A small group of newspapermen, bankers, and other friends made their way through the rain one evening this week to the Center for Jewish History near Union Square in Manhattan. They were there for the awarding of the first annual Kenneth J. Bialkin/Citigroup Public Service Award, to the late editor of the editorial page of the New York Post, Eric Breindel.

As the Post’s Eric Fettman told of Breindel’s journalism about the anti-Semitic riots in Crown Heights and the boycott of Korean grocers in Brooklyn, we were reminded of how much race relations in this city have improved in recent years. And as the Nobel laureates Elie Wiesel and Henry Kissinger spoke of Breindel’s defense of an embattled Israel, we were reminded of how the threats faced by Israel have, unfortunately, not receded.

Mayor Koch told the group that Breindel had been an intern in his congressional office. Breindel went on to serve as an aide to another Democrat from New York, Senator Moynihan. Mr. Koch told the crowd Wednesday night that he would vote for President Bush, entirely on the basis of his concern for embattled Israel. Breindel also emerged on the conservative side of things. The award, given by the American Jewish Historical Society, was established by Citigroup in honor of Mr. Bialkin, a lawyer who served on the Citigroup board for 16 years (and who is among this newspaper’s owners).

Citigroup’s sponsorship of the award and the presence at the event of its chief executive officer, Charles Prince, is a hopeful sign that the concern for the embattled minorities and the interest in Israel’s security that occupied Breindel and that still occupy Mr. Bialkin are shared not just by a Nobel laureate, a former mayor, and the former state secretary, but by the city’s largest financial institution. It was an event that left everyone walking home in the rain feeling a little bit warmer inside.