Governor Hochul Expresses Support for the Community

On February 25, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks at the Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, in support of a Shabbat of peace, not hate, to negate the Day of Hate that was planned by white supremacist group.

The Governor remarked , “When there are people out there who think that by their words alone, by declaring a day of hate that the rest of us, particularly those in the Jewish community would cower and say, “Well, we’re afraid of them. We’re going to stay home.” They certainly misjudged the situation because now you have allies from other faiths who greeted us as we walked in the door to show the strength, the power of people coming together.

“And I want you to feel that as you continue with your prayers and to think about, this is the rest of the week and we approach the week and the feast of Purim, we think about the faith of Esther and her courage and what she did to stand up against hatred and how she persevered and prevailed. And her story continues through the generations and truly has passed on through our children here today who will pass it on to their children and grandchildren. So, that is what we’re here to do, be together in solidarity. I called upon our resource at the State level, our homeland security, our state police to be prepared. There are no known threats here in the State of New York, but I’m always conscious of the fact that this is the home of the largest gathering of Jews outside of Israel, right here in New York, and I’m so proud of that. I am so proud of that.

“I will stand up against hate and stand with the people of this state. And so, you are not alone. This is not a small community. There are 20 million New Yorkers who are with you today and every day as we stand up and call out antisemitism and racism and homophobia and all the other isms, because there’s still far more of us than there are of them, and I want them to know that.

“There is strength in numbers, but there’s also strength and a legacy of courage of standing up to evil. In the last century, what we saw, the lessons, what happened with the Holocaust. My husband, Bill Hochul has joined me here, been with me to many of the camps, we both visited them with our family. We wanted them to see what hatred could look like even in our lifetime, in our parents’ lifetime, our grandparents’ lifetime and to let people know that in our time, we stand up people of courage to make sure that the words “never again” truly mean something. So, thank you for allowing me to share with you this morning. We have you. We’re all together as one family and we are together, we are New York Strong.”

 Congregation Beit Simchat Torah {CBST}, NYC, is a vibrant spiritual community and a progressive voice within Judaism. Founded in 1973, CBST champions a Judaism that rejoices in diversity, denounces social injustice wherever it exists and strives for human rights for all people.