CHAZAQ's Torah Talks #214 Rabbi Manny Behar - Serving the Community

I can assure you of one thing. There will be future Democratic presidents. There will be future Democratic Congresses. There will be future Republican presidents and future Republican Congresses. We need bipartisan support for Israel and for the needs of the Jewish community. The thing is, we can't afford to write off half the country. We need to have friends on both sides. We need to support people like John Federman, like Richie Torres, like Grace Mangu, like Jim Janeiro that are supportive, very supportive of Israel and have Jewish concerns. And we have to be concerned about people in the Republican party like Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Green, who uh border on being anti-Semitic. [Music] Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Torah Talks. Today we have a very special guest, my own father, a historian, a writer and an adviser to uh public officials for many years, Mr. Manny Bahar or Rabbi Manny Bahar. Welcome to the show. >> Thank you, Natan. >> So, so tell us how did it all start? Where did your political career begin? >> Well, it started as early, you could say, as when I was three years old and uh there was a county committee man living in our building used to give out balloons and uh he talked about voting and I thought it had something to do with voting, but on the first election day I somehow knew that it had something to do with the guy who gave out the balloons. So I had a an interest from a very young age and uh great interest in history and history and his interest in history and politics often uh go together. But what really uh started it was I was in Israel during the Yamipur war learning in yeshiva and uh the war went very badly for Israel at the beginning and uh President Nixon did an airlift of arms and ammunition to Israel that really saved the day. And that brought home something that I knew before that uh the future of Israel and the very important decisions that impact on our future are made by politicians and if we want to impact on those decisions we have to be a part of that process. uh where I really got started in YU uh in 1976 presidential election when one of the candidates was Senator Henry Scoop Jackson who was a great friend of Israel uh probably the best friend Israel ever had in the US Congress >> and the man who wrote the amendment that put the force of US law that barred the Soviet Union from getting certain credits and favored trade status unless they allowed for free immigration. So he more certainly it's the Soviet Jews themselves, people like Natan Sheransky and Yseph Malevich who are the main people who deserve the credit but of uh people in America he really more than anyone else helped to open the doors of the uh Soviet Union. Uh 1976 he ran for president and I was his student coordinator in YU. Now, given the nature of his views, uh, I probably had I probably definitely had more student volunteers at YU than the rest of New York State put together. >> So, I was the de facto youth coordinator for New York, right? >> Uh, so I got very involved with that. Uh, in that campaign, I met two people who were a major influence on me that I worked with closely. One was Steve Orlau who would uh go on to become a city council member. Uh at the time he was working in Donald Mattis's office as the council and uh when he became a councilman I was his campaign manager and inherited part of his old job. >> This was after you you had graduated from YU correct. You you went into Donald Mannis's office. >> Yes. Uh there there was a progression to that. >> Yeah. Okay. And uh the other was Joel Schnure who was like a a brother to me and he was the Jewish coordinator >> for uh Scoop Jackson. And uh after that I organized the Henry M. Jackson Democratic Club in YU. We campaigned for Pat Moyahan for the Senate successfully Ed Cotch uh for mayor and Donald Mattis was the state chairman of the Jackson for President campaign. So that's how I first uh became acquainted with him and uh basically I came to uh work and really manage Steve's campaign and he recommended me to Donald Mattis. So that's how I wind up uh in Queensboro Hall. >> Yeah. >> Um any other mentors or in people that influenced your career early on? I think um you've told me as I was growing up, you told me about Claire Schulman and all these other people. >> Uh Claire Schulman definitely was a mentor. >> Yeah. >> Uh really an example of integrity and competence. Uh she was not a liberal, she was not a conservative. Uh she just wanted what was good for the people. She really helped to promote responsible development in Queens. >> Uh that great jobs, but still preserving Queens as a neighborhood of uh family homes, not uh overbuilding. Uh she was very good for Jewish organizations, very supportive of Israel. So she was certainly a great mentor. I'd also mentioned Liz Holtzman who I worked for later when she was the city