Mayor Adams Outlines Vision and Budget

New York City Mayor Eric Adams this week outlined his vision for New York City for all in his first State of the City address, delivered this week in Brooklyn to which I was invited to attend. In the speech, the mayor reviewed key achievements of the Adams administration from his first 100 days in office, previewed a range of his plans for the city, and unveiled a $99.7 billion fiscal year 2023 (FY23) executive budget. Agudath Israel is working closely with the administration on issues important to our community such as yeshiva education, public safety, antisemitism and others.

 

 

Governor Hochul Announces Assistance for Holocaust Survivors

 

This week, Governor Kathy Hochul traveled to Boro Park where she met with a group of Holocaust Survivors and announced $2.6 million in state funding to provide services to Holocaust survivors. I attended the event on behalf of Agudath Israel and was able to thank the governor for her commitment to the survivors. Agudath Israel has been a longtime advocate for the survivor community and our Bnos division has a special program where young women volunteer to visit survivors to provide them with friendship and companionship.

 

Redistricting Do Over

 

This week, the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s top court, rejected the state’s new congressional and state Senate lines, complicating this year’s election process. The court’s decision will likely lead to a delay to at least some of the primaries that were due to be held on June 28, particularly for the House and State Senate, although races for statewide seats, such as governor, and the state Assembly are also on the ballot. The new lines will now be drawn by a special master appointed by the court, and though it is still not final, it appears the primary for congressional and state Senate seats will be held sometime in August.

 

Agudath Israel has been very involved in the redistricting process from the very beginning. That included testifying at multiple hearings as well as numerous meetings with community leaders, members of the legislature and their leadership to ensure fair and equitable lines and to make sure our community of interest had their voice heard. We will continue to monitor the process through the special master and will offer input where possible.

 

But most important, whenever the election is ultimately held, we urge all to vote.

 

Testifying before the redistricting commission last November

 

Yeshiva Tour

 

This week, together with my colleagues Rabbi Yehoshua Pinkus and Rabbi Ami Bazov, I were pleased to conduct a tour of some Brooklyn yeshivas with Professor Nicholas Tampio. Dr. Tampio is a professor of political science at Fordham University and in his words believes in religious freedom and educational pluralism. Dr. Tampio was able to see firsthand the great work our yeshivas do. After the visit Dr. Tampio observed that he learned a lot and what stood out most was how happy the kids were.

 

New Regulations on Yeshivas

 

On the topic of yeshivas, The NYS Education Department recently released new, proposed Substantial Equivalency Regulations for nonpublic schools. These regulations can give unprecedented authority over the yeshivas to the local public-school districts, and the curricular requirements can present a serious challenge to the ability of many Yeshivos to be mechanech our children according to their mesorah. Go to Voice.Agudah.org to submit a letter expressing your objection to these regulations. You can also submit a comment by emailing [email protected], or by texting START to 888.595.1529.