 so much, and as in yesterday, we wanted to bring together some of our faith-based leaders that are women to help us as we continue to craft out a humane way of dealing with many of the crises that we are facing in our city. And what I found really insightful is how much what I spoke with the women from the Muslim communities, and now today with the rabbis from the Jewish community, the issues they raised were the same, the same issues. So it doesn't matter if you're in a synagogue or a church, a Buddhist temple, or a mosque, these women leaders are feeling the concerns of their constituency. And so in the spirit of Tikumala, we are coming together to repair our world. And we have to do it by first starting with communicating. It's OK to disagree, but you're not going to solve a problem by being disagreeable. And we have stated that we're going to continue this dialogue, learn from each other, and support each other to accomplish the task that we believe is extremely important. People are hurting, and hurt people hurt people. They do hurtful things. And government must be used to partner with our faith-based leaders to resolve the issues that we are facing. And I'm encouraged to do so, and I'm extremely encouraged by the leaders that came here today. I will now like to turn it over to Rabbi Rachel and Rabbi Sharon to say a few words before I open to open press. Thank you so much, Mayor Adams. We just had a very productive and exciting conversation. You'll see behind me there are 55 women rabbis and cantors from all the five boroughs of New York reform. Reconstructionist, conservative, and Orthodox. And we believe this is the largest and maybe first meeting of women rabbis and cantors with a mayor of New York City. We had a very uplifting conversation, in which we were able to bring our concerns, which are about making sure that the Adams administration in the city of New York recognizes the full diversity and pluralism of the Jewish community. 70% of the Jewish community of New York has leaders who look like this. This is the face of Jewish leadership in New York City. And we care about a range of issues that we brought to the mayor today. And we were in a really productive conversation with him about them, including preventing anti-Semitism and all forms of hate violence, including addressing and responding rapidly to climate change and shifting to clean energy, including closing Rikers and criminal justice reform, including mental health care and health care and abortion access for everyone, including affordable housing for all New Yorkers. I'm missing one. Anybody remember what issue did I not name? That was it. I got them all. OK, that's it. And so those are the issues we brought today. And our communities are really deeply invested in social justice. And we want that to be clear. And we want it to be clear to all New Yorkers that our Jewish communities are diverse and pluralistic. Rabbi Kleinbaum, over to you. Thank you. I want to add my thanks to you, Mr. Mayor, for having the vision to meet with us who represent, as Rabbi Timoner said, so much of New York City's Jewish community. Our gathering today was organized by the New York Jewish agenda, of which both Rabbi Timoner and I are co-founders. And we are here to try and give voice to the vast majority of New York who are not ultra-Orthodox. We want to work with the entire Jewish community. But we want the vision of what a Jewish leader is in New York to be expanded to include these faces. And this is critical to our going forward as a city with all of our concerns and with all of our voices. We, as a group of women, represent trans women, lesbian, bisexual, straight women, cisgendered, trans, Jews of color, Jews who were born Jewish and Jews who embraced Judaism in their life's journey. We are a diverse and pluralistic community. And, Mr. Mayor, we are so moved that you sat down with us today in this terrible week for America in so many ways, in which 10 New York state residents were mowed down because they are black, in which we are threatened by the overturning of Roe versus Wade in this country, in which another death occurred on Rikers Island. We pray to God to be with us and to help give you, Mr. Mayor, the wisdom to lead this complicated city into the future in which liberty will be proclaimed for all of its inhabitants. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Very, very, very well said, very well said, especially the complicated part. But Rabbi Rachel and I met when I was President. She, unlike many, didn't only talk about what we should do with our homeless. Her synagogue allowed homeless men during the non-use time of their space to spend the night inside their space. And I spent the night with a group of homeless men one night. And it was just a moving experience to hear firsthand the pathway to homelessness, what was needed, and the continuous evolution of how we need to get this right. And so I really thank her for the day to allow me to stay with those men. I got more out of being with those men than what they would probably get from speaking with me. And it's just continued a process of educating on the ground. You cannot solve street-level problems by living in an ivory tower. We have to get down to the granular level. And they're going to help me do that, as well as other leaders that we are bringing together to hear those who are on the ground facing these issues firsthand. That's the only way we're going to get this done. And so we'll open if you have any questions to them, and then we'll do off-topics. