00:01Olabino, Olabino, Olabino, Olabino, Pai
00:34I'm here today at this student gathering because I believe that even though young people can't vote yet, we still
00:39have a voice and we should use it when something matters to us.
00:44We appreciate these same qualities reflected in our leaders.
00:49I want to feel safe being openly Jewish in my city.
00:51I want to be able to wear my magentavid, go to synagogue, and go to school without being afraid of
00:57anti-Semitism.
00:58I'm here to ask our mayor to make the safety of Jewish New Yorkers a priority and to respectfully listen
01:04to the concerns of people who disagree with him.
01:08It's two days before Yom Kippur. We have kids in New York City, New Yorkers who love New York and
01:13who love the state of Israel and who have felt less safe and I would say less respected over the
01:19last couple of months.
01:20And they want to make sure that they can express themselves as proud Jewish New Yorkers, like everyone should be
01:26able to.
01:27And we're encouraging them to do that.
01:31Some kids opted not to join, which is also fine.
01:34But we're encouraging them to do that and to do it here, which is a very important symbolic place in
01:40New York City right now.
02:06We're trying to do it here.
02:10So let's go.
02:34¡Gracias!
02:41I think the mayor should be the mayor for all New Yorkers, and there are a lot of Jewish constituents
02:46who have felt unsafe and uncomfortable with the language that he's using and for his choice to wade into issues
02:57that are, you know, outside of the purview of a New York City mayor, and we want to encourage him
03:02to make sure that he's listening to all of our voices, and I would say especially the voices of our
03:09children.
03:12Growing up here in the New York area, I took for granted how normal it felt. Synagogues, Jewish schools, kosher
03:18restaurants, people wearing Stars of David on the subway without a second thought.
03:22Then October 7th happened, and something shifted. Being Jewish started to feel like something we had to think about, where
03:28we said it, and who we said it to.
03:30Most of us here have our own version of that memory, but when I think about it now, I think
03:36about how our people have been here before. Not this exact moment, but this exact feeling.
03:40We have been exiled and returned, scattered and rebuilt, told again and again throughout history that this would be the
03:47end of us.
03:47And every single time, we are here, still lighting candles, still telling stories, still choosing to live Jewish lives.
03:53That history doesn't make the last few years easy, but it puts them in perspective. We come from a people
03:59who know how to carry hard things and keep going.
04:03Synagogues next to churches, next to mosques, everyone's home out there.
04:07My Jewish identity didn't begin with a hard year, and it isn't defined by one either.
04:12It began with generations of learning, of showing up for each other, of building through exile, through return, through every
04:18attempt to erase us.
04:19Now that story belongs to us, to my generation. I know what I want to carry forward.
04:24The education, the community, the joy, the confidence to be openly and proudly Jewish right here in this city that's
04:30always had room for exactly that. Thank you.
04:35Right now, the world may seem dark in some ways, yet the way to combat that darkness is not to
04:40attack it, but for all of us to add light and the values of personal growth, kindness and the commitment
04:46to a higher calling.
04:50Respectfully, loud, nicely, appropriately, forcefully sending the message that we want to send, which we have the right to send.
04:57We love the city. We love the state of Israel. We don't think that's a contradiction and we're here to
05:01stay. Thank you very, very much.
05:15Thank you very much.
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