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| Four rabbis that support Mamdani (Israel Hayom) |
This should not be happening in a city whose Jewish
population is the largest of any city in the world. Because of that, candidates
for mayor in the past were uniformly pro-Israel. But not this time. Zohran
Mamdani, a little-known New York Assemblyman who was given little chance to win
the Democratic primary, won big!
And now, according to most polls, he has a double-digit lead
over his opponent, former Governor Andrew Cuomo — who, although a strong
supporter of Israel throughout his political career, ran afoul of the Orthodox
Jewish community because of some heavy-handed tactics during the Covid
pandemic. That, along with accusations of sexual misconduct (which forced him
to resign as governor), would have prevented any chance he might have had to
become mayor.
Having lost to Mamdani in the primary, Cuomo is now running
as an independent in today’s general election. Although both candidates have
been polling below 50%, if Republican Curtis Sliwa had suspended his campaign,
there is little doubt that the majority of his voters would have gone to Cuomo.
That being the case, the Jewish community has not given up.
Over 1,100 heterodox rabbis have signed a letter urging Jews to vote against
Mamdani. Agudah and other Orthodox Jewish institutions and rabbis have been
urging their people to do the same. Most recently, YU’s Rav Hershel Schachter
penned a letter urging all Yeshiva University students to vote today, even if
it means missing significant parts of their seder (one of their daily
Torah learning sessions in the Beis Medrash).
I absolutely agree with the urgency of voting in this
election. The issues at stake for the Jewish people have never been greater. So
even if the odds are stacked against defeating Mamdani today, that doesn’t mean
the Jewish voting public should not do their utmost to try. That means going to
the voting booth and casting your vote, no matter how difficult it may be — or
how futile the attempt might seem. As I have said multiple times: you never
know.
What I have also said is that significant numbers of Jews
actually support Mamdani. They are the ones who secured his nomination in the
Democratic primary and plan to vote for him in the general. How many is that? A
lot more than one might think. As noted by Rabbi Efrem Goldberg on the Aish
website:
“Polls ranging from as high as 43% (and on the low end, 21%) show that Jewish voters in New York intend to vote for him. Prominent Jewish actors and media personalities have unabashedly endorsed Mamdani. This week, a campaign video produced in partnership with the organization Jews for Racial and Economic Justice was released, which includes four self-described rabbis expressing open support for Mamdani.”
A lot of Jews appear not to care about Mamdani’s views about
Israel. Or worse, actually agree with him. What are those views? Rabbi
Goldberg reminds us of the following:
“In the last week, more videos have emerged demonstrating New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s obsessive hatred of Israel. During a panel at the 2023 Democratic Socialists of America’s national convention, he said, ‘We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF.’
Additionally, in an effort to blame the problems of his city on Israel, he said, ‘You have so many opportunities to make clear the ways in which that struggle over there (Israel) is tied to capitalist interests over here.’”
He has defended suicide bombers as soldiers, repeatedly refused to condemn the violent and threatening phrase “Globalize the Intifada,” falsely accused Israel of genocide, and announced he would attempt to have Prime Minister Netanyahu arrested as a war criminal if he came to New York. His hateful preoccupation with Israel has been well documented — and many Jews in New York are concerned they will be less safe if he wins.
And yet, with all that, as many as 43% of New York’s Jews
plan to vote for him. Why? Because, as I have said — and as Rabbi Goldberg also
notes:
“In the best-case scenario, these Jewish poll responders, celebrities, and rabbis seem to be putting their liberalism and progressivism ahead of their Jewish identity and loyalty to Israel. They are prioritizing being part of a socialist movement over the safety and preservation of their own families and their people. In the worst-case scenario, they are not making a choice between two things (progressive politics and Jewish identity) they embrace, rather they are substituting one for the other — rejecting their Jewish identities. Either way, it is deeply troubling.”
Sadly, I agree with Rabbi Goldberg. But then he makes an
astonishing suggestion about how we should think about these Jews. Strangely
enough, I agree with him. Without using the halachic appellation of Tinok
Shenishba (which in our day applies mostly to Jews raised without the
slightest idea of what it really means to be Jewish), he says that we must love
them as brothers, no matter how misguided their views are.
As I said, although I agree with him in theory, the idea of
loving a Jew who runs away from their Judaism or replaces it with progressive
socialist values is difficult, if not impossible, to do. The easiest thing to
do is to ignore them and lament their eventual demise as Jews — as over 70% of
them continue to intermarry.
Ignoring them may be the easiest thing to do, but it is not
the right thing to do. These progressive Jews, celebrities, and self-styled
rabbis are indeed our brothers. We are required by halacha to be
responsible for their welfare — both physically and spiritually.
The question is, how? I don’t know how it is even possible
to talk to people whose progressive values supersede, by far, the values of the
Torah. Even if they knew what those values were, they would surely reject them
out of hand as anathema to their worldview. I can’t begin to understand how you
can reach out to someone whose progressive values are so deeply ingrained into
their psyche. Which they adhere to with near-religious fervor.
So yes, we must never give up on the near-impossible task of
showing them the light. How we climb that steep hill is something I cannot
begin to fathom. Reaching out to the majority of secