On Friday, August 14, during Shabbat services at Central Synagogue, a man attacked a woman inside the house of worship.
By Wednesday, August 19, a rally had been organized in support of the Jewish community – and to demand that Mayor Mamdani do more to confront the sharp rise in anti-Semitism across New York City.
During the first seven months of Mayor Mamdani’s administration, the NYPD recorded 360 confirmed hate crimes – a 9.4 percent increase over the same period last year. Of those, 205, or 56.9 percent, targeted Jewish New Yorkers. Anti-Jewish hate crimes increased by 8.5 percent, even though Jews make up only about ten percent of the city’s population.
The rally was hosted by IMPACT, an organization whose mission is to empower, organize, and mobilize both the Jewish community and its allies in the fight against growing Jew-hatred.
Yet the rally was about more than statistics. Those gathered two blocks from Central Synagogue spoke not only of fear and frustration, but also of solidarity, moral responsibility, and the determination to live openly and proudly as Jews. Members of the Christian, Muslim, and Hindu communities joined the rally to stand together against the continuing attacks on Jews in New York City.
IMPACT President Daniel Rosen opened the rally by making clear that the gathering was about more than one attack at one synagogue.
“We’re here to support Central Synagogue, but it’s not just about Central Synagogue. It’s about all synagogues,” Rosen said. “And it’s not just about one act of violence. It’s about a string of violence that we’ve been seeing in this city and across the country.”
“Gone are the days when on a Monday a Jew is stabbed, on a Tuesday spat upon, and on a Wednesday a synagogue is vandalized,” he continued. “We have decided – we have resolved – that we will organize our community every single time such things occur.”
Rosen emphasized that confronting anti-Semitism is a shared responsibility extending beyond the Jewish community.
“The message is that it’s up to me, and it’s up to you. It’s up to all of us,” he said. “And you don’t have to be Jewish to care about people being attacked.”
Pointing to the range of faiths represented at the rally, Rosen added, “We’re celebrating the fact that we have Hindus and Muslims and Christians and Jews here together, with one voice, saying, ‘Enough!’”
As the crowd joined him in chanting, Rosen declared, “This shall not stand. We shall stand together.”
Among those standing with the Jewish community was Sheikh Musa Drammeh, president of Muslim Israel Dialogue, who reminded the crowd that confronting anti-Semitism cannot be left to Jews alone.
“Fighting anti-Semitism is not a Jewish cause,” he declared. “It is a human cause, and it is a moral cause.”
For Queens resident and writer Gina Friedlander, attending the rally was about refusing to remain silent.
“We have to be loud and proud,” she said. “We can’t let things go unsaid. It’s not business as usual.”
The rally began in response to an act of hatred, but it did not end there. Anti-Semitism may have brought people into the streets that afternoon, but Jewish pride – and Jewish joy – defined their presence.
For Jewish activist Lizzy Savetsky, that joy is most powerfully reflected in what she has passed on to her children.
“When I see how much they love being Jewish, I get emotional,” she said. “There’s no greater gift in the world. We’re members of the greatest book club in history, and I thank G-d every day that I was born a Jew.”
Perhaps that is the clearest answer to those who want Jews to feel frightened, isolated, or ashamed: We will confront the hatred, but we will not allow it to define us. We will remain visible. We will remain proud. And we will continue to choose Jewish joy.
Gwen Jones-Cintron is a retired New York City schoolteacher committed to educating and advocating for the Jewish people in a post-10/7 world.
By Gwen Jones Cintron
