By COLlive reporter
Photos: Baruch Ezagui/COLlive
New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer honored trailblazing New Yorkers at his annual Jewish Heritage Month celebration on Tuesday evening.
The event took place at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Downtown Manhattan, and included an awards ceremony honoring the achievements of noted New Yorkers, actor and director Joel Grey, cookbook author and blogger Chanie Apfelbaum of Busy in Brooklyn, and Mark Hetfield, President and CEO of HIAS, a Jewish-American non-profit organization that works to provide humanitarian relief and assistance to refugees around the world.
In his remarks, Stringer said we must fight against anti-Semitism and the disturbing rise of hate crimes here at home and around the world.
“According to the NYPD, there has been an 82 percent increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes in just the first 3 months of 2019,” the Comptroller said. “No one should have to live in fear because of who they are, and where they come from, or how they pray.”
Stringer mentioned his recent visit to the Jewish Children’s Museum in Crown Heights, hosted by its co-founder Devorah Halberstam.
“Jewish culture in New York is alive and well, and we must protect it for future generations,” he said.
The honorees exemplified the strength of our city, he said, and that strength symbolizes “the success of our continued efforts to make New York City a better place for all,” he said.
Chanie Apfelbaum, when receiving her award, spoke about her family heritage, as a descendant of Chaya Yocheved Chava and Aharon Yosef Luria, a Kabbalist who was a descendant of the Arizal and from the first settlers in Israel.
Apfelbaum said that after releasing her best-selling cookbook Millennial Kosher, with the first recipe being preserved lemons, she discovered that her ancestor Mrs. Luria was known for her canned preserved lemons, which she sold in the market to support her family.
“The taste and flavors of the Middle East ran through my veins, even before I discovered them,” she said.
“Food is related to our heritage and history, and it is also the lifeblood which we inherited from our ancestors and pass on to our children. It’s the tastes and smells from our kitchen that our children will carry with them for the rest of our lives,” she said.
“Social media has indeed made the world smaller,” Apfelbaum said. “I am so honored to be able to share my heritage openly and proudly to the far corners of the world.”
