In the summer of 2002, Simcha Felder, an Orthodox Jew and Democratic state assemblyman representing the heavily Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood of Boro Park, arranged a 500-person community breakfast between his constituents and Michael Bloomberg. As Felder tells it, people in the neighborhood were livid about the new mayor’s hike on real estate taxes — so livid, in fact, that Felder worried Bloomberg would get booed.
“The only thing they knew about him was that they didn’t like him,” Felder recalled.
As it turned out, the July breakfast was a turning point. When the mayor addressed the crowd, Felder said, he didn’t talk sentimentally about his bubbe or love of noodle kugel; he cut to the chase about the necessity of the tax increase — and won, improbably, a standing ovation.
Indeed, as Felder and other New York politicos describe him, Bloomberg the mayor has transformed himself into a politician whom the vast majority of New York Jews can get behind, even though he does not present himself as a typically “Jewish” politician. It’s a characteristic that some say could prove beneficial if the mayor — who derides himself as “a short, Jewish billionaire from New York” — launches the independent bid for the White House that is suggested by his recent decision to quit the Republican Party.
“Bloomberg has never run away from who he is, but he’s not running around waving a lulav, and he’s not holding up a mezuza all day long,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic consultant who worked for Bloomberg’s opponent in 2001, Mark Green. “And why should he? It’s part of his identity, but it’s not way up front, nor is anything else.”
Long before Bloomberg, 65, built his eponymous financial services empire or took the reins of New York City, he was an Eagle Scout growing up in Medford, Mass. He attended Temple Shalom, a Conservative congregation, with his family. Today he lives on New York City’s Upper East Side and attends Manhattan’s Temple Emanu-El, a Reform synagogue, on the High Holy Days. But in Bloomberg’s public life, his Jewish identity has hardly been overriding. As a philanthropist, he has donated to Jewish institutions — before taking office he was a trustee of The Jewish Museum — but has focused the bulk of his giving on arts, health and educational causes, including his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University.
“Mike Bloomberg is proud of being a Jew, but he’s a ‘WASH’ - a white, Anglo-Saxon Hebrew,” said Douglas Muzzio, professor of public affairs at CUNY’s Baruch College. “Given his class and his secularity, he is a Jew, but in an ethnic and cultural sense.”
One Republican operative said that both Pataki and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani had more Jewish connections and a greater ease with Jewish audiences than Bloomberg did when he first ran for mayor.
“I would say if you looked at three guys — Pataki, Giuliani and Bloomberg — you would probably see that Bloomberg had the least connection to the Jewish community outside his Upper East Side orbit,” he said.
In office, however, Bloomberg’s popularity has climbed steadily among Jewish voters across the city. In 2001, Bloomberg and Mark Green — another liberal Jew hailing from the Upper East Side — split the Jewish vote about evenly, with 49% each, according to one exit poll. Michael Fragin, Bloomberg’s former Jewish liaison, estimates that in 2005 the mayor might have won as much as 80% of the Jewish vote citywide. In interviews with the Forward, a half-dozen Jewish officials with heavily Jewish districts in the city described their constituents as happy with Bloomberg’s job as mayor.
“In terms of issues, he tracks the traditional big-city Jewish politician: social welfare, abortion, gun control and immigration,” said Democratic consultant Norm Adler.
Bloomberg seems to have carved out an identity different from other Jewish politicians in New York City.
“Chuck Schumer will come to a Jewish Orthodox event and start telling people how his great-grandfather came from some town in Europe,” Felder said. “I have never heard Bloomberg do anything of the sort.”
Although Bloomberg has spoken out strongly against terrorism in Israel and visited the Holy Land several times while serving as mayor, his popularity among Jews has not stemmed from high-profile gestures of solidarity. Whereas Giuliani is legendary for ejecting Yasser Arafat from a concert at Lincoln Center in 1995, Bloomberg opposed a City Council resolution to close the New York offices of the Palestine Liberation Organization during his first months as mayor. In 2002, the mayor stood behind a controversial appointment to the city’s Human Rights Commission, Omar Mohammedi, even as Democratic officials and Jewish groups such as the American Jewish Congress and the Anti-Defamation League called for Mohammedi’s ouster. More recently, he has met with London Mayor Ken Livingstone to discuss environmental policy and other matters, despite Livingstone’s history of making controversial statements offensive to some in Britain’s Jewish community.
Remarkably, Bloomberg seems to have acquired the kind of Teflon coating rarely enjoyed by politicians dealing with such sticky issues.
“It seems like once he makes up his mind on something, it’s very difficult for him to change, and rarely does that happen,” said New York Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who represents the Riverdale section of the Bronx. “That’s an interesting phenomenon. He has very high poll ratings and yet on many issues, people might disagree with him.”
One of the mayor’s opponents on the Mohammedi issue, New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, said he had gotten over the incident, which he called “a little blip.”
