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NYC Mayor Adams rejects criticism that his Jewish advisory group isn’t diverse

(New York Jewish Week) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office is pushing back against criticism that its newly inaugurated Jewish Advisory Council is not diverse enough.
That charge was aired in a New York Times story published Thursday that quoted liberal rabbis and U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler saying the council had too few women and too many Orthodox members. The Times noted that 23 of the 37 members of the council are Orthodox and that only 9 are women.
Mayor Adams failed to “adequately represent the demographic diversity of Jewish New Yorkers,” Nadler, the Upper West Side Democrat, said in a letter provided to the Times. “I encourage the mayor to work to better account for that diversity with changes to the council’s membership so that it can be balanced appropriately to properly reflect the community’s full range of views and needs.”
Ruth Messinger, the former president of the American Jewish World Service and former Manhattan Borough President, backed Nadler’s statement.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Adams pushed back on the assertion that the council isn’t diverse enough. The spokesperson said that the council “comprises a diverse assembly of Jewish men and women hailing from various religious and cultural backgrounds, including Chabad, Conservative, Hasidic, Non-Denominational, Modern Orthodox, Reform, Sephardic, and Yeshiva Orthodox affiliations.”
The spokesperson added that “lumping these groups together to insinuate that there is either ‘too much’ or ‘not enough’ is a dog whistle that unfortunately resonates with the Jewish people all too well and disrespects the uniqueness and cultural originality of these institutions.”
The city hall spokesperson said that the Jewish Advisory Council was designed to be inclusionary and the mayor is encouraging all who believe they can contribute to apply to join.
Last week, the 37 rabbis, Jewish activists and community leaders gathered at City Hall to meet with Adams for the first meeting of the council, which was assembled to address issues affecting Jewish New Yorkers, including rising anti-semitism and antisemitic hate crimes, education and quality of life.
Rabbi Rachel Timoner of the Reform Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope and Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum of the LGBTQ+ synagogue Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in Manhattan said that the council did not appear to include LBGTQ leaders or Jews of Color.
In a June 28 letter addressed to the mayor, Timoner and Kleinbaum wrote: “We know and admire some of the leaders you’ve selected to serve. However, we are deeply concerned that the makeup of your Advisory Council does not properly reflect the diversity of the community that you yourself said at the time you were committed to fully embracing,”
The letter refers to a May 2022 meeting in which Adams met with 55 women clergy who were concerned that he was only representing the interests and perspectives of male, Orthodox Jews. The meeting was a result of advocacy from the New York Jewish Agenda, a progressive Jewish group founded in 2020.
“New York Jewish Agenda exists, among other reasons, to achieve recognition by elected officials of the pluralistic, diverse Jewish community of New York, making the case that the majority of Jews in New York are liberal or progressive and often have a different set of priorities than do our haredi brothers or right-leaning siblings,” Timoner, a co-founder of NYJA, told the New York Jewish Week last year.
At the time, Timoner — who was named one of the New York Jewish Week’s “36 to Watch” in 2022 — said the goal of the meeting was for the mayor to see “that the vast majority of New York’s Jews are liberal and progressive,” because “the concern was that his administration was only consulting haredi leaders, as if they spoke for the whole community.”
In an interview Friday afternoon, Timoner explained that the key issue with the Jewish Advisory Council is not diversity for diversity’s sake; rather, it’s important for the council include liberal and progressive Jewish leaders so their concerns are represented, she said.
“When we went to meet with the mayor [last May], we brought a number of issues that Jews care about deeply — which include Jewish-specific questions like antisemitism, but also include questions that affect all New Yorkers, like affordable housing, health care, mental health care and climate change,” Timoner said. “The liberal part of the Jewish community sees ourselves as interconnected with other minority communities who are working to make our democracy more inclusive, and more equal, and, and to stand against hate against any group.”
“If the mayor is creating an advisory council that is predominantly composed of Jews who are bringing an agenda that is really only about Jews, that siloing of the Jewish people off from other communities is actually not safe for us, and also not aligned with the priorities and perspective of most Jews in New York,” Timoner added.
Timoner was not included in the Jewish Advisory Council, nor was Kleinbaum, who also helped organize the 2022 meeting. In fact, only one attendee of that May meeting was invited to the first council meeting: Rabbi Diana Gerson, the associate executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis.