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, can you just describe the differences between a progressive group and an orthodox group that you've met with, and maybe some of the similarities as well? We can see both sides. Yes. The orthodox group here. OK, so what have you learned from this group that is both orthodox and progressive, and describe maybe and compare that to your time campaigning inside of neighborhoods in Williamsburg and in more of Park? Are there similarities? Are there differences? Yes, there are. And I think far too often we lean into where we disagree, which, believe it or not, is the smallest amount of things. And we don't lean into where we agree. And all the communities that I have campaigned in, as well as in non-orthodox communities, they want safe streets. They want to be able to have housing. They want to make sure that their children are educated. They want their concern about the environment as well. So the same concerns that I've heard from this group is a concern that I hear from those who are part of the orthodox communities. There may be different ways in accomplishing that, but we all want to get to the same destination. And I'm willing to figure out all of these complex ways of accomplishing the task of the fundamental things that we need. Mr. Mayor, may I respond? Yes, you can. So I would like to just clarify something that's very important. Would all of the women who identify as orthodox raise your hand, please? These are orthodox women rabbis. The orthodox community is not monolithic in New York City either. And many orthodox in New York City are progressive politically and support a progressive political agenda. And it's a mistake to think that all orthodox are the same, like it's a mistake to think all anybody's the same. And so we are very proud that our gathering today includes the range of Jewish religious expression. And it includes orthodox. So there are plenty of progressive orthodox, and there are orthodox women rabbis. So I just want to make sure that that's really clear. Yeah, of course. And I agree with you on that, but also in terms of the issues, such as policing, Rikers Island, sometimes they lean more conservative in an orthodox community, right? Wasn't any of that discussed in this meeting? Were there any improvements or headway on these issues that we may not have gotten to yet or seen? Well, today was a beginning, and we're very, very proud of gathering this group and meeting with this mayor, whose vision prioritized meeting with people who have a range of positions. And we hope it's the beginning. We'll see many, many more conversations, I hope. I just want to ask you in general about this meeting that you said that this is the beginning. Is that part of your coalition-building skills of trying to bring together communities in the community in that agenda, like Rikers Week? And if you just hear from the mayor things that satisfied you in terms of his policy? Yeah, you know, I think that number one, we have to come together as a coalition. And it's not always easy to do, and I'm often criticized by my willingness to meet with everyone and talk. I think that that is why we are in this mess that we are in. We wonder why children are displaying violence on our streets because they're watching adults display violence every day and how we interact with each other. We have to start communicating and talking again. And I'm going to do that. Sometimes, you know, I will be criticized for meeting with gang members, I'll be criticized for meeting with those who are diametrically opposed to what I believe, criticized for just wanting to figure out how we can get this right. But I'm going to continue to do it. And this is the beginning. And so if you believe today after we departed from this room that we found to cure from COVID, no, we did not. This is the starting point of sending a room together and we're going to do many more like this to zero in on these complex issues. I would just say, Mayor Adams was highly responsive, listened so deeply to us and asked us for our partnership. And that felt very meaningful to all of us as a beginning. Could you just describe that night that you said you spent in the synagogue with the homeless men and also how often do these men, are they always welcome? What other services does the synagogue offer these people? And that's a great question because there's this energy in the city where everyone is stating we need to do something about our homeless brothers and sisters. We need to make sure they're in housing, make sure they receive wraparound services, their rallies, their protests and everyone stayed there. And then when we stayed, you're right. We found a place in your neighborhood. They all of a sudden say, whoa, we said we need to do it. Just don't do it on my block. Just don't do it in my council matter district. Just don't do it in my congressional district. Just don't do it in my community board. Our verbalization must reach the realization that it has to be built somewhere. And what I saw in the synagogue, I walked away that morning with the full understanding that number one, the men are no different than who I am. They fell on hard times. They wanted to put their lives back on track and they had the same desires that we all have. Number two, that was during a particular period of time when everyone was saying for the most part we had to Dean Street shelter, we had other shelters and some communities stood up and this synagogue was one of them and stated we have to be about our faith and to see that it renewed my belief that in Windsor Terrace and parts of Crown Heights you had communities where people were saying these are our neighbors, we need to wrap around and give them the support they deserve and that's what I walked away with from that synagogue. Visit talking to those men, hearing their concerns, everything from the food they were being fed to the lack of services. It was extremely instructional to spend the night interacting with them. I don't know, it was- It was before the pandemic, it was- It was before the pandemic, I'd say probably 2018. Yes, it's 2018. Right now as mayor my life is in dog years, every day is a multitude of days. Reporter Brad. So I'm civilian Brad today. I'm just like one of the many Jewish folks in New York, Jewish men for sure, who feel so much nachos, so much pride at seeing the set of folks on the steps. Like this is the Jewish leadership that I represent. You gotta have some rabbi who participated at my wedding, named my kids who put the mezuzah on my door and a whole set of leaders who I find as the inspiring Jewish leaders for my family, for my children, for our community. So I'm just like you're feeling a lot of that pride and like a civilian who loves this, it's a good day for New York. I do in response to that. And Jacob's question, I wanna make one point, which is that there have been women rabbis for quite some time. And in that time, there have been quote unquote, 50 years, and in that time, there have been quote unquote progressive mayors and there have been several Jewish mayors and none of them assembled a group of women rabbis on the rotunda on the steps of the Jewish people. It's not going to happen during my four years as mayor, but when people look back on this administration, they're going to come to a real conclusion that Don, he was a good mayor. Okay, yep. We're gonna spare you the off topic. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, ladies. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. It's been a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Thank you very much. My husband especially sends his regards. He's been a big man for a long time. Thank you for having me. Thank you, mayor. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Appreciate your participation today. Thank you. Appreciate your participation. Thank you so much. Thank you. It was really a honor. Sorry, everybody. They're asking us to- Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Thank you. We gotta move everybody out. Sorry. Thank you. You know how, you must be military. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm a kind of national rabbi. I know who you are. Thank you very much. Thank you. Moving, moving, moving. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. See you. See you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We gotta make this quick. He's got another event. Marsha? Marsha. Marsha. Really? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. To the gun detector is just a one-week pilot that we are looking at, you know, that's what pilots. Pilots is about seeing what works, modifying, seeing how does it fit into our overall public safety plan. And this has been my history of using technology to keep New Yorkers safe. And so, we are not at the place of stating that this is going to be used or not going to be used. We're still testing and kicking the tires of all of this new technology. Oh, let that Marsha. Why are you rushing Marsha? In these pictures you've got just shown at a meeting this morning yesterday, the fifth year that increases your desire to have these kind of pilot programs in schools because that's a kind of weapon that you could find from the state you have in this pilot program. And there's been a huge increase in finding those pilot programs. And think about it, 15-year-olds have been brought to a new school in New South Africa. Right. What you said is so important because it leans into what I've been saying. And both of these clips are loaded. These are loaded clips. And it looks like they probably have anywhere from 12 to 13 rounds. So this is potentially 26 rounds of a child carrying it in his backpack, all right, his backpack. So everyone laughed at Eric when he said, check the backpacks of your students. There was a lot of mockery around it. But this is what's happening. I'm asking today for every parent in this city to sit down with their child and talk about gun violence. We need to get everyone engaged. This young man carrying these two 9 millimeters with full clips in the school in his knapsack. That's just send chills down every parent, every parent. And so this is when I talk about using new technology to detect guns. This is when I talk about those who are pushing back against having school safety ages in school. It says, though, they're living in an alternate reality. By