Transcript: Mayor de Blasio, First Lady McCray Deliver Remarks at the Jewish Heritage Reception

June 27, 2017

First Lady Chirlane McCray: Good evening, everyone. Shalom. Welcome to Gracie Mansion. This is the people's house. This is your house and you are always welcome here. Now, some of you know that I spent many years working at Maimonides Medical Center, and, I have to tell you, what an incredible time I had – what an experience. Among the many expressions I learned while I was working there was tikkun olam – that's my favorite – making the world a better place for all those who suffer from mental illness, and for their families, is my mission – for the people who are here now and for future generations. And I went back to Maimonides Medical Center just a couple of weeks ago to thank all of the incredible volunteers for their years of service. And I asked them to join our movement to make change in this area. And, tonight, I want to ask all of you the same question I asked them – will you help us to shatter the stigma around mental health?

Will you help us?

Audience: Yes!

First Lady McCray: Alright, that's good. Could be a little louder, but I'll try again. One in five New Yorkers suffers from a mental illness, which means we are all affected directly or indirectly. And we don't talk about it, but it's all treatable and we can all be healers by having an honest and open conversation about mental health, sharing our stories, and learning together. We can actually tear down the misconceptions that keep our communities suffering in silence and that keep people from getting the help that they need.

So, here's what you can do to be a healer. One – take a mental health first aide class, it's amazing. I've done it. I'm going to do it again. We all know what to do when somebody's bleeding, but we don't know what to do if someone's having a panic attack. You learn this in mental health first aide, and it's free. You can also sign up to host a class in your synagogue or community center. And, Jonathan Soto – where are you, Jonathan – can help you get the information about how to sign up.

Alright, there's someone right here who wants to sign up. Just ask any of our staff who are here.

The other thing I want – I want to give you a gift. It's a phone number. You can spread this phone number. Tell everybody you know that they can call and get connected to a mental health professional, a trained counselor for free. It's 1-888-NYC-WELL. Can you please repeat that number after me?

Audience: 1-888-NYC-WELL –

First Lady McCray: One more time – 1-888-NYC-WELL

Audience: 1-888-NYC-WELL –

First Lady McCray: Alright. It's free, and since we launched ThriveNYC, which is our mental health plan, so many Jewish organizations, so many individuals have stepped up to promote wellness, and I really thank you all for it. And I hope I can count on all of you, going forward.

So, tonight, I'm honored – I'm pleased that we're honoring someone who takes the concept of tikkun olam very seriously. His name is Rabbi Joe Potasnik, and I know –

[Applause]

And I know that Bill, our Mayor, will sing his praises in just a bit, but I can't pass up this opportunity to thank him for all that he does, personally, because he is just so amazing. And I especially want to thank him for his leadership and bringing clergy of all faiths together around mental health.

And now, I get to introduce a man who works hard every day to improve the well-being of all of New York City's communities – and that is, our mayor, Bill de Blasio.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Welcome, everybody. Good evening. First of all, I have to say when I think of my wife, our First Lady, she gives me nachas.

[Laughter]

She's doing so much good. And I want everyone to know, when she's telling you that phone number, she's asking you to spread it all over the community so people who need help can get help. And nowhere in all of her travels around New York City has she seen more receptivity than with organizations that do good work, and do charity, and help people in the Jewish community. They've been prime partners in ThriveNYC and I think we have to give a lot of credit to our First Lady for believing that we can reach everyone with a mental health challenge in every part of this city, and give them the help they need. Let's thank her for all she does.

[Applause]

Now, tonight is a night to celebrate this amazing community. Tonight is a night to take stock of all the good, but there's also serious things going on that I need to comment on for just a quick moment, because it's a moment not here in this city, but up in Albany, that's going to determine a lot of the future of New York City, and it will be for the 1.1 million children in our public schools. But, as we know, our Department of Education reaches all kinds of schools in many different ways. I'm very proud to say, when we started our pre-K initiative, we did it with every kind of school. Yeshivas have been a key part of our pre-K initiative and part of what's made it great – and Catholic schools, and charter schools, and community organizations. We have built an approach that includes everyone – that's part of why it works for New York City. That pre-K initiative and everything else that we do – its future will be determined by a vote in Albany this week on whether to continue mayoral control of education. And the stakes for our children couldn't be higher. So, I just wanted to say in this moment, we need everybody's voice to tell our representatives in Albany that it's time to get this done to protect mayoral control so we can keep educating all of our children.

