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new york of the city Jewish Community – Largest United States of America – There is an atmosphere of anxiety and discord a day before the elections, which may give the city its first Muslim mayor.
That candidate Zohran Mamdanihas won over many progressive Jewish voters with a pledge to make the city more affordable and equitable. Yet his harsh criticism has alarmed many other Jews in New York and across the U.S. israelWhich includes saying that its military operation in Gaza is tantamount to genocide.
Tensions within the politically diverse community were illustrated in a sermon Friday by Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, who leads Central Synagogue in Manhattan, one of the nation’s most prominent Reform synagogues.
He bluntly criticized Mamdani’s words about Israel, yet refused to endorse his opponents, Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa, and urged New York Jews to tone down toxic political infighting.
“This puts us all in danger: This is the way we are trying to impose a litmus test on other Jews, essentially saying you are either with us or you are against us,” she said.
A local election in the national spotlight
Buchdahl has faced some criticism for not signing a statement supported by more than 1,000 Jewish clergy members across the country condemning Mamdani. She said that in principle, she does not endorse candidates or sign joint statements, but she interrupted her sabbatical schedule to return to her platform the weekend before the election.
In the sermon, Buchdahl said Mamdani had “contributed to bringing some of the most disgusting anti-Semitic sentiments into the mainstream” with words that he said were not only “demonizing Israelis, but reiterating the age-old anti-Semitism narrative that Jews around the world are the root cause of our problem.”
Mamdani has promised Jewish voters throughout the campaign to increase funding for investigations into anti-Semitic incidents in New York and has repeatedly condemned violence in the Middle East. He has also condemned the “atrocities” committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023, calling the attacks “horrible war crimes.”
But Mamdani has not wavered from his long-standing support for Palestinian rights. He has also said he would instruct the city’s police department to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York on charges brought by the International Criminal Court.
In response to accusations that his views are tantamount to anti-Semitism, Mamdani has often quoted an Israeli man whose brother was killed on October 7, saying “We must never give up the conviction that all lives, Israeli and Palestinian, Jewish and Arab, are equally precious.”
Buchdahl said in her sermon that she recognized the voices of young Jews who say they should not “vote out of fear based on one issue when other issues are just as important.” They cite Mamdani’s access to Jewish leaders and his restrained rhetoric.
Buchdahl said, “I wouldn’t trust any campaigning politician to immediately change their lifelong positions, but I listen to those who believe that we should also engage with people with whom we deeply disagree or risk alienating ourselves.”
Leading rabbi: It’s not an easy choice
Like Buchdahl, New York-based Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said he stands by his longtime decision to avoid making political endorsements.
“If you think the mayor’s election is easy, I respectfully suggest you haven’t been paying attention,” Jacobs wrote in an open letter last week. “I urge our Jewish community and all New Yorkers to carefully consider the many urgent issues facing our city before casting their vote.”
Before casting doubt about the Democratic nominee, Jacobs wrote, “I can confirm that Zoharan Mamdani does not lack sympathy for the Jewish community’s concern about routine threats to our security. In public interviews and in an in-person meeting, I have heard him pledge to protect the Jewish community.”
Jacobs wrote, “Mamdani continues to maintain that he believes Israel has a right to exist as a state of all its citizens, but not as a Jewish state.” “Their argument may sound good in a seminar; in the real world it is cause for serious concern.”
Among the signatories to the anti-Mamdani statement was Elliot Cosgrove, a prominent New York Conservative rabbi.
“Clearly, unequivocally and on the record, I believe Zoharan Mamdani is a threat to the safety of the New York Jewish community,” Cosgrove declared at the beginning of a recent sermon at the Park Avenue Synagogue.
“Zionism, Israel, Jewish self-determination – these are not political priorities or issues for partisan conversation,” Cosgrove said. “They are constituent and inseparable elements of my Jewish identity.”
Even Hasidic leaders are divided
As evidence of divisions within Jewish ranks, there have been competing endorsements of Mamdani and Cuomo by leaders of various factions within the Satmar Hasidic community.
On Sunday, Rabbi Moshe Indig, leader of the community’s Aharonim branch, announced his support for Mamdani, shaking hands with the candidate at a meeting in Brooklyn. Within hours, three other branch leaders disapproved of Indig’s actions and endorsed Cuomo.
Cuomo supporters said, “As a whole, the crusading agenda of the progressive movement is a threat to our ability to live as Torah Jews and educate our children with the same values.”
Left of political center, New York-based author and commentator Peter Benhart expressed his frustration at the vitriol being directed at Mamdani by many Jewish leaders in a recent video.
Beinhart said he was concerned that “the organized American Jewish community was willing to sacrifice almost anything to maintain unconditional support for the State of Israel, that every other value, every other principle was subordinated to it.”
“What are you willing to sacrifice to stop a New York mayor who says Israeli Jews and Palestinians should live equally under the same laws? What are you willing to do to destroy such a candidate? The answer is: lie to almost anyone, do almost anything.”
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Smith reported from Pittsburgh. AP journalist Jake Offenhartz contributed from New York.
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