By: Fern Sidman

As the New York City mayoral race heats up and candidates feverishly attempt to win over voters, on Tuesday evening, Orthodox Jews in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn offered up their enthusiastic endorsement of  front runner, Eric Adams, in his quest for the job of the city’s chief executive.

The highly influential Chabad-Lubavitch community of Crown Heights is comprised of a coalition of activists who truly appreciate the remarkable job Mr. Adams has done as Brooklyn Borough President. This endorsement is particularly significant as it marks the first endorsements that Mr. Adams has received from Orthodox Jews activists who view the candidate as their tireless representative for making New York City a much better place to live for all people. Until now, support from other groups of Orthodox Jews in the city has gone to businessman and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang.

On Wednesday, Mr. Adams tweeted that he is “proud to have earned the unified endorsement of the Jewish community in Crown Heights, a testament to our long-lasting friendship and deep mutual respect.”

Speaking to HaModia on Wednesday, Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, one of the rabbinic figures who gave his endorsement to Mr. Adams said, “Eric Adams represented us in the state Senate and as Brooklyn borough president, and he has been a long-time friend to our community. He has celebrated with us in good times and mourned with us in bad times. His friendship has earned our loyalty and support.”

Other participants at the endorsement event included Avi Lesches, Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, Rabbi Chanina Sperlin, Rabbi Eli Cohen and Rabbi Laizer Avtzon, as was reported by HaModia. Hosting the event was Menachem Light, a businessman from Crown Heights. He told HaModia that he had no choice but to hire his own security due to the astronomical escalation of violent crime in city.

For decades, Crown Heights has been ravaged by a high crime rate which some would argue is racially inspired. Nonetheless, the Jews of Crown Heights and other Orthodox enclaves  are generally supportive of law and order candidates who have policies that are tough on crime. Crown Heights has also been the venue of countless anti-Semitic assaults over the years, with the latest occurring in the spring and summer of 2019. In 1992, during the Crown Heights riots,  Jews lived in abject fear over the tensions that boiled over.

Mr. Adams is considered a candidate who is tough on crime but he is also an vocal advocate for racial justice. The approach of defunding the police is not something that Mr. Adams is in favor of.  His perspectives on these matters emanates from his past career as a caption in the NYPD. As such, he has made crime fighting the major plank in this campaign platform.

At present, Mr. Adams’ chief rival is Andrew Yang but as each day passes the polls are changing. As of this printing, it was reported that New York City Sanitation Department Commissioner Kathryn Garcia has moved up in the polls as she received a ringing endorsement from the New York Times.

As for Yang, it was also reported on Tuesday that he had received the endorsement of two Satmar sects who are often at odds with each other on a panoply of issues. Satmar are the predominant group of Chassidim who reside in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn and have a formidable amount of political cachet.

Political observers have noted that it is quite surprising that Yang has been able to garner as much Orthodox Jewish support as he has because he appears to be a massive flip-flopper on many important issues that are important to New Yorkers but in particular, he has really changed positions on the Israel issue.

During the recent Hamas-Israel conflict, Yang initially said that Israel has a right to defend herself from the constant barrage of rockets being launched against them by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Subsequent to that, Yang was pressured by his “woke” campaign staff to significantly alter his public stance on the matter to be more supportive of the Palestinians.

Before the Chabad-Lubavitch endorsement of Mr. Adams, HaModia pointed out that the only other Orthodox endorsements that have gone to candidates other than Yang were from the Jewish Press who threw their significant support behind Mr. Adams. Another prominent Jewish newspaper in Brooklyn known as The Jewish Voice also ran a front cover endorsement of Mr. Adams in their print edition last week.