far. And the new technology is needed because the over-proliferation of guns and the sophistication that people are using to bring guns in school, this school, of my understanding, did not have any form of detection device. Can you imagine what the danger this could have done to those innocent children who are just going there to learn, this is why I'm calling for new technology to detect guns? Yes. And this is true of the current problems at the jail's complex. But are you still on board at this point with plans to fight when it comes? The law is the law. The city council passed the law on what we could do with Rikers and what we can't do with Rikers. There are city council members who feel differently. That is something they have to talk with their colleagues. But I'm going to follow the law. The law is clear. I'm going to follow the law. I have another question on Rikers. And I know you've taken some questions on this. The receivership. Yes. Receivership would give you more power. The city would give you more power, hiring, firing, recruitment. You said you don't want the receivership. It also potentially gives you a political benefit that there's some shared responsibility here. There have been five deaths since January when we take on custody at Rikers. Why are you so resistant with the receivership? I mean, you know, I mean, you have to develop a different set of terms. No, you don't. And know what it says? It says we can't do our job. That's what it says. What's next? Do we take over our school system? Do we take over the department of sanitation? Do we take over probation? What's next? We are responsible to take taxpayers' dollars and provide goods and services to the people of this city. And when you start stating that your city can't do its job, that's an indictment of the over 300,000 city employees and all those who are employed on Rikers. And I'm not surrendering this city to anyone to believe we can't do our job. And let's be clear. I don't see federal penitentiaries running on smoothies. Go right to the federal penitentiary in Brooklyn and see the concerns that I have in there. Getting a receiver, putting the Rikers in receivership, it's not this magic bullet of dysfunctional. But there's the special monitor, something that many people are not picking up. The special monitor has made it clear. The commissioner that I picked, he's basically stated, this is the right guy. He's moving in the right direction. He has a full understanding of what's needed there. I don't know why no one is picking that up. We're five months in. We're reducing some of the problems. We brought back those who were out sick. We are retrieving the weapons that are in the facility. And so when you look at what we're doing, the special monitor who's there, he's saying, this is the right guy. I mean, we need to write about that. Principal that is like a practical matter. Because it kind of sounds that way, just the messages. No, no, it's not on principal. It's a combination. It's a combination that we have the right person. The commissioner is the right person. His history of turning around facilities, what he has done before, what he's doing right now. Every time I speak with him, he's the only person. I know that gets up earlier than I do. He's already in the office. This guy is the right person for our city. And so all I say, give us a chance. Give us a chance. Hold us accountable, but give us a chance to turn around a dysfunctional system that has been dysfunctional as long as I can remember. Julia, is this the mayor? Yes. I've got a lot of babies on the way. I'm going to be a support developer for Bruce's title bond proposed in next week's project in Harlem, hopefully now that the Civil Rights Museum is no longer part of the plan. Folks on the ground matters. They matter to me. It's all about hearing from the people on the ground. He doesn't have to convince me. He has to convince the people on the ground. He convinced the people on the ground. They come back to me and say they're comfortable with the plan. They feel as though he's going to add to that community. I'm willing to sit down and talk there. What do you think of the people on the ground so far? I have not heard at all. I thought they were all still in deliberations to determine where they're going to be. I have not heard from people on the ground. No, no, I didn't say crime is higher than it's ever been. And if you find that quote, show me, OK? Do you have that quote? No, no, you don't have it. Let's start with that. What I stated that I have never seen anything like this, the over-availabilities of guns, the easy use of guns, and the comfort that people have in carrying guns. I've never witnessed anything like this, where people are just open to shoot. They're comfortable with carrying guns. As we just saw, a child carrying two, nine millimeters. I've never witnessed this before. And we have to go after that level of comfortability that guns is something we could use. I just learned yesterday from the mayor of Atlanta, the governor of Atlanta just removed all the rules for obtaining guns. They got ahead of the Supreme Court with their open carry. You no longer have to go through any rules. If that law passes in the Supreme Court and everyone can carry at will, like what they're doing to Atlanta, we have a problem.