controller. Her major contribution was before I worked with her. She was the one who wrote the law barring Nazi war criminals from entering the United States and uh a number of Nazi war criminals were um deported and wound up being tried elsewhere >> as a result of that. So I refer to her as the woman who heard the cry of her brothers and sisters uh blood. >> Uh and she was when I was there uh we worked together did research that led to the first conviction of an American company for participating in the Arab boycott of Israel and she was also the first city controller to invest in Israel bonds. >> Wow. So early on in in the the late 70s, 80s when your career began, did was the Jewish community um heavily involved in politics back then or was it small and growing like were people or what I'm trying to say I guess is were they were they aware that politics is something important that they should you know focus on so they can ensure their security and combat anti-semitism and other things as well. I would say >> or has it grown over the years since? >> Okay. Um certainly the 70s and the 80s were the heyday of Jewish influence at Queens. >> Okay. >> Uh the uh people were involved whether it was over Israel, whether it was local issues and there was a kind of understanding. It's not that they ever sat together and reached this understanding, >> but uh there was this kind of understanding that if the Jewish community uh supports the candidates of the Queen's Democratic Organization that the uh officials of the Queen's Jewish Democratic Organiz of the Queen's Democratic Organization would be supportive of the needs of the Jewish community. And that's how we get the A-Ross. That's how we get the building permits for shs and yeshivas and mikvo. How we got the street paid for the mikvah. Uh how we got funding for Jewish organizations. How we ensured the right to burial according to Jewish law. uh this was all achieved and the way that we worked was that uh we had key contacts in each shu or yeshivan organization and they would write a letter which actually I helped them write for the most part uh and very specific letters to their organization. It was uh Claire Schulman worked on the on our ARV. >> Yeah. For those who don't know, an Arab is a is a is a a boundary that's an artificial or physical boundary that that you can use to uh carry things on Shabbat and stuff like with Jewish law. But yeah, so that's what an Arab is for those who don't know. >> Thank you. >> Um Okay. And you also worked for uh the Queen's Jewish Community Council and you were the executive director over there. Um and you've told me many stories throughout my childhood. And what what what did the Queen's Jewish Community Council do? Where did it serve? How did it serve the community? >> It was an umbrella and is an umbrella organization for over a hundred uh Jewish institutions and organizations. So we strove to be the united voice of the uh Jewish community. That was a very important thing. Uh we did and it got more and more into social services distributing food packages >> uh to the poor especially RAM the Yum to helping people to apply for uh Medicaid for other uh benefit programs that they might have been entitled to to help uh tenants faced with eviction to avoid eviction sometimes meant finding them another play more uh more affordable place to live. So, a lot of >> And it wasn't just uh it wasn't just the Jewish community you served. You served anybody. >> Anyone who walked in was served. Certainly, the vast majority of the people who came in were Jewish, but anyone who walked in, we served. Now, um, in terms of other things, uh, the Jewish music under the stars concert series, which I actually started in, uh, Burrow Hall, >> uh, but, uh, then when I moved over to Queen Jewish Community Council, I ran them from there. Uh so a lot of cultural events uh the uh Queen's Israeli festivals and uh what some people seem to remember me for the best was Jewish Heritage Day for the New York Mets and uh the institution of uh kosher concessions at the uh at the ballpark. But really the most significant thing in terms of advocacy that we did was that when uh school bus transportation for the yeshivas that the city and the board of education uh wanted to increase the distance that people have to live from the school in order to uh get free uh school bus transportation. and it would have eliminated uh free transportation for uh most uh yeshiva students. Uh a lot of the Jewish establishment organizations were not even this was not even on their radar screen >> and uh I actually organized a uh group of them uh to go to Carol Greser who was the president of the board of ed at the time. And what we said was that uh these families are paying taxes to support the public school system. They are getting no services, educational services for their tax dollars except >> for these buses and you want to take that away from them. >> Yeah. >> And uh Carol Gesser