The bigger picture, Hikind said, is that in his eyes, Bloomberg is a “mensch” who is “straightforward and honest.” Once one of Giuliani’s earliest Democratic backers, Hikind said he “would look very, very seriously” at endorsing a presidential run by Bloomberg.
In Felder’s district, the mayor has helped address a variety of concerns, including finding space for a new garage for Hatzolah volunteer ambulances and pushing forward a new affordable housing project. But Felder said he believed that Bloomberg’s biggest strength has been smoothing racial tensions and reaching out to the city’s myriad ethnic communities.
Indeed, if Bloomberg’s heritage has left any fingerprints on his governing, it may be in his engagement with other ethnic minorities. According to Felder, when the mayor does trot out an anecdote from his past, it is often one about his father, who “wasn’t a well-to-do man, but … used to give to organizations that were combating racism.”
Lloyd Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, echoed these sentiments. Williams said he perceives the mayor as even-handed when dealing with the concerns and needs of the city’s different ethnic and racial communities.
“It’s very clear that he’s Jewish,” Williams said, “but he doesn’t throw it in your face.”
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Bloomberg has my vote for President should he decide to run
I don't understand how anyone could consider Bloomberg a mensch or a decent human being. We have compassion for our elderly and the unfortunate. Bloomberg doesn't. We respect our public service people. Bloomberg does not. I--certainly--understand why all our taxes went up, and that was to balance the budget. But when so much of this budget went to giving high wages to Bloomberg's cronies and not to public servants, who are ill because of the attrocities of Sept. 11, and our city workers--especially police officers are so poorly paid, one has to wonder how this Mayor would treat our veterans if the American people were stupid enough to elect him as a President. Furthermore, I do not care about one's religion when I make choices for who leads my country or city. What I care about is how they are going to help the people, and how they will fix up this country. Mayor Giuliani was not so respectful of the city's people, but he was strong on defense and he certainly fixed up the city quite nicely. Mrs. Clinton also has fought for the underpriviledged, and there is something about her that tells me she's strong on defense, too. There are other candidates that have answers, and aren't as dishonest as Mayor Bloomberg. Please stop falling for the hype.
In an "Ethnic and Cultural sense?" Well that's half right. Ethnic, I guess if that means anything. But a HHDJ (high holy day Jew) who goes to a Reform congregation once or twice a year is really no different than an Irish American putting on a green vest for St. Patrick's Day either. All those values? Yeah those are called being a human being. Which is nice to hear from a politician. Let's face facts, this is America, if you're not Protestant you can't talk about 'your' religion, if you even have one. I didn't see Mayor Bloomberg with tefillin or tallit, ever not even ceremonially. Jewish? I think Mayor Bloomberg is a man who has Jewish ancestry. And I think his grandchildren will probably change Anglicize their last name.
Typical that our 1st Jewish President wouldn't be bringing a Jewish woman with him.....
It nice to have one good thing to say about Mr. Bloomberg. He's not an anti-Semite. Neither were the Italian Jews scratching their way to the top of the fascist government. He did however preside over the unlawful detention of how many hundreds during the Republican national convention. His 'frank' words re: Sean Bell's murder were followed by virtual exoneration of all but one of the police involved and a lenient punishment for the other (which may be the most appropriate part of the decision as he himself is victim of untold brutality against his person in Iraq). Sadly there was no mention of the change in PD policy that allows automatic weapons that fire a full clip in seconds. Thus 30 rounds or 40 rounds can easily be sprayed mistakenly. Old rules of engagement were you fired one round and did not fire again unless fired upon. As a recently retired NYC teacher I give Mr. Bloomberg a 'F' in education. As someone who had successfully struggled to survive in the under-funded public education system for 20 years, it is hard to believe how much worse the Department of Education is than the old Board of Education. This grade is based on their ill-informed, harmful, sometimes capricious and almost always self-serving meddling in the education of our children. As bad as these characteristics are, they pale when compared to the maliciousness with which these stalwart heroes executed their so called 'reform' from Board to Department of Education. All programs BBK (Before Bloomberg and Klein) were suspect at best and certain to be eliminated regardless of success, if they didn't fit the new scheme to 'properly' award the Department of Education's multibillion dollars in contracts. What more could a billionaire want? How about control of another 8 billion? Imagine what he could do in Washington! But I digress. Senior staff were/are scrutinized, humiliated and their credentials questioned and or threatened if they 'resist' any of the new true way. Interestingly enough early reports of the success of similar programs in of all places Texas turned out to be false. First-time, newly graduated 'teachers', recruited nationally, median age 22.5 years, were thrown into failing schools, swamped with manifestos of the new way and 'supported' through weekly re-education sessions. Idealistic, green, often scared, usually hundreds if not a thousand miles from home they were/are politely or brutally ground up and refashioned into willing collaborators or spit out. Unfortunately