New York – One day before New York State’s 52nd governor is laid to rest, members of the Jewish community are recalling Mario Cuomo, whose devotion to the State of Israel and the Jewish people was legendary.
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The 82 year old Cuomo was known nationwide as a passionate speaker and was considered to be a serious contender for the Democratic nomination for president, an opportunity that he declined on two separate elections.
“He was very close to the Chasidic community and always tried to help every Jewish community,” Mayor Abe Wieder of Kiryas Joel told VIN News. “He set up a monthly task force to handle problems in the Jewish community that met every month. He was always available for any need.”
Asked why he thought Governor Cuomo felt such an affinity for the Jewish community, Wieder said that Cuomo’s warmth extended to many populations throughout the state.
“I think he was close to all ethnic groups,” observed Wieder. “He didn’t single out the Jewish community, he was just a great leader who went above and beyond what you would expect a governor to do.”
Governor Cuomo became a strong voice for the handicapped in Kiryas Joel, working tirelessly to create a Kiryas Joel school district to serve special needs children in the village.
“Governor Cuomo realized that handicapped kids already have one handicap to deal with and putting them into the public school system would create additional problems,” recalled Wieder. “He shared their pain and tried to help open doors for them using his legal team and his legislative team.”
While the Supreme Court originally rejected the proposed Kiryas Joel school district, Cuomo fought on, undeterred.
“He made sure to find out why it was turned down and he redesigned the legislation so that it would pass,” said Wieder. “He told me that he signed it once, twice and he would sign it even three or four times in order to make sure that it would happen. Governor Cuomo felt especially close to the disadvantaged, the underdogs, the ones who needed help and he made it his job to help those who needed it most.”
The Kiryas Joel school district was created in 1989, despite opponents who charged that the district violated the constitutionally mandated separation between church and state. Cuomo, however, insisted that the district was legal and was the only practical solution to a difficult problem. Wieder said that the Governor’s efforts continue to pay large dividends to this very day.
“He has made so many parents happy with this school district,” noted Wieder. “Years ago handicapped children would have been hospitalized but now they go to a school where they learn how to eat, drink, behave and how to act in society, making it easier on their parents. They also are learning and are able to achieve. Slowly but surely the school is bringing out the best in these children.”
It is that extreme dedication to the handicapped children of a tiny village in Orange County that is a true testament of Governor Cuomo and his legacy, according to Wieder.
“A governor isn’t recognized only for what he does for the big people,” explained Wieder. “It is what he does for the small people as well and if he is doing for them, it means he is a true public servant.”
Cuomo’s affinity for the Jewish community was due to a combination of several factors, according to Rabbi Jacob Freund, a member of Kiryas Joel’s village board.
“Because his father came from Italy, he understood what it means to be in an environment of immigrants and understanding that culture was a big help,” said Freund “He often mentioned how he had been the Shabbos goy as a child, giving him a good understanding of the Orthodox community. He was a smart man who knew how to deal with every ethnic community.”
Freund noted Cuomo’s steady climb up the political ladder provided him with a wealth of experience that ultimately proved to be beneficial to the Jewish community, starting with a skillfully negotiated compromise on a controversial public housing project in Forest Hills, Queens. While Cuomo’s bid to run for lieutenant governor in 1974 ended unsuccessfully, he caught the eye of then-Governor Hugh Carey who appointed him as New York’s secretary of state in 1975. Just two years later, Kiryas Joel’s community leaders visited Cuomo, bringing with them an application to officially incorporate the village of Kiryas Joel.
“He was able to do that kindness and he signed,” said Freund. “The village of Kiryas Joel was incorporated by Secretary of State Cuomo and one kindness followed another.”
An unsuccessful bid for mayor in 1977 may have been another blessing in disguise, as Governor Carey chose Cuomo as his running mate in 1978. Four years later Cuomo succeeded Carey as New York’s governor, a position he held for three terms.
“As governor, Cuomo continued to remember both the Orthodox community and Kiryas Joel. During his 12 years in office he signed many bills regarding the shomer Shabbos community.”
Cuomo created the Kosher Food Advisory Council in 1985 in an effort to monitor the price of kosher foods and prevent price gouging, particularly during holiday seasons, and to ensure that kosher food was correctly labeled and in compliance with all kosher laws and regulations. According to the 1994 website page for the Cuomo campaign, the governor signed a bill giving Hatzolah the opportunity to expand its services into Nassau and Suffolk counties and another that would allow for prompt burials, even during delays such as legal holidays and strikes. Cuomo also took a personal interest in the rescue of 14 year old Suri Feldman who went missing in a Connecticut state park during a school outing, urging the State Police superintendent to leave no stone unturned in the massive effort to locate the Borough Park resident.
When the newly created Kiryas Joel school district was challenged and overturned, Cuomo stepped in and helped draft new legislation that re-established the school district in the summer of 1994. The governor received a hero’s welcome when he visited the village that August, with the village’s 10,000 residents, including 2,000 children, turning out to greet the Governor at the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum’s, request.
