By Katie Vasquez
A new New York City bill aimed at protecting the right to pray while preserving the right to protest has gone into effect.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani allowed Intro 1-B to become law, applying specifically to houses of worship. The legislation was proposed following two separate incidents, one outside a Manhattan synagogue and another at Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills.
On Jan. 8, while an Israeli real estate event was taking place inside the synagogue in Kew Gardens Hills, protesters gathered outside shouting remarks.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who sponsored the bill, said the measure requires the NYPD to determine if, when, and to what extent security perimeters may be used to protect places of worship. She emphasized that freedom of religion must be safeguarded while also upholding First Amendment rights.
The American Jewish Committee said Jewish New Yorkers have felt unsafe entering houses of worship, particularly as antisemitic hate crimes accounted for 57% of all reported hate crimes in 2025.
Rabbi Brad Hirschfield of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership said the bill is a step in the right direction but expressed concerns about its scope.
“While I appreciate the buffer zone protecting the area around a space of worship, it doesn’t protect people,” Hirschfield said. “And the idea that you have to choose between protecting people’s right to protest, as we do, as we must in America, does not mean that people should have carte blanche to shout some of the hateful and violent things they have shouted at Jews who happen to support Israel. And this law avoids that by confusing, as people often do, the freedom to worship with the freedom to be who we are as people of faith, which is not limited to the few hours a week we may spend in a house of worship.”
Governor Kathy Hochul has proposed a similar statewide bill that would prohibit protesters from gathering within 25 feet of houses of worship. The proposal was included in this year’s state budget policy agenda, which lawmakers are still negotiating.