“I am a Jew.” Those four words should be an ordinary declaration of identity. At a prayer vigil outside the New York mayor’s office on Sept. 18, they became a statement of resolve.

Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, senior rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan, built his remarks around “Ivri Anochi,” עברי אנכי, drawing on the Book of Jonah, which Jews read on Yom Kippur afternoon. He described Jonah fleeing his identity and responsibility until, amid a storm, he declared who he was.