In the wake of unimaginable tragedy, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stood before his city with a heavy heart. On August 27, 2025, a shooter, Robin Westman, opened fire during Mass at Annunciation Catholic School, killing two children and injuring seventeen others.
Frey, visibly emotional, spoke not just as a mayor but as a human being grappling with profound grief. “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now,” he urged. “These kids were literally praying.” In this moment of collective trauma, Frey’s response reflected a deeper personal journey, one where faith, identity, and public service have become increasingly intertwined.
Frey’s relationship with religion and his Jewish heritage has evolved significantly throughout his life, particularly in recent years. Born to a mother of Russian-Jewish ancestry and a father who converted to Judaism, Frey was raised in a culturally Jewish household where traditions like bagels and lox on Sundays and lighting Shabbat candles were non-negotiable rituals.
Despite this upbringing, Frey never initially defined himself primarily through his Jewish identity. As he once admitted in an interview, “I don’t think of myself as ‘the Jewish mayor of Minneapolis.’” Rather, he saw himself as a public servant who happened to be Jewish, with his faith informing his commitment to social justice rather than serving as a political label.
A Shift Toward Spiritual Prominence
The aftermath of the October 7 attacks marked a turning point in how Jacob Frey viewed and embraced his religious identity. In a candid interview with Jewish Insider, Frey revealed that since those events, “My ethnicity has risen greatly over the last year in the way that I think of myself and how others think of me.”
This awakening coincided with a rise in antisemitism that compelled Frey to become more outspoken about his heritage. He vowed to continue fighting antisemitism, emphasizing the value of education in countering prejudice. This renewed connection to his roots has added another dimension to his leadership, especially as Minneapolis has faced challenges that demanded both practical solutions and spiritual resilience.
Jacob Frey’s spiritual perspective deeply influences his approach to governance and community healing. The recent horrific shooting at Annunciation Catholic School tested this approach profoundly. In his response, Frey highlighted the heroism of school staff who “threw their bodies on top of children” to protect them, and he called for love rather than hatred in the wake of the tragedy.
He specifically pushed back against attempts to scapegoat the transgender community following revelations about the shooter’s identity, stating, “Anybody that is using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community—or any other community out there—has lost their sense of common humanity.” This emphasis on compassion over division reflects a values-driven leadership style rooted in the Jewish principles of empathy and community that he learned from his family.
Jacob Frey just doubled down on saying that you are a bad person if you point out the school shooter is trans:
“Anybody that is going to use to villainize the trans community has lost touch with common humanity.” https://t.co/l0wGzTRZbW pic.twitter.com/9WCHXi4rsI
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 27, 2025
Faith in Action: Beyond Politics
For Frey, faith is not confined to personal belief but translates into tangible action. His political career has been marked by a commitment to social justice causes, from founding the Big Gay Race to support marriage equality to advocating for affordable housing in every neighborhood of Minneapolis. He has often connected this work to his Jewish upbringing, noting that the Jewish heritage is “strongly rooted in the idea of community.”
His great aunt, who escaped Europe just before Kristallnacht, imparted the lesson to be “keenly aware of the plight of others,” a principle that has guided Frey’s public service. Even in the darkest moments, such as the recent school shooting, Frey has sought to channel grief into purpose, urging his city to move from being “united in grief” to “united in action.”
Jacob Frey’s religious journey is a testament to how personal identity can evolve in response to both personal reflection and public crisis. From the culturally Jewish traditions of his childhood to the deepened embrace of his heritage following global and local tragedies, Frey’s faith has become an integral part of his leadership narrative. In the face of unspeakable events like the August 2025 school shooting, he has drawn on this foundation to guide his city toward healing with a message of unity, compassion, and resilience.
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While his policies and decisions as mayor are shaped by many factors, his spiritual identity remains a compelling thread in the fabric of his service, a reminder that behind the political figure stands a human being continually learning how to weave faith into action.
