New York – VIN Exclusive: Carey Remembered As Loyal Advocate for Jewish Community (historic photos)

New York – While former Governor Hugh Carey, who passed away this week at age 92, is being recalled as the man who saved New York City from bankruptcy in 1975, the Jewish community of New York is remembering Carey as a staunch supporter of the state of Israel and a strong advocate for Orthodox Judaism.

Carey, a democrat, represented Borough Park during much of his thirteen year tenure in Congress and both as a congressman and in his two terms as governor, he was known to champion issues of great importance to the Jewish community including aid to non-public schools, enforcement of kashrus laws, Soviet Jewry and Israel.

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Governor Carey developed an extremely close personal relationship with Rabbi Moshe Sherer z’l, chairman of Agudath Israel of America, after the latter testified before Congress in 1961 on the need for public aid to non-public schools. In fact, Carey was so impressed with both Rabbi Sherer himself and his plan that the two became close friends. Rochel Langer, Rabbi Sherer’s daughter, recalls that the governor consulted with her father regularly and was a frequent guest in their house.

Rabbi Menachem Shayovich, Chairman of the Commission for Legislation of the Agudah at that time, took a part time job with then-Congressman Carey’s office as a liaison to the Borough Park community, presenting Carey with the many issues that were being faced by the Jewish community.

“Hugh Carey was an exemplary individual and a very good friend to the Jewish community,” said Rabbi Shayovich in an exclusive interview with VIN News. “He was extremely honest and was careful to make sure that things were always done properly within the law. If it was about Israel or the Jewish community, he always made sure to get it done.”

As Carey left Congress to succeed Malcolm Wilson as governor of New York in 1975, Rabbi Shayovich accompanied him as Special Assistant to the Governor for New York City and Suburban Communities.

Carey continued to advocate for the Jewish community as governor, particularly when it came to kashrus enforcement. According to Rabbi Shayovich there was one incident when Rabbi Schulem Rubin, Director of Kosher Law Enforcement in New York State, issued a citation to several kosher-style hotels in the Catskills for misrepresenting their meat as kosher when, in fact, it was not. Rabbi Rubin received tremendous backlash to his actions and some well connected individuals threatened to remove him from his job if the citation was not removed. Governor Carey intervened and upon finding out that the hotels were indeed in violation of the state kashrus laws, supported Rabbi Rubin wholeheartedly unwilling, as always, to back down when it came to enforcing the law.

“Governor Carey was always very correct and would never compromise on his standards,” said Rabbi Shayovich. “Thing had to be done the way they needed to be done and our community benefited tremendously from our relationship with him.”

Rabbi Shayovich remembers that Governor Carey was an avid supporter of Menachem Begin who was repeatedly referred to by the media after his election “as that terrorist who became prime minister”. Carey delivered an address at the Israel Bonds Dinner chastising the press, saying that Begin had been elected by a democratic process and it was inappropriate to denigrate him, resulting in a remarkable difference in Begin’s relationship with the media.

Carey was in frequent contact with Begin and Shayovich accompanied the governor on one visit to Israel in 1977 where Begin invited the pair to join him for a historic Knesset address to announce his intention to invite Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to address the Knesset. Carey was also a staunch supporter of Russian Jewry and was a frequent speaker at the many rallies to raise awareness of their plight in the former Soviet Union.

“There are so many thing we take for granted today,” said Rabbi Shayovich, “but these were hard earned victories that were earned by Governor Carey who was always concerned about protecting the rights of the Orthodox community. Years ago, arranging burial for someone on a legal holiday could be problematic, but Governor Carey made sure that legal holiday or not, there would be no impediment to burying someone in a timely fashion. Sabbath observers often faced difficulties in the workplace at that time but Carey vigilantly enforced the fact that you can’t discriminate against someone because they are Shomer Shabbos. He was very respectful of our religion and was always a strong ally to the Jewish community.”

Throughout his career in politics, Rabbi Shayevich accompanied Carey as he paid frequent visits to leaders of the Jewish community including the Satmar Rebbe, Reb Yoel zt’l, the Bobover Rebber, Reb Shlomo zt’l, the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt’l and the Viener Rebbe zt’l.

“Carey would discuss the situations that affected each community with their Rebbe,” said Rabbi Shayevich. “He often visited with Reb Shlomo as he was in our district. I remember Carey discussing aid to non-public schools with the Satmar Rebbe and was very impressed by the Rebbe’s approach to his community. The governor was very taken with the Lubavitcher Rebbe and his depth of knowledge and he even attended a fabrengen in 770. Despite the language barrier, Carey was awed by both the obvious depth of the Rebbe’s words and the enthusiasm with which it was received by the assemblage.”

Menachem Lubinsky, CEO of Lubicom Marketing Consulting, who worked with Governor Carey during his time as Vice President of Government and Public Affairs for Agudath Israel of America, lauded Carey for his attentiveness to the needs of his Jewish constituents.

“As a Catholic, Hugh Carey understood our issues more so than others. He went out of his way to help us and he and his very effective administration were very responsive and eager to help the Jewish community instantly. He was a prince in the way he handled both himself and the Jewish community.”

The below historic photos credit to Rabbi Shayevich, and ShiaHD.
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