying this definition in law.
While executive orders can be rescinded, anything passed by the city council into law cannot, giving such legislation protections from any future administration.
Though the Post queried whether such a push for legislation comes from fears of a potential Mamdani administration, Davis assured that this has “always been on the agenda.”
“Keeping the Jewish community safe in NYC, and setting [the] groundwork for the future, is the most important thing.”
Aside from executive orders and legislation, much of the office’s (and Davis’s) work centers on the creation of an interagency task force, whereby each NYC agency has a dedicated antisemitism liaison. And when Davis says every agency, he means every agency, from the New York Police Department to the Education Department to the Transportation Department to the Department for Environmental Protection.
All agencies have been very receptive to the new office and “understand that combating antisemitism is a priority,” said Davis.
He explained that education and physical safety are two of the most important spheres for his office’s work, but that children, in particular, are a focus for him. “Thirty percent of hate crimes are by juveniles,” he said, “so something is happening there, and we need to figure out what it is.”
THE POST also raised the fact that, at the time of the office’s establishment, there was some criticism from the public and politicians alike who felt that Jews were receiving “special consideration” by having a whole office dedicated to them.
“There is special consideration in that 62% of all hate crimes in the city have been against Jews, even though they make up only 11% of the city’s population.
“This is the biggest crisis Jews are facing right now, and we must protect them. The Jewish community is an integral part of NYC: past, present, and future.”
The Jewish community is perhaps such an integral part of the NYC fabric that the city has a special ability to set trends for the rest of the nation.
The office is the first of its kind in the US, and the work it does has sparked discussions in other cities. Davis knows the spotlight is on NYC for how it protects its Jews, and he hopes other cities will follow suit with measures to protect and care for their own communities.
“Eric Adams is a fierce leader and fighter. He knows, as mayor of the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, [that] the focus is on us.”
Davis referenced Mayor Adams’s famous “We are not alright” speech on October 10, 2023, which set a precedent for Western responses to the Hamas massacre. “What we do here will reverberate around the rest of the country and the rest of the world,” he said.
“What we are doing will resonate and cascade.”
Concern over Zohran Mamdani
While the interview did not specifically cover the potential of a Mamdani mayoral stint – something at the forefront of many Jewish New Yorkers’ minds – Davis told the Post that the Jewish community’s fear for the future is “very real.”
“Jews see attacks on synagogues, the hate speech against Jews in the street wearing their Jewish symbols. There are so many attacks against the Jewish community.” Every week, there are mass rallies in Times Square with loud support for terrorists. People wear Hamas headbands and call for death to Israel.
“It’s disgusting behavior, supporting those who kill, maim, rape, and destroy Jewish people,” he said. Nevertheless, New York, like all other cities, is guided by the First Amendment, and speech is protected.
“However, at the end of the day, I am a proud third-generation Jewish New Yorker. I wear my yarmulke in public. There is a robust religious life and cultural life for Jews in New York.”
The office goes a long way to ensure the longevity of that.