Mayor Adams Visits the Ohel of the Lubavicher Rebbe, zt’l, the Day after 28th Yahrtzeit

By Yehudit Garmaise

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Among the thousands who traveled from far and wide to visit the Ohel of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt”l, throughout the week of Gimmel Tammuz, which was the Rebbe’s 28th yahrzeit, was Mayor Eric Adams, who paid his respects today.

When the mayor was asked how it felt for him to be at the Ohel, the mayor, who was wearing a black kippa, told BoroPark24 that the Lubavitcher Rebbe “comes in the spirit of those very spiritual leaders with whom we are blessed throughout our lives.

“When we feel difficult times, we go to those spiritual leaders for blessings,” said Mayor Adams, who wrote out a kvittel that he dropped into the Rebbe’s Ohel. “It is a connection between the natural and the spiritual, and so is emotional to be here.”

A believer in the power of brachos, the mayor said, “It doesn’t matter what faith you are, I believe that the power of blessings is not connected to any particular group.”

Adams also remembered visiting the Lubavitcher Rebbe when he was running for office, which the mayor described as “a very difficult moment.”

“I came here and asked for a blessing, and when I stood by the gravesite of the Rebbe’s mother [Chana Schneerson,] I asked for her to communicate with my mother because the spirits of our mothers are so significant.

“We are the fruits from the trees of our mothers, our grandmothers, and our great-grandmothers, and it is all connected.”

The mayor also visited the grave of a victim of terror, Ari Halberstam, hy”d, who was tragically shot in the head while riding in a yeshiva van on the Brooklyn Bridge on March 1, 1994, just months before the Rebbe passed away.

“I remember the day when Ari was assassinated on the ramp to the Brooklyn Bridge, and I just put a stone on his tombstone, which was extremely significant for me because he is a representative of our children,” said the mayor, who called Ari’s mother Devorah Halberstam, “a good friend.”

“We must do everything possible to protect our children. We must not allow guns to be in the hands of bad people.”

Along with NYPD Inspector Richie Taylor, Mayoral Senior Advisor Joel Eisdorfer, was Gilead Erdan, the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, who said, “Mayor Adams is a true friend of the Jewish people and the state of Israel, and I am very happy, honored, and privileged to be here with him today.”

Photos by: Dovid Jaroslawicz