New York City synagogues defiantly held sabbath services Saturday despite warnings that extremist groups planned a national “Day of Hate.”
Congregants and guests at Temple Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue gathered outside the Fifth Avenue synagogue to worship and hear from the clergy of other faiths.
“For me, today was a symbol of resistance, of being in solidarity with the Jewish people. With all of the threats and bad things, it’s a symbol of strength and solidarity,” said Jose del Rosairo, 29, of the Upper East Side, who is not Jewish, but came in support.
A dozen NYPD officers stood watch over the service, which was attended by about 75 people.
“To be here with my friends and fellow congregants is a real shot in the arm. To be participating in an event like this is uplifting, obviously, and it’s an antidote to what we’re reading about and hearing about in the media,” said Jonathan Krivine, 72, of the Upper East Side, who has attended the synagogue for nearly 25 years.
Mark Heutlinger, 77, who lives on the Upper East Side and goes to the synagogue regularly, said the service showed “the resolve of the Jewish people.”
“To be here and be out in the public enables us to demonstrate to Fifth Avenue, to New York, to the country that we as Jews will worship indoors or outdoors. And if it’s outdoors, it’s basically a sign of solidarity, to show that we will not be moved. We will not be driven away from our sanctuaries,” Heutlinger said.
The NYPD said there were no identified threats to New York City but deployed extra resources to sensitive locations.
A leaked NYPD memo said online extremist groups were “instructing like-minded individuals to drop banners, place stickers and flyers, or scrawl graffiti as a form of biased so-called action” against Jewish people.
The Anti-Defamation League called it “a planned white supremacist campaign” and urged the Jewish community and supporters to come together by creating a “Shabbat of Peace.”
Gov. Hochul went to services at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in Chelsea where she said the hate mongers “misjudged the situation” if they thought Jews and others would cower and stay home.
“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,” Hochul said.