“The Advisory Council is tilted so heavily to one part of the community that it reflects a very lopsided view of New York’s Jewish demography and has the potential to make the majority of New York’s Jews feel underrepresented and unheard,” Timoner and Kleinbaum’s letter said. “We hope that this was just an accidental oversight.”
Timoner and Kleinbaum indicated in their letter that they are not interested in joining the council. “This is not about us,” they wrote. “It is, however, about creating an official entity that reflects our mayor’s view of the Jewish people of New York. We hope that you will consider how most Jews will feel seeing this Jewish Advisory Council and reconsider whether it properly reflects your vision of the beautiful mosaic of New York City’s robust Jewish community.”
The mayor’s spokesperson also provided a statement on behalf of the council itself, reiterating City Hall’s claims that the group is composed of diverse Jewish leaders.
“Hailing from all five boroughs, we collectively bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the Adams administration regarding the issues that affect New York City’s Jewish community and our city as a whole,” the statement said. “Our group has a dynamic blend of expertise in various sectors, ranging from social services and food pantries like Commonpoint, Met Council, and Masbia; to public safety organizations; to educational experts, particularly for children with special needs; and cultural institutions such as the Jewish Heritage Museum and the Jewish Children’s Museum. These organizations serve all New Yorkers.”
In a 2011 study, 40 percent of Jews in the city identified as Orthodox. The same study said that about 28% identified as Reform, 8% as Conservative, 25% as “nondenominational” and 22% as secular.
Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, a member of the council and executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis, told the New York Times that he planned to meet with the mayor’s senior adviser, Joel Eisdorfer — who was also one of our 2022 “36 to Watch” honorees — to discuss adding members to the council.
“We’re not going to be fully effective if we’re not fully representative,” Potasnik told the Times.
In a phone call prior to the first meeting of the Jewish Advisory Council, Rachel Ain, a Conservative rabbi, told the New York Jewish Week that the Council was “a wonderful step towards expanding the voices at the table.”
“By the creation of the council and reaching out to people of all denominations, both within the synagogue-affiliated organizations and beyond, there is a commitment to understanding the New York City Jewish community,” she said.
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The post NYC Mayor Adams rejects criticism that his Jewish advisory group isn’t diverse appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students

Haredi Jewish men look at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Israel’s military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a Supreme Court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments.
The Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13 percent it represents today.
Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel’s 21 percent Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve.
A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to craft a compromise.
The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel’s armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu’s brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardize their religious identity.
The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programs to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
The post Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake” that he said would benefit the terrorist group Hamas.
Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel’s military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his “next steps” but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition.
Smotrich’s comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.
“… the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas,” Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as “logistical support for the enemy during wartime”.
The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to U.N. estimates.
Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.
PRESSURE
Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.
The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.
The post Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Australian police have charged a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a series of incidents targeting the nation’s Jewish community.
There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on Friday night. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the capital of Victoria state.
Australia has experienced several antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023.
Counter-terrorism detectives late on Saturday arrested the 34-year-old resident of Sydney, capital of neighboring New South Wales, charging him with offenses including criminal damage by fire, police said.
“The man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing the scene,” police said in a statement.
The suspect, whom the authorities declined to identify, was remanded in custody after his case was heard at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Sunday and no application was made for bail, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Authorities are investigating whether the synagogue fire was linked to a disturbance on Friday night at an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne, in which one person was arrested for hindering police.
The restaurant was extensively damaged, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews.
It said the fire at the synagogue, one of Melbourne’s oldest, was set as those inside sat down to Sabbath dinner.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog went on X to “condemn outright the vile arson attack targeting Jews in Melbourne’s historic and oldest synagogue on the Sabbath, and on an Israeli restaurant where people had come to enjoy a meal together”.
“This is not the first such attack in Australia in recent months. But it must be the last,” Herzog said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incidents as “severe hate crimes” that he viewed “with utmost gravity.” “The State of Israel will continue to stand alongside the Australian Jewish community,” Netanyahu said on X.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese late on Saturday described the alleged arson, which comes seven months after another synagogue in Melbourne was targeted by arsonists, as shocking and said those responsible should face the law’s full force.
“My Government will provide all necessary support toward this effort,” Albanese posted on X.
Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson. The incidents included a fake plan by organized crime to attack a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives in order to divert police resources, police said in March.
The post Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue first appeared on Algemeiner.com.