And I want to say one thing in particular – there are a lot of people who I've seen already this evening who have been leaders in this community and in all of this city in the effort to make sure our special education children get the help they need. And everyone in this room knows, for too many years kids with special needs not only had a burden to begin with, their families had a burden to begin with, but then they got a second burden by the Department of Education because it was too hard for parents to get the help they needed. It became a conflict when parents needed a helping hand. And because of mayoral control of education, in the last few years we have changed that reality substantially because the message now at the Department of Education is – help families with special needs to get the help they need for their children.

[Applause]

We don't want to add a burden to families that are struggling. We want to lighten the load. That's something that we've been able to do because we have the ability, we have the accountability, and we need to continue that. So, please help me by letting your legislators know how important it is to continue this.

Now, this is a very special night because we celebrate a strong, a proud, and growing community, and a community that's had such a positive impact on New York City. A lot of people wanted to be here tonight, a lot of notable people standing behind me to celebrate with us. I'm going to say their names – I'm going to ask you to applaud them all. And I want to start – I mentioned our pre-K efforts in Yeshivas that have been such a success. The man who helped to create that plan with the Yeshivas, our Deputy Mayor Richard Buery, let's thank him.

[Applause]

Our wonderful commissioner for the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment who did so much to get the Grammy's back to New York City – Julie Menin, let's thank her.

[Applause]

And we have a number of commissioners – I'll name them all. The Commissioner for the Mayor's Office to Combat Domestic Violence, Cecile Noel, thank you for your good work. Our OATH Commissioner Fidel del Valle, thank you. Chief of Staff to the First Lady Roxanne John, thank you. The Executive Director for the Mayor's Office for Special Events that do these wonderful events, Carla Matero, thank you. My senior advisor for minority and women-owned businesses who's done so much good for this city – Jonnel Doris, we thank you. And a senior liaison at our Community Affairs Unit – many of you know him and many of you have turned to him, he does such great work – Pinny Ringel. Let's thank Pinny.

[Cheers]

And then, we have elected officials here who are doing so much for the community. Let's thank Assemblymember David Weprin; Assemblymember Dov Hikind; Councilmember Andy Cohen; Councilmember David Greenfield.

[Applause]

Wait, I read out of turn – I missed Assemblymember Jeff Dinowitz, from Riverdale. Let's thank him.

[Applause]

Also, former Assemblymember Phil Goldfeder, we thank you for all of your good work.

[Applause]

And there are so many outstanding community leaders here, but two that are dear friends. I want to particularly thank Michael Miller of the JCRC.

[Cheers]

And Ronnie Tawil, of the Sephardic Community Federation –

[Applause]

Now, I want to remind people at the outset of something that I like to remind my colleagues. You know, I have the pleasure of meeting mayors from Israel when they come to visit, or when I've been in Israel. And for the salute to Israel parade, Mayor Barkat of Jerusalem was here, and he and I went to lunch after the parade. And I reminded him of the fact that my Jewish community is larger than his Jewish community in Jerusalem.

[Laughter]

And my community is growing and I'm proud of that fact. 1.2 million Jewish New Yorkers – this is the center of the Jewish universe in so many ways.

[Applause]

But I encouraged Mayor Barkat to keep going, even though our community's bigger.

[Laughter]

I get a special opportunity as Mayor of New York City. I get a window into so many wonderful communities, and when it comes to the Jewish community, I get a window into all the amazing aspects of the community, all of the extraordinary neighborhoods, every corner of Jewish New York. And, I have to tell you, this is a place that is so great because we respect each other, we honor each other. We honor every faith here in this city – this is part of our magic.

