EXCLUSIVE: NYC mayor’s top Jewish adviser to depart City Hall
Eric Adams called Joel Eisdorfer an ’empathetic public servant’
Joe Eisdorfer (center) with NYC Mayor Eric Adams (L) during a roundtable with Jewish leaders on Feb. 28, 2024. Photo by Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
By Jacob Kornbluh May 16, 2024
New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ top Jewish aide, who helped garner Jewish votes and served as a liaison to the Jewish community and Israeli diplomats, will be leaving City Hall next month.
Joel Eisdorfer, 43, a member of the Satmar Hasidic community in Borough Park, who held the title of senior adviser, said he decided to leave because the job is demanding and he wants to spend more time with his family.
But he will still volunteer on Adams’ reelection campaign next year and continue to chair the mayor’s Jewish Advisory Council, he said. The newly formed panel of rabbis and community leaders convene regularly to discuss public safety, education and other issues.
Adams, in an emailed statement, called Eisdorfer an “empathetic public servant” who forged connections among communities “during one of the most trying times for Jewish New Yorkers in our city’s history.” Incidents of antisemitism have spiked in New York in recent years, and protests over the war in Gaza — many of which feature anti-Israel signs and slogans, and sometimes antisemitic ones — have rocked the city and many of its colleges in the past eight months.
“While we’ll miss him day to day at City Hall, I’m excited to have him support our efforts in a new capacity,” Adams said.
Right-hand man
Eisdorfer and Adams’ relationship dates back to the mayor’s years as a state senator — and transcended work. The mayor has frequently mentioned that he has watched each of Eisdorfer’s five children grow up. “I sat down at his table and his children would come and talk to me and share everything from magic tricks to just general conversation,” the mayor said at a Hanukkah reception in 2022.
Colleagues of Eisdorfer say he’s got Adam’s ear, and pointed to several projects with which he was entrusted, including events to build ties with Black and Muslim constituents and arranging security briefings related to the war in Gaza. Last month Eisdorfer organized a roundtable with Jewish and Black leaders to discuss a joint effort to combat rising hate crimes. He described that meeting as one of his greatest accomplishments at City Hall.
“For me, it has always been about helping people, as the mayor often emphasizes — helping all New Yorkers with the support they need,” he said.
Eisdorfer has also maintained close ties between Israeli officials and Adams, a staunch supporter of Israel. He organized the mayor’s debut trip to Israel last August, in the midst of the judicial overhaul crisis. Adams held meetings there with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders of the protest movement.
The mayor, who attributed his victory to significant support from Orthodox voting blocs in the 2021 election, is expected to rely on Eisdorfer again in 2025, when he will face several progressive challengers in the Democratic primary. Jews make up 12% of the city, or 960,000 people, according to a recent survey by the UJA Federation of New York. More than a third of Jews aged 18-29 identify as Orthodox.
Eisdorfer said his current responsibilities at City Hall will be distributed among other colleagues.
A significant number of Jews remain in senior positions in the Adams administration. They include Fabien Levy, deputy mayor for communications; Fred Kreizman, commissioner for community affairs; Edward Mermelstein, commissioner of international affairs; Jessica Tisch, the sanitation commissioner; Menashe Shapiro, deputy chief of staff; Lisa Zornberg, chief counsel to the mayor; Andrea Shapiro Davis, director of public service engagement; and Moshe Davis, the mayor’s Jewish liaison.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