said, "No, I will not allow that to happen." >> And uh that cut did not go through. We saved the school bus transportation for the yeshivas and uh I was very honored that Mosha Sher Zatal the head of the agura actually gave me the credit for uh for doing it. >> Wow. Wow. Wow. Um looking back um what what's something that you're most proud of in your career besides the buses? Obviously you've done a lot of greater greater things than that. What what's one thing that you would or a few things that you you're really proud of? >> Yeah, there are a number I would say one of the most significant is the Bell Harbor >> AROV >> that uh basically we were working on the permits for the AROV and uh it usually went pretty smoothly. uh we went to various city agencies and uh utilities got their permission to put up the air rope or to use the telephone poles and so on. >> Uh in Bell Harbor, we ran into opposition, you know, uh from the parks department. Uh there's a beach. Bell Harbor is on the Rockway Peninsula and there's a beach and the plan was for the uh for most of the length of the beach, the beach walls that are meant to protect from the sand from the beach from blowing onto people's lawns. >> Uh most of that the beach walls themselves could be the aire [Music] to do the wire. Uh uh there were a few beach walls that were too short. So the plan was to raise the beach walls uh so that they would be at the level needed. When we went to the community board, they said, "This is great. Uh this is a uh civil improvement that the A-Riff committee is going to pay for and it's going to protect our property." uh the parks uh commissioner, a man by the name of Henry Stern, uh said that he could not allow that because it would be a step towards the privatization of the beach. And uh >> but it wouldn't have to be any more than just a few feet. Doesn't have to be that tall. >> No, it's not that tall at all. But he objected to the idea of a private entity >> working on repairing city property. That's basically what his objection was. >> And he said, "Put up poles along the boardwalk and string the rope." >> Yeah. >> So, uh, Rabbi Ryder said, "You want me to put up poles? I'll put up poles." So he puts up poles in a rope and uh all the people who had their beautiful views of the Atlantic Ocean now found it blocked by Henry Stern's polls >> and all hell breaks loose. >> Yeah. >> And uh Claire Schulman, who was the deputy bur president at the time, calls Henry Stern and gives it to him. Do you know that you're starting a religious war? Uh, you better take down tell take the those polls and uh raise the wall raise the raise the beach walls. >> Uh, so okay, the polls come down. Uh, but the opposition uh some of them uh once they had their chance to get the Jews weren't giving up >> and they actually sued the city. They carried around petitions that said that uh theim want to build an Arav to make Bell Harbor a designated Jewish neighborhood. Uh they're going to surround the neighborhood with barbed wire. And they want to do this so that they can drive to the beach on Saturday and litter it with beer cans. >> They literally don't know what they're talking So yes, in any case, uh the case uh the important thing was that uh Donald Mattis held firm as did the local officials in Far Rock away, but I was coordinating all of this and uh the case eventually uh did go to court >> and uh I worked with the lawyers for the city and for Kulpa, the uh the Orthodox Jewish Legal Association, Dennis Raps uh worked very closely with them and we got a decision validating uh Aravs under American law >> uh and that decision as a president all over America >> uh and even in the world I after that got calls from Australia from Great Britain even uh do you have a can you send us a copy of the decision? >> Yeah. Wow. So uh that probably is the most important uh contribution. I would say also the autopsy hotline uh that the u medical examiner was doing autopsies on which are against Jewish law. >> Yeah. >> And uh Shelley Silver who was the speaker of the assembly. He wasn't the speaker yet. uh he sponsored a law that uh barred autopsies when the uh when there there was a family objection unless public safety or public health require it. >> Uh now a law is great but the question is how is it implemented? >> Yeah. >> And uh the Queen's Medical Examiner's Office was just left and right uh doing autopsies. >> Yeah. They were just doing what they wanted to do, >> right? And uh we called the meeting at Burrow Hall. Donald Mannis did not attend the meeting. Retroactively was probably because it involved uh autopsies that his father had committed suicide. >> So it was a very painful subject for him. >> Yeah. >> Uh so Netty Meerson actually the assembly woman ran the uh ran the meeting. Uh and basically what Dr. Ro, who was the medical examiner for Queens said is, "Listen, I don't want every rabbi calling me to stop autopsies in the middle of the night. I want one