Mayor Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch vowed Wednesday that the NYPD will do everything in its power to make sure Jewish New Yorkers can celebrate Rosh Hashanah safely as the city faces an uptick in antisemitic hate crimes.
“I want to speak directly to our Jewish New Yorkers now,” Mamdani said at a press conference at NYPD headquarters in lower Manhattan. “Your safety during these sacred days is of the utmost importance to our administration, and we will work tirelessly to ensure that you can observe the holiday securely.”
Jewish leaders in the five boroughs have felt uneasy about this year’s High Holy Days celebrations because of the uptick in antisemitic crimes. They were also concerned that, since Rosh Hashanah will begin on the same day the city marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11, police resources that day would be divided.
Mamdani admitted that “there have been moments of immense sadness over this past year” for Jewish New Yorkers.
“Too many of our neighbors have been the victims of antisemitic hate crimes, and too many are understandably afraid to come together and celebrate openly,” he said.
Mamdani and Tisch said that, while there are no specific threats toward Jewish houses of worship and institutions, there will be an increased NYPD presence outside synagogues across the five boroughs as well as other Jewish and cultural locations as Rosh Hashanah begins.
“We will deploy additional uniform footposts and dedicated house of worship patrols,” Tisch said. As Rosh Hashanah approaches, the NYPD will continue monitoring for any threats both online and in person, Mamdani added.
Tisch, who is Jewish, has spoken openly about the concern Jews have for their safety at a time when antisemitic incidents represent 54% of all hate crimes in the city thus far this year, even though Jews make up only about 10% of the city’s population — statistics she called “deeply disturbing.”
Last month, for instance, an attacker at Central Synagogue, on the East Side, assaulted a Jewish woman and a Black security guard, authorities said.
And in July, another attacker stabbed two people, including a Jewish man, after he left an Upper West Side synagogue.
Bob Moskovitz, executive director at Flatbush Shomrim Safety Patrol, said he’s “very concerned about public safety” during a high holy day briefing with scores of Jewish leaders and rabbis and plans to work hand-in-hand with local police to safeguard Jewish communities in Brooklyn.
“I’m very confident that the NYPD is doing everything possible to make sure that we have a safe holiday,” Moskovitz said.
“I have had numerous conversations with Jewish New Yorkers where they have expressed fear about walking around the city, openly identifying as being Jewish, going to shul on Shabbos or for the High Holy Days,” Tisch said. “I have also had a number of conversations where Jewish New Yorkers have expressed to me their thanks both to the security personnel working in their communities as well as the members of the NYPD.”
“I have said to so many of them standing at so many synagogues, there are 35,000 noble members of the New York City Police Department willing to risk their own lives for that of a stranger,” she added.
Rabbi Raymond Jasen, 60, said he’s been impressed by the responsiveness of police in Queens in communicating with local synagogues and Jewish organizations.
“They really have a great plan in place. Very active in the community in reaching out to leadership with info, including what’s going to be happening, what the schedules are, and where the entrances are,” Jasen said. “I really do think that the New York Police Department cares.”
William Daroff, CEO of Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said city Jews are “very much on alert.”
“(We’re) attuned to the fact that during the high holidays oftentimes haters of Jews and killers of Jews use that as a time to perpetrate acts of violence,” Daroff said. “Whether it was Oct 7, which was at the end of Sukkot, or other stabbings and shootings, we’re on definite alert.”
Mitch Silber, who worked as an NYPD analyst under Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, says Jews in the city are increasingly at risk given the sharp change in public sentiment, citing the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in Israel.
“Everybody knew that the victims of 9/11 were innocents, and there was no questioning of that, that they were victims,” said Silber, who now runs the Community Security Initiative, which detects and tries to disrupt threats against Jewish communities here and around the world. “But with (Oct. 7) there have been questions about whether the Israelis killed in that terrorist attack were also innocent.”
