Former New York City mayor Ed Koch's headstone has been placed at the nondenominational Trinity Church in preparation for the statesman's funeral. But the 84-year-old Jew, alive and kicking, has no funeral date planned.
Koch, who bought his burial plot a year ago, at a location he says is convenient to public transportation, has planned his funeral to the last detail, despite his good health. He has requested that his family conduct his funeral service at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan, the largest Reform Jewish synagogue in the world.
My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish
His headstone, which has preceded him to the cemetery, features a Star of David, and is engraved with the foremost prayer of the Jewish people, the Shema Yisrael prayer (Hear Israel, the L-rd is G-d, the L-rd is One). It is also graced with the last words of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was murdered by beheading by Pakistani Muslim terrorists in 2002: "My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish," according to The New York Times.
Lastly, the gravestone contains an epitaph Koch wrote for himself after suffering a stroke in the 1980's: "He was fiercely proud of his Jewish faith. He fiercely defended the City of New York, and he fiercely loved its people. Above all, he loved his country, the United States of America, in whose armed forces he served in World War II"
Koch was mayor of New York from 1977 to 1989. Following his retirement from politics, Koch joined a law firm, after which he became a political commentator, and movie and restaurant reviewer.
Vehemently pro-Israel, Koch publicly boycotted National Public Radio (NPR), and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) for anti-Israel reporting. In 2002, Koch told Bloomberg Radio "We are now going through the most virulent anti-Semitic period since Hitler and Stalin… open hostility toward the State of Israel is at an all-time high."
In January 2009, Koch wrote an article defending Israel's bombing of Hamas targets in Gaza, saying Israel was exercising its right to self-defense. He advocated continued bombing of elements posing a threat to Israel. "Logic and rationality require that Israel increase the force used to achieve its goal," Koch said.