Courtesy of JNS. Photo credit: Official photo
Charlie Sisitsky, mayor of Framingham, Mass.
(JNS) — Charlie Sisitsky is slated to become the first second-term mayor of Framingham, a city located some 20 miles southwest of Boston.
Framingham, which has 71,000 residents, according to its website, traces its origins to a 1662 land grant and was incorporated in 1700. It became a city in 2018.
Sisitsky was sworn in as mayor on Jan. 1, 2022, and was reelected to a second, four-year term in November.
He is a “seasoned and accomplished municipal executive with 40 years of public administration leadership experience” who has been a resident of and homeowner in Framingham since 1971, per his official bio.
When Sisitsky was elected in 2021, MetroWest Jewish Day School, a community school in the city, congratulated him “and his wife, Robin Kaye, on his election victory.”
“MWJDS knows that Framingham will be in good hands under Charlie’s stewardship,” the Jewish school stated. “Both Charlie and Robin are long-time friends of our school and past MWJDS gala honorees, and Robin worked at our school for 17 years.”
After learning that there was a flexible deadline, a spokeswoman for Sisitsky told JNS, “Thanks for your offer to interview the mayor. He is not available at this time.”
On Jan. 1, Adam Sisitsky, an associate justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court, is slated to administer the oath to his father at a ceremony that the governor plans to attend, per the city. The judge is listed as a clerk and a board member of the “inclusive and egalitarian” congregation, Independent Jewish Community in Newton, Mass.
Rabbi Sam Blumberg, of Temple Beth Am, a Reform congregation in Framingham, is expected to deliver an invocation at the Jan. 1 event.
In the evening on Oct. 7, 2023, hours after Hamas led a series of terror attacks against Israel, the mayor and his wife stated that “this morning, we awoke to the news of the terrorists’ attacks on Israel by Hamas.”
“As rockets target civilians in Israel, our hearts break for the families who lost loved ones. Thousands have been wounded, and many more now live in fear of more attacks,” they said. “We reject any form of terrorism against innocent civilians and pray for peace and safety for all.”
Two days later, the city lit the Memorial Building, which houses city offices, “blue and white in solidarity with Israel and its people.”
The prior October, the mayor and his wife met with the consul general of Israel to New England, according to a city social media post.
Last month, he denounced “hateful vandalism” found on playground equipment at Hemenway Elementary School in the “strongest terms.”
“Acts of antisemitism and hate have no place in Framingham,” he stated. “Sadly, incidents of antisemitism are on the rise across the commonwealth, but our city stands united against intolerance in all forms.”
Rabbi Yakov Lazaros, who has led a Chabad synagogue in Framingham for nearly 50 years, told JNS that the community is thriving.
