Adams brings hopeful faith leaders to City Hall

New York faith leaders gathered in City Hall on the first day of Chanukah to celebrate what Mayor Eric Adams called “a city built on religious and racial tolerance.”

“In this moment of heightened tension around the globe, it is more important than ever that we stand together as one, united against the rising tide of hatred and religious intolerance,” Adams said.

While statistics show that hate crime is up, "we don't have polling that shows what love is doing in our city," observed Pastor Gilford Monrose, who runs the mayor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships.

He called the faith leaders assembled on Friday “angels of light … a snapshot of who we are as a city.”

Despite the prevalence during Chanukah of the theme of light breaking through darkness, “darkness has to be taken on directly,” cautioned Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun on the Upper East Side. “Purveyors of hatred, advocates of division, need to be called out.”

Referring to the Baal Shem Tov’s assertion that “a little bit of light can get rid of a lot of darkness,” Rabbi Steinmetz said that “if we can get all the faith leaders to bring light, we can get all New Yorkers to bring light [and] there will be no more darkness. That is our dream.”

Imam Shamsi Ali of the Jamaica Muslim Center said New York was a great city not “because of the bridges that connect the five boroughs,” but because of “bridges of understanding, bridges of mutual love and compassion, bridges of cooperation and partnership.”

“We must be courageous enough to fight for one another and to defend one another,” Ali said. “We remind ourselves that an attack on anyone is an attack on all of us.”

Rabbi Steinmetz thanked Mayor Adams for “fighting antisemitism and racism and xenophobia” and for bringing people together to celebrate “the wonderful mosaic of New York.”

New York is a city “built on religious and racial tolerance,” Adams affirmed, “a city where people from all over the world can live side by side in harmony, regardless of nationality, regardless of where they pray.”

Nevertheless, he conceded, “we're feeling a level of apprehension. It doesn't matter if you wear a hijab or yarmulke or a turban, a cross” or some other symbol of religious belief, even those who haven’t personally experienced hate, “when they hear about the hate, it brings a level of fear and intimidation.”

Rabbi Steinmetz responded to reporters’ questions about added security at Jewish institutions since Oct. 7 by referring to expenditures on security as “an antisemitism tax which is levied on Jews by antisemites.”

He was asked what he’d tell someone afraid to wear a star of David or put up the menorah. “We have to recognize that even if there is antisemitism, Jews have survived because they've been courageous,” he said. “Now it's a time for resolution and courage, not for cowardice. We need to be wise and safe but we should not cower.”

Asked about the university presidents who equivocated about campus antisemitism in their congressional testimony last week, Rabbi Steinmetz said, “The bottom line for me is the top line — everyone needs to start talking unequivocally about how awful antisemitism is.

“At the top, you say this is the world's longest hatred, it is an absolute evil, it’s claimed millions of lives and we stand against antisemitism. There may be other issues that come down along the way, but first, start with the basics. Start with a clear message. We stand against antisemitism.”

“The key to defeating antisemitism is found in people lighting lights, people saying we will not tolerate this,” he said.