‘Simple but powerful message,’ JCRC head says of Manhattan street being named for it on its 50th anniversary

(Oct. 19, 2026 / JNS)

On a beautiful autumn day, leaders of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and multiple, high-ranking elected officials gathered at the corner of Second Avenue and East 47th Street in Manhattan to unveil a new street sign which is now co-named Jewish Community Relations Council of New York Way.

“The street sign carries a simple but powerful message. We are here, we belong here and we’re not going anywhere,” said Mark Treyger, CEO of the council.

“Our story is about more than antisemitism,” he told attendees. “We are the descendants of immigrants, refugees, Holocaust survivors, who helped build the city in this country that we love so deeply.”

The Jewish community has “helped shape New York and America,” he said. “The street co-naming is a small but meaningful recognition of those contributions.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and retiring Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) sat in the front of a modest-sized crowd at the sign unveiling ceremony. Letitia James, attorney general of New York, told attendees that she will “always stand with the Jewish community.”

“Shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm, with no space or daylight between us, to take on antisemitism, discrimination and hate,” she said. “Because combating antisemitism cannot be the responsibility of the Jewish people alone.”

Julie Menin, the first Jewish speaker of the New York City Council, and Virginia Maloney, a City Council member whose district includes the street corner, co-sponsored the motion to name the corner for the JCRC, a process which the City Council must approve. Both Menin and Maloney attended the event, as did Eric Dinowitz, chair of the council’s Jewish caucus and co-chair of its bipartisan task force on Jew-hatred.

Getting a street co-named in honor of someone or something historic or important is an honor but not a rare one. On June 30, the New York City Council passed 103 street co-namings, the JCRC told JNS.

Jumaane Williams, the New York City public advocate, and Mark Levine, city comptroller, also attended the event.

Last week, Levine told a New York Times reporter that he did not currently intend to restore the city’s investment in Israel Bonds, which drew widespread criticism from Jewish leaders. Levine had campaigned on a promise to invest in Israel Bonds.

Levine later said that he was committed to the Jewish state and that his predecessor, Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee for a safe congressional seat, was to blame.

“At present, a number of challenges, including constraints related to a rules change on our short-term investment desk made by the previous comptroller, prevent us from making direct purchases,” Levine stated. “We continue to evaluate this investment, as we do all potential investments.”

At the street naming, Levine was greeted with warm applause, and there was no mention of last week’s imbroglio.

The street is not near the JCRC offices, which are on Manhattan’s West Side, but is up the block from Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, named for the Swedish diplomat who was the second United Nations secretary-general, in Turtle Bay.

The plaza, which is near U.N. headquarters, is often the site of political demonstrations and protests. The JCRC has gathered Jews and others there frequently to rally in support of Israel, to demand the release of the Gaza hostages and, in an earlier era, to free the Jews who were imprisoned in the former Soviet Union.

“Over the years, we’ve gathered here, near Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, in moments of crisis, moments of solidarity and moments when our collective voices needed to be heard,” Treyger said at the event.

“Like just recently, during the United Nations general assembly,” he said. “Through it all, we continue to show up.”

After the event, which also marked the 50th anniversary of the JCRC, Treyger told JNS that “at a moment when antisemitism too often defines the conversation about Jewish life, this sign is also a reminder that our story is so much bigger than the hatred directed at us.”

“It is a story of extraordinary contributions, community, partnership and hope,” he told JNS. “That story is still being written.”

Dean Belmont, who lives in an apartment building near where the ceremony was held, in a barricaded-off section of sidewalk and street, came to see what the fuss was about.

“Sadly, it won’t take long for someone to graffiti over the street sign,” he told JNS as the ceremony ended.

As Schumer departed the ceremony, he talked about the upcoming midterm elections, to be held on Nov. 3.

“When I become, God willing, majority leader, we will get even more money for our nonprofit security grants so desperately needed by the Jewish community and other communities facing this scourge of bigotry in America,” he said.