Mayoral Candidate Eric Adams Gains Endorsements from Orthodox Jewish Queens and Crown Heights

By Yehudit Garmaise

     The Far Rockaway Jewish Alliance of the Queens Jewish Community, which represents a large part of the Orthodox community in that borough, endorsed Eric Adams for mayor today, just two days after the Chabad community in Crown Heights did the same on Wednesday.

     “Adams has a proven track record in this city: a real record of a commitment to public safety and rooting out anti-Semitism wherever it rears its ugly head,”  said Mr. Richard Altabe, founder of the Far Rockaway Jewish Alliance.

     "Eric Adams [has] represented us in the state Senate and as Brooklyn borough president, and he has been a long-time friend to our community,” Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, one of the endorsers from Crown Heights, told Hamodia. “He has celebrated with us in good times and mourned with us in bad times. His friendship has earned our loyalty and support.”

     In response, Adams tweeted that he is “proud to have earned the unified endorsement of the Jewish community in Crown Heights, a testament to our long-lasting friendship and deep mutual respect.”

     Adams, a 22-year police officer, former state senator, and current president of Brooklyn, who has surged to frontrunner status in three different polls in the past week, has also, in recent months, considerably strengthened his stance on yeshivas since learning more about them and even visiting one.

     In February, Adams told BoroPark24 that educational models should not be “one-size-fit-all.”

     “Children have a right to receive the best education, and not all communities and not all parents take the same approach,” Adams said.

     When BoroPark24 mentioned that yeshiva education is crucial to our communities, Adams said in response, “We want to get the best outcomes of students and not rely on heavy-handed investigations that lead to distrust.

     “We can find better solutions, if we don’t become heavy-handed in the process."

     In addition, after a federal judge ordered an injunction that permanently ended Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s pandemic-related capacity limits for houses of worship in February, Adams said, “My hope is that this [ruling] is a stepping-stone for a broader appreciation of religious rights and freedoms,” and that “the New York City I envision as mayor will always recognize religion as a fundamental right, protected from politics.”

     In addition to religious freedom, public safety, which is Adams’ signature issue, is another issue that is important to Jewish communities for which anti-Semitic hate crimes are a constant threat.

     Adams, a longtime supporter of Shomrim, who is viewed as the toughest candidate on crime, often argues against defunding the police and other progressive approaches, while remaining sensitive to police brutality, from which he unfortunately suffered, when he was 15.

     “Instead of giving in to anger,” Eric Adams' website says, “[after] he was beaten by police in the basement of a precinct house, Eric faced a life-changing act of injustice. Eric turned his pain into purpose and decided to change the police department from within."

     Among Adams’ ideas for improving public safety in the city are re-instituting the NYPD’s plain clothes crime unit, which was eliminated by Mayor Bill de Blasio, “and turning it into an anti-gun unit,” he told BoroPark24 in April. In addition, Adams wants to focus on gang violence, “which is driving shootings.”

     Adams also criticized Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s bail reform, which allows criminals back on the streets the day after committing crimes.

    “Judges must be able to have the power to be able to attach bail to criminals who are going to be repeat offenders,” Adams said.

    Judges, Adams also pointed out, should better use their power and legal right to require psychiatric evaluation, treatment, and medication for criminals who exhibit mental illness he said.

    Other of Adams’ innovative ideas that come from 22 years of experience in the NYPD is the prevention of crime by improving public education and by better diagnosing learning disabilities.

    “30% of the jail population at Riker’s is dyslexic,” Adams said. “By not properly educating New Yorkers, we are just feeding the future crime problem in our city, and we can do a better job in doing so.” 

    When BoroPark24 asked Adams whether the NYPD could use the $1 billion that the mayor shifted away from the department last summer, the top mayoral candidate surprisingly said, “No.”

    Using his deep knowledge of the NYPD’s budget, Adams pointed out the department could save millions of dollars by hiring non-officers to do the many desk jobs that pay police officers’ salaries.

   Trained police officers should be out on the street, protecting public safety, said Adams, who recently said that as mayor, he would refuse security because he would be armed himself.

    State Senator Joseph Addabo Jr., Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato, and Council member Slevena Brooks-Powers, who have previous endorsed Adams, joined in the Queens’ and Crown Heights communities’ support for Brooklyn's borough president.

    As a fellow Brooklynite, Rabbi Behrman of Crown Heights said that Adams “knows our community and understand our culture.

   “Adams stands out as the candidate most qualified in this area.”