City Councilman Candidate Religious Commitment Restricted Him From Campaigning

David Ceder the Democratic opponent to City Councilman - an Orthodox Jew-religious commitment restricted him from campaigning for most of October, which comprises 20 days of religious observance between holidays and the weekly Shabbas.

For 10 of those days, he had to stop working before sundown to mark the official start of all Jewish holidays, thereby cutting himself off from frequent evening political functions.

Still, Ceder, a candidate in the heavily Orthodox mid-Island district that includes parts of Brooklyn, envisions a healthy marriage between an Orthodox lifestyle and a job in politics. His sentiment is evidence of the increasing comfort Orthodox Jews feel toward their roles in public life.

Orthodox politicians throughout New York have said their religious and public identities are melding with more ease than ever before, One symbol of the trend is the growing number of yarmulkes, perhaps the most visible symbol of the faith, worn in public.