“Bring The Hostages Home,” Mayor Adams Demands at Chanukah Party

By Yehudit Garmaise

“These photographs are not pieces of paper,” Mayor Eric Adams in front of his senior staff who were holding posters with photos of the 137 hostages still held by Hamas.

“The people in these photographs are human beings, for whom we all hold our breath until they return to their family members and loved ones,” said the mayor who invited hundreds of Jewish leaders, friends, and Jewish media outlets, including BoroPark24, to watch as he lit the menorah for the sixth night of Chanukah.

The light of Chanukah and what it symbolizes is especially significant now, the mayor said.

“How many times have you heard that when you greeted someone they said, ‘You lit up the room.’ How many times did people see light in your faces: even in the midst of despair, darkness, or uncertainty,” Mayor Adams asked. “We must today take the candle we will light, and we must humanize it, and become that humanistic energy of shedding our light across not only our city, but also in our country.”

“The world is experiencing a darkness something many of us have never experienced,” said Boro Park’s own Joel Eisdorfer, who is a senior adviser to the mayor. “Even in the darkest room, however, you only need a small flicker of flame to find your way. While darkness, which is the absence of light, has no substance, light always comes from a source.”

"One of those bright and clear sources of light, is our mayor, who has always stated unequivocally that he is on the side of humanity: condemning those who spread hate and do harm and always standing with Israel. He made it clear that hatred has no place in New York City,” Eisdorfer said, as NYPD Police Commissioner Edward Caban nodded his head in agreement.