person to be the central person." >> Yeah. >> That everybody calls him and uh he should call me. And uh so I was the central person and I actually had a recording on our home uh on our home phone which you must have heard at times. Yeah, you were a small child at the time. So, uh I don't think you'd remember. >> I don't remember. >> But, uh we had a recording if this is emergency of an autopsy. >> Uh and it used to be I would at least once a week get a request from a rabbi, we have to stop this. And always did. There was never a problem with it. Uh then um after a while Dr. Row says can we go to lunch and uh I met him actually at Traditions Deli which is where the Jewel bagels is today. >> Okay. >> And uh >> that place has gone through many changes over the years >> and uh he said look I see you're not going to let me get away with anything so let's be friends and uh you know I'll know. And after that there were very few uh cases. Everything was really handled straight between the uh funeral home and the uh >> but uh we ensured the right to burial according to Jewish law in Queens and was followed in the other burrows as well. So, it's good that Jews have uh have got a lot of connections in New York politics and we can get favors from people and even though we are a minority group of people, we still have a decent amount of influence. But since we have an upcoming mayor, a mayoral election happening, um if Mamani wins, does that change anything for Jews in New York City? I I think it's a bad sign for Jews in uh New York City. Uh the uh when I was riding to LaGuardia Airport uh the other day, there was a huge sign across the Grand Central Parkway, Free Palestine. >> Wow. >> I'm not saying the city put it there, >> but that the city tolerates it there. >> Yeah, they tolerate. uh the uh so I think that the fact that there's rhetoric coming out of the mayor's office like that >> uh I think first of all uh the symbolism of the city with the largest Jewish population in the world having a mayor whose uh reaction to the uh October 7th massacre essentially was to blame the Jews uh that >> or to or just to ignore the fact that it even happened at all and just dodge the question. >> He he issued a statement saying he mourns the tragic deaths of Israelis and Palestinians >> and that the only uh way to peace is to end apartheid that occupation which is a code word for eliminating Israel. >> Yeah. basically. >> So, uh, basically, uh, when you have somebody like that, the symbolism of somebody like that as mayor of the world's largest Jewish city is just something awful. >> It's not good for for Jews. It's not good for anybody, honestly, because we're living in the United States. It's a free country. Um, people should be able to practice their religion, you know, in in peace and freedom, and they shouldn't, you know, Jews shouldn't be attacked just because of Israel. if their pol, you know, if Israel's polit politics and their war, whatever, it should not be wrapped up in the fact that, you know, Jews can't practice in in New York or should or should live in fear and of anti-semitism and so on. I did hear I did watch something interesting and they said that um all the other mayoral candidates drop out and it's only Cuomo and Manny that they say Cuomo will win against Mam Donnie but that means everybody else has to drop out Adams uh Siwa. >> Uh so first of all I I don't think Manny as mayor is going to try to close down the shorels or anything like that. >> I don't think so. I don't think so. Uh I think it's more of a problem of his rhetoric >> and that that kind of rhetoric encourages uh certain uh behavior. >> Yeah. >> The uh that certainly the only way that Cuomo could win is if Adams and Slew drop out. I don't think his winning would be a foregone conclusion. >> Yeah. No. Uh the uh I think that if uh Adams The were to drop out, Manny would try to paint Cuomo as Trump's candidate. >> And that certainly is not uh to Quuomo's benefit. Yeah. >> So I think it would be a even a one-on-one race would be very diff very very difficult to win. >> Not impossible. And we certainly shouldn't give up. >> Of course not. Can't give up. That leads us to the next uh thing that why it's so important to vote that we should all should be registered to vote and election day vote because every vote matters and I'm sure that you know that there have been many uh votes for for for district and whatever. I'm not you know I'm not the person to talk about politics. Izzy Pescowitz, our community advocacy um director, is really the person who knows mo most about this, but I've heard personal stories of uh people losing election elections just from a few dozen votes. Just from a few dozen votes, and they weren't elected. >> Well, uh Melinda Katz was elected district attorney in the primary by 16 votes. >> Yeah. >> So, there's a perfect uh example. And what I often uh tell people, there are people who say, you know, I I give out uh leaflets of