because of the realigning of contracts and appropriations, in all but a few showcase schools, the supply closets were locked or empty. Rooms were cold, wet, chairless. Computers were broken with no repair budget. As part of ‘No child left behind’ initiative book rooms were flooded with cases of books that the schools hadn't ordered. When the schools tried to order needed books they were then told that they had used all their allocation to pay for the unwanted books. One small example from personal experience in an east New York high school, we received 1 copy of a biography of Malcolm X , 2 copies of Hoop Dreams and 45 copies of a book that studies the predation of caribou by artic wolves. ??? At the same time essential support personnel under a variety of titles were reassigned continuously as one grand scheme after another for tightening up administration, payroll, supplies, and maintenance came tumbling from the new central offices at the old Tweed courthouse. (The new DOE wunderkinder were not so lovingly dubbed the Tweed Twits). As in Abu-Ghareb these conditions and treatments were not because of a few bad apples but the were result of systematic initiatives. I pray daily for our children attending NYC schools, those long dedicated to trying to educate them, and the hopeful young idealists trying on a career hoping to make a difference for those who are either their peers or those clearly less advantaged then themselves. May they be delivered from self-certified experts or petty tyrants and recognized personally through salary and improved not diminishing benefits. Real professional recognition would mean appropriate funding, effective local input re: disbursements, and welcoming both their input to formulate proposed changes and their input about the effects of trial programs without fear of retaliation. I suggest a similarity between the poisonous climate of 'guilt by accusation', profiling, abuse of the ‘suspected’, that led to the terror of Crystal Nacht and eventual acceptance of the camps, with the acceptance of the minor? criminality of the crackdown at the RNC (it was only a thousand or so ‘activists’) or the ever present and too often deadly force of a 'street crimes unit' (in ‘those’ neighborhoods)? Thanks to his ham-handedness this spirit was clear and manifest under Mr. Guiliani's heinous tenure in office. To those that would question the word ‘heinous’ I ask, “How many persons from Brooklyn, Staten Island and New Jersey in addition to the first responders will suffer from his lying and self-serving choice to not warn of the real environmental dangers after 9-11. Additionally I suggest that this prosecutor turned tyrant’s current comfort with abandoning habeous corpus and using abusive detention methods against ’terror’ suspects is not new. Many of my high school age students were subjected to street sweeps and ‘being put through the system’ because they ‘fit the description’, while their parents anguished for 72 hours without any word of their where-abouts). Unfortunately this same spirit is now even more pervasive in government and civic life in general. Using softer tones and polished delivery, decked out in sleek East side manner we are assured that it is in our best interest to have Penn Station patrolled with helmeted, flak vested persons carrying automatic rifles etc. We are assured that omnipresent surveillance is our best defense and admonished to "Say something if you see something" while Police at tunnels and bridges doze from the inexorable boredom of looking at cars whizzing by. Bombarded by huge media outlets (is it true that Mr. Bloomberg owns the biggest in the world?) we are a people dazed, confused, heartbroken, frightened' deluded, deeply in debt but addicted to the latest novelty in hope of feeling better about who we are, desperate to be on the winning side. I believe that there is no better proof of this critical condition than the suggestion of either of these villains to succeed the current felons. Finally I pray that we, New Yorkers and citizens of the US of A remember who we are at our best, find our voice and say no to the fledgling national security state before it’s too late. Let’s put the real criminal element behind bars or under mental observation. What state of mental derangement could suggest automatic weapons in the busiest subway stations in the city. What possible use could they be? Just how much ‘collateral damage’ is acceptable to validate their paranoid delusions? 400 thousand Iraqis, 100 thousand dead or wounded, many permanently disabled US troops, are these enough to prove these coward's heroism enough to fill Haliburton Bechtel et al's coffers? These deranged visionaries and souless profiteers need to be isolated from positions of power so we can resume with the business of establishing a government (not a cabal) that insures everyone’s right to the pursuit of happiness and fosters equal opportunity,justice and liberty for ALL not just the top 1 percent.
The "WASH" definition for a Jew has caught me by surprised. Why would anyone think that a Hebrew is an Anglo-Saxon? A person of Hebrew descent is not a person of Anglo-Saxon descent. Perhaps, Anglo-Saxon has come to mean "English speaker", and Hebrew has come to mean a "believer in the Jewish religion" - hence Mr Bloomberg has been labled an "Anglo-Saxon Hebrew". Jews, however, are not of Anglo-Saxon (Germanic) descent. Obviously, they are of Jewish (Hebrew) descent - a people whose roots are in the ancient Middle East.
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I think if bloomberg were to run for president as an independant the majority of the Jewish population in america would vote for him. i also think that he would get a decent amount of the minority vote due to his past work. in all though i might not agree with everything he stands for, i think he would be a better man to run this country than most out there running. GO BLOOMBERG!