NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Eric Adams announced on Monday the launch of the Jewish Advisory Council, a panel to inform the mayor on issues facing Jewish New Yorkers. Chaired by Adams' senior adviser Joel Eisdorfer, the council held its inaugural meeting at the City Hall Rotunda.
“Our Jewish community — the largest in the world outside of Israel — is a critical part of New York City,” Mayor Adams said in a press release. "With antisemitic crimes up across the nation, our newly-formed Jewish Advisory Council will ensure that Jewish New Yorkers in every community have a seat at the table and have access to the support and resources the city offers.”
The panel includes 37 Jewish leaders in non-profits, community organizations, and synagogues, their work spanning across several sects of Judaism and all five boroughs. The council will meet regularly to discuss matters of public safety, education, and quality of life among New York's 1.1 million Jewish residents.
“The Jewish community is extremely fortunate to have a mayor who has a deep understanding of the challenges facing the Jewish community,” said Einsdorfer. Mayor Adams appointed Eisdorfer as senior adviser in February 2022, making him the first Chassidic Jew ever to hold the position. He'd previously served as a board member for Boro Park Jewish Community Council, a social service center in Brooklyn.
Other members of the Jewish Advisory Council include Manhattan's Menashe Shapiro, Adams' deputy chief of staff, and Rabbi Joanna Samuels, CEO at Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan.
“I’ve seen firsthand Mayor Adams’ commitment to the Jewish community,” Shapiro said. Adams remains popular among Jewish people in New York, including the critical Orthodox voting bloc. Earlier this year, he started the "Breaking Bread, Building Bonds" initiative, which plans to organize 1,000 dinners across the city where ordinary people from different walks of life can talk to one another. With the creation of the Jewish Advisory Council, Jewish leaders like Rabbi Samuels have echoed Adams' sentiment to give Jewish New Yorkers "a seat at the table."
“Regardless of your denomination, affiliation, or sect," Shapiro said, "New York’s Jewish community has a mayor who understands the unique cultural and ethnic sensibilities of the Jewish community and who is dedicated to ensuring...everyone is safe and secure.”