[Applause]

And this is something we have to teach the world. As New Yorkers, we have a lesson to teach the world because we do not think it's inconvenient that there are people of different faiths all in the same city, we think it's part of what makes us great. We think we have an obligation to protect everyone as they worship, as they go about their lives, as they live out their beliefs. We are proud to provide support and protection [inaudible]. And you know everyone here knows this is not the norm in this world. But what it means is, any time a community is affronted, any time a community is attacked, any time the Jewish community is attacked anywhere in the world, we make sure to have a strong NYPD presence in front of Jewish community institutions.

[Applause]

And the message is abundantly clear – we cherish the community, we will protect the community, we cannot be great without every one of our communities. Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if that's what every government thought was its responsibility. But, too often, that isn't the case. So, we have an obligation as New Yorkers to show a particular example to our country, to our world. We know there's been a rise in anti-Semitism in this country and we will not tolerate it here in New York City. We will show it does not belong in New York City.

[Applause]

But there's something else I have to say – I believe fundamentally that there's a lot of history that teaches us why Israel is so important in this world. There's a lot of history that teaches us why the Jewish people have needed a homeland, and, finally having a homeland, deserve to know that that homeland will be protected for the long haul.

[Applause]

And this is why I want to take another occasion – I've said this before, I want to say it again – this is why I opposed the BDS movement so strongly.

[Cheers]

And I say this as a proud progressive and I say this as a proud Democrat.

[Applause]

There's no logic – there's nothing right and just about a movement that seeks to undermine the economy of a place that has been a refuge for the oppressed, it's as simple as that. Israel was created to answer a history of oppression, going back thousands of years. The BDS movement – and this is what bothers me even more – the BDS movement is actually trying to undermine one of the things that could lead to peace, which is economic opportunity for all in Israel and in the region. That's part of the way forward – we cannot let BDS take away one of the things that could actually lead to peace for everyone.

[Applause]

So, we will continue that fight while we also continue to uphold the community here and all around the world.

Now, I want to say something about – we have two special guests this evening, and one of them has a very special role. You know, I think we could say there's very few places in the world that are closer than New York City and the state of Israel. Can we agree on that statement?

[Applause]

There's a special bond, and that bond get exemplified by the Consul General of Israel, who represents Israel in this city and keeps that closeness. Now, a year ago we said farewell to someone I considered a tremendous representative in Israel, and someone who did so much good for this city, Ido Aharoni. We honor Ido for all he did for this city and for Israel. And now, we have a new consul general, and I'd like to welcome him to come forward and greet us all.

Please welcome Consul General Dani Dayan.

[…]

Alright, now it's time for the opportunity to honor a great man, and I want to talk about Rabbi Potasnik, but first I want to say we've been joined by a great leader from Brooklyn, Councilmember Chaim Deutsch, let's thank him.

I also want to say we've been joined by two of my Deputy Chiefs of Staff, Rachel Lauter and Avi Fink. We welcome you.

[Applause]

Rabbi Joe Potasnik – this man is extraordinary, my friends. I think you have to come up here. Rabbi, come up here so I can say nice things in front of you.

[Applause]

First of all, this man is so warm – he has such humor, he has such feeling for everybody in the Jewish community and all communities, and that makes him very special in this city. Whenever there's a moment where people are seeking wisdom, where there's a challenge in our city and it's about bringing all of the faiths together, inevitably you hear the name Joe Potasnik.

[Applause]

For 42 years, the Rabbi of congregation Mount Sinai in Brooklyn Heights, an FDNY chaplain – and that wasn't enough, so he's a radio host as well – Religion on the Line on WABC, which is a wonderful show. He is someone that it's almost impossible to think about New York City being as great as it is without Joe Potasnik being there to help make us great. And I know he is a source of great pride to the Jewish community, but he's also claimed by all other communities.

So, we have a proclamation for him. Now, Rabbi, step forward. I need you to hold this for a second. First, I'm going to tell people – there's a proclamation here, it says wonderful things about Joe Potasnik. I'm not going to read them all, but here's the best part – because he has done so much for the City, it's time for him to be honored in a very special way.

And so, as Mayor of New York City, I do hereby proclaim Tuesday, June 27th, 2017 in the City of New York as Rabbi Joseph Potasnik day.

[Cheers]