Interesting to note that during that visit, Cuomo also attempted to intervene in the long standing dispute between the Rebbe and a group of dissidents led by Joseph Waldman who refused to accept the Rabbi Son Rabbi Aron, the currant Satmar Rabbi as the Rav of Kiryas Yoel.
Rabbi Edgar Gluck, a well known community activist who was appointed by Governor Cuomo as assistant superintendent of the New York State Police for community affairs, noted that Cuomo was often asked about his close connection with the Jewish community in his early political years and he would say that it was his tenure as a Shabbos goy, growing up in Briarwood, Queens, that cemented his warmth for Orthodox Jews.
“He was so proud of it,” said Rabbi Gluck. “He would say how he went from house to house and everyone always offered him schnapps and cake. He said he always ate the cake but he was afraid to have the schnapps since he went to so many different houses and was afraid he might have too much. He was mamash proud of being the local Shabbos goy.”
Rabbi Gluck described Governor Cuomo as “a tremendous friend” of the Jewish community.
“We once came to the governor with an autopsy bill after a run in with a medical examiner in Suffolk County who was making on autopsy on a Jewish person,” recalled Rabbi Gluck. “When we asked him why he was doing the autopsy he said, ‘Because I can.’ We went to Sheldon Silver and to Joseph Bruno who was head of the State Senate and we explained to him the problem of doing autopsies on Jewish people. When it came to the signing there was so much pressure from the district attorneys and the medical examiners to veto the bill and the governor had notes from both sides urging him both to sign and not to sign. There was a whole delegation of rabbis there and governor said ‘My dear friends, I am going to do what I think is the right thing.’ He signed the bill and that bill stands until today.”
Governor Cuomo’s Autopsy Bill was signed into law in August 1983, on the same day as another bill that required any religious divorce to be in place before a civil divorce could be granted, known informally as the “Get Bill.” The governor also named Judith Smith Kaye as the state’s first Jewish Supreme Court justice on that same day.
“He jokingly said ‘Today is my Jewish day,’” recalled Rabbi Gluck.
In another instance, members of the Jewish community approached Governor Cuomo about construction on Route 17 that created massive delays on Friday afternoons when people were traveling to the Catskills.
“He made a call and said that there should be no construction on Route 17 after 12 o’clock on Friday and that work should end earlier on Thursdays as well since so many people drive up on Thursday nights,” recalled Rabbi Gluck. “Any contract that came in after that that involves highways that will be heavily used by Jewish people on Fridays includes a provision for no work on Friday.”
Governor Cuomo was also involved with the creation of the Sloatsburg Mincha area on the New York State Thruway.
“When the idea came up, the governor was in favor and he even approved a sign that said ‘Mincha Area,’” said Rabbi Gluck. “That sign stayed until Pataki came in and he changed the sign to say ‘Meeting Area’ because ‘Mincha’ was a religious word.”
As then-vice president of governmental and public affairs for Agudath Israel of America when Cuomo first took office, Menachem Lubinsky recalled the earliest interactions between Rabbi Moshe Sherer of the Agudah and soon to be Governor Cuomo, the man that Rabbi Sherer saw would succeed Governor Carey.
“Despite being a liberal Democrat, Rabbi Sherer was enamored with his personal values which he saw as very much akin to the Orthodox Jewish way of life,” said Lubinsky. “On the eve of Election Day 1982, Mr. Cuomo’s last stop was at 5 Beekman Street to thank Rabbi Sherer for his support and friendship. Exhausted from a long day of campaigning, the soon to be governor plopped into a chair in the waiting room as Rabbi Sherer came out to greet him. It was to be the beginning of a very special relationship.”
Lubinsky said that Cuomo attended many Agudah functions throughout his tenure as governor.
“ Governor Cuomo was a good role model of a liberal Democrat who understood and supported the values of the large Orthodox Jewish community in New York,” said Lubinsky.
Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America, observed that the governor was the only high ranking government official other than Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin who was ever invited to participate in a meeting of the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah. Rabbi Zwiebel also noted that Governor Cuomo signed the state’s first Get Law in 1983 despite heated opposition to the legislation.
“There were all kind of constitutional challenges and Rabbi Sherer had Nat Lewin debate the bill before the governor’s council,” said Rabbi Zwiebel. “Cuomo, to his great credit, decided to sign even though he saw it was controversial and there would be those who would hit him for it.”
While Governor Cuomo was himself a practicing Catholic, his official stance as governor of New York state was pro-choice on the matter of abortion. The governor often defended his position by saying that his personal beliefs had no bearing on issues when it came to supporting the constitutional rights of his constituents, but he was roundly criticized by the Catholic Church. On one occasion in 1990, the condemnation of his position took on overtones that Governor Cuomo felt were insensitive to the Jewish community, with Auxiliary Bishop Austin Vaughan comparing abortion to the Holocaust. Disturbed by the analogy, Cuomo contacted Rabbi Sherer and asked him to speak up.
