Chair Salaam questions MOCA on intra-Jewish community dialogue
Chair Salaam asks about MOCA's work increasing dialogue among different Jewish communities. Wisdom acknowledges the Jewish community is divided and explains MOCA's role is ensuring every group has a seat at the table with the administration and their experiences as Jews are seen as legitimate.
New York City is home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.
And Jewish New Yorkers are not just one community, but many.
What kind of work is MOCA doing in relation to increasing dialogue and understanding amongst the different Jewish communities inside of New York City itself?
Thank you for that question.
It's true that there is both the work to increase intergroup understanding between groups, as well as in the moment we find ourselves, the Jewish community is quite divided, and there is work to be done to increase cohesion
among the Jewish community.
The role of the mayor's office to combat anti-Semitism in that work, as opposed to communal organizations who do communal work, is to ensure that every single group has a seat at the table
and has a relationship with the administration and their voices heard and their experiences as Jews are seen as legitimate and taken seriously.