Metro

Jewish firefighter group accuses FDNY of not treating them like other ethnic organizations

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Published May 30, 2024, 5:27 p.m. ET

A group of Jewish firefighters say they have been ignored by FDNY brass and are not being treated like other ethnic groups at the city fire department, according to a scathing letter obtained by the Post.

In the missive sent to Mayor Eric Adams Thursday, the FDNY Ner Tamid Society said the department does not make “reasonable accommodations for Orthodox Jews” and excluded the group from joining other ethnic firefighter organizations in designing leadership diversity curriculum.

“Besides facilitating an annual Hanukkah event, the Fire Department does not engage with our society,” read the letter signed by Yonatan Klein, President of Ner Tamid Society and the other Ner Tamid Society leaders.

Photo from the FDNY ad campaign
The Ner Tamid Society included this photo in their social media ad, saying the photo does not include any Jewish people. New York City Fire Department (FDNY)

The letter was prompted by FDNY’s new ad campaign called “All Heros Welcomed” — which ran a social media ad on May 14 — that implied the department favored inclusivity and featured a photo that the Ner Tamid Society said had no Jewish people in it.

The group said they contacted a lawyer at the FDNY’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,the next day to arrange a meeting with Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh to discuss the ad.

They were told they could have a meeting, but that Kavanagh would not be there.

Instead, the Office of DE&I would relay any concerns to Kavanagh.

“This treatment is unacceptable. We do not require an intermediary to discuss recruitment and other outstanding issues that have negatively impacted and marginalized our society, including problems with reasonable accommodations for orthodox Jews,” Ner Tamid Society members wrote in the letter.

The group also said they were excluded from advising on curriculum related to the FDNY Leadership Development Program when other groups, such as the FDNY Hispanic Society, Vulcan Society, United Women Firefighters, and all the Fire and EMS Unions were invited.

“The society urgently seeks to be treated like any fraternal organization and to have an opportunity to meet with leadership before additional issues arise,” wrote the group.

The FDNY responded to the letter by saying “The Commissioner values the contributions of the Ner Tamid society.”

And they added: “This request never made it to the commissioners desk, and had the commissioner received the request she would have said yes. She is happy they reached out and looks forward to meeting with them and hearing out their important concerns.” 

Sources said it’s common for fraternal groups to have a pre-meeting with lower-level officials before a sit down with the commissioner is cleared.