“He said ‘Morris, I know that you are and your organization are also in the pro-life camp, but you can’t sit back when someone refers to abortion as a Holocaust and you need to find a way to speak to Cardinal O’Connor to speak out about this extreme language,’” said Rabbi Zwiebel.
Rabbi Sherer sent a letter to Cardinal O’Connor noting that a comparison between the Holocaust and abortion was completely irresponsible, saying that it was inappropriate to compare a public official to a Nazi, that a woman’s personal decision to terminate a pregnancy could hardly be compared to an official policy of mass genocide and that Bishop Vaughn’s remarks lacked sensitivity and were painful to countless Jews.
According to Rabbi Zwiebel, Rabbi Sherer’s letter had the desired effect and were the last Holocaust references from the Catholic church.
Perhaps it was his own deep religiosity that gave Governor Cuomo his immense respect for rabbanim, according to Rabbi Luzer Weiss, former director of New York State’s Kosher Law Enforcement.
“When he went to visit a rabbi, he didn’t just go for a photo op,” said Rabbi Weiss. “He cared for the Jewish religion and a had tremendous respect for it and for Jewish leaders. I was with him when he went to the Bobover Rebbe, Reb Shlomo, and the hachnaa he had when he went to a Rebbe was amazing. He went with humility and listened to every word they said.”
A video on Chabad.org captured a short October 1990 exchange between the Lubavitcher Rebbe and Governor Cuomo, taken just 22 days before a gubernatorial election. While the Lubavitcher Rebbe thanked Cuomo for his protection and for his efforts on behalf of New York City the governor responded by praising the Rebbe for his communal efforts, for his strong educational focus and for being a role model.
“I have listened to you,” said Cuomo. “I have watched you on television. I have learned from you and I am grateful to you.”
The Lubavitcher Rebbe responded with a blessing for the governor, continuing with his own expression of gratitude.
“Thank you especially for helping me in my activities also, through your management of this community and the community at large.”
Extending a blessing of good health and longevity, a yarmulka clad Cuomo pledged that if given the opportunity to continue in his political career, he would continue his efforts on behalf of the Jewish community.
The Rebbe handed Cuomo a customary dollar bill and blessed him with the ability to go “from strength to strength” through the election, then handing the governor a second dollar bill telling him “and this is for after the election.”
A smiling Cuomo noted that the second dollar bill was an unexpected blessing and he vowed to double his efforts on behalf of the Jewish community.
Cuomo also championed causes that were near and dear to the hearts of the Jewish community.
“He was a strong supporter of Israel and visited early in his term as Governor,” said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “He was an articulate advocate and spoke against bigotry and anti -Semitism.”
“Governor Cuomo would often speak at functions that support Israel and would make public statements for Israel,” added Menachem Shayovich who worked closely with then-Lieutenant Governor Cuomo in his role as a special assistant to Governor Carey. “The fact that someone like Cuomo, who was not Jewish, who was very well respected, and who represented a very significant state with a diverse population, the fact that he came out strongly supporting Israel was a very positive point that made a big difference both locally and in Washington.”
Even twenty years after leaving Albany, Cuomo’s legacy remains strong throughout the Jewish community.
“He was very, very responsive to any issues that were of concern to our community,” said Shayovich. “He was involved with Jews in the Soviet Union, with kashrus and other issues. He felt close to our people and anything that was worthwhile, he did. He was a correct and honest person and a pleasure to work with.”
Correction agudah was against the silver get bill
I thought Cuomo was too liberal.
If Gov. Mario Cuomo was so friendly with the Chassidic community, where was he when they needed his help in Crown Heights, in August, 1991? When scores of savages were rioting and beating up Chassidim, and burning down buildings, why didn’t he send in the New York Army National Guard into that area, to help the residents? Since NY’s Finest would not do anything for three days and three nights, it was up to Cuomo to have stopped that pogrom. To this day, that question has never been answered? Unfortunately, in 1991, the Chasiddim of Crown Heights were considered expendable by not only the news media, but by the so-called “mainstream Jewish organizations”. Cuomo could have sent help on his own volition. I guarantee everyone on this site, that if it was the Chassidim beating the savages who were rioting, then the police response, would have been a whole lot different! Y’mach Shimo Levracha, Dinkins and Lee Brown.
Come on I not saying that Mario Cuomo was a bad guy or naything but lets get it straight. The reason he was sch a strong supporter of KJ and his mosdos were becaus ethey delievered him a nice size voting bloc in upstate NY which is typically republican leaning. It has nothing to do with love or hate for ethnic groups. It was about deliviring goods.And trust me Andrew is made of the same cut.
I lived thru the Cuomo years in New York City. All I remember of him was his endless lecturing and pontificating, blah blah blah, and his many fights with Koch, with the Catholic Church, with NY State University officials, with NYC Bd of Ed, and with his bully boy son, Andy, who didn’t speak to him for years. He did nothing for the Yidden, and not much for anyone else except to talk our ears off.