the street, I make phone calls, whatever. And most of the people hang up on me and so on. >> And I used to give this as the pep talk uh to my volunteers. I said elections on are decided a close election is decided by one vote per precinct. one vote per election district. >> Okay. >> You're there to get that one vote in that election district. >> Yeah. >> That you stood there if you stood there for 15 hours in the day and you got one vote >> that wouldn't have come out otherwise that might not have voted in that race otherwise or whatever or voted for someone because the nice yeshiva boy is standing there. If you got one vote in that election district, >> you did something significant. Yeah. and you may have helped to turn you did something to turn this election around. >> So, uh, everyone should try to get out that uh that one vote. It's uh all about grassroots. Uh, it's all about and the most effective thing is, you know, it's great if you can make phone calls, blind phone calls or cannabis doortodoor. That's all good. But the most effective thing you can do is talk to your family and friends. Talk to the people in your shu. Talk to people in your WhatsApp groups and your >> Yeah. Go together to vote. Go as a group to vote. uh get across the importance of this and uh people need to understand um that the importance of voting in primaries that very often the primary certainly New York City is uh more important than the general election in terms of that really determines what's going to happen and uh registering to vote in the primary does not require you to vote for that candidate in the general election. >> That's a common misconception. Uh so one should uh and and you can switch every year. In other words, if I see there's an upcoming election with an important Democratic primary, I should register to vote as in the in the Democratic primary. If I see the next election somebody in the Republican party, there's a date you have to do it by, right? >> But you could keep on switching. >> Uh but the reality isn't that in New York City, the Democratic primary is the election. So perfectly all right. You should uh register for the Democratic primary usually. And then if you want to vote uh Republican in the general election, that's uh that's fine. And another thing is that we can't afford we do have a problem with the Democratic party >> um with and it's not only people like AOC and Bernie Sanders and >> Mdani it's even maybe even worse somebody like Jerry Nadler who is retiring who gave the hecker to Barack Obama's nuclear deal who uh who's had led demonstrations again and claims to be he in fact did learn in yeshiva and claims to be the representative of the Jewish community and saying these things. >> Yeah. >> And I'm glad that we'll be rid of him. But uh so we do have and he's probably playing to the Democratic base. So we do have a problem there. The thing is we can't afford to write off half the country that uh we need bipartisan support for uh Israel and for the needs of the Jewish community. I can assure you of one thing. There will be future Democratic presidents. There will be future Democratic congresses. There will be future Republican presidents and future Republican congresses. And we cannot afford >> to be on the outs. We need to have friends on both sides. So rather than just write off the Democratic part uh party, we need to uh >> need a reformation. >> Yeah. We need to support people like John Federman, like uh Richie Torres, like Grace Mang, >> uh like Jim Janeiro. Yeah. That are supportive, very supportive of Israel, have Jewish uh concerns. And we have to be concerned about people the Republican primary like Tucker Carlson, a party like Tucker Carlson or uh Marjorie Taylor Green who uh border on being anti-semitic. Mhm. Mhm. Um, if you would give advice to somebody involved in politics, an advocate, or even somebody running themselves, a young person, you know, interested in getting into politics and eventually running for office. What advice would you give them? They don't have to be Jewish. They can be anybody. >> I think uh get involved. Get involved in the grassroots. Build up name recognition. uh and form coalitions that you can't rely Queens is a very diverse place >> and you can't rely on that the Jewish vote alone is going to get you in that you have to make uh coalitions uh with other communities that uh share our values and that we can work with and Uh, I would say that that is probably the uh best uh advice. >> Mhm. Thank you, Ava, for coming. Thank you, Manny. And we want to thank all of our partners at Torah Anytime for supporting us and all the podcast players that that stream our program. And special thanks to Daily Giving who support so many Jewish organizations. for only $1 a day, you can support them and you can support, you can support all these Jewish organizations that are helping our people. And um thank you for coming. Thank you. It was a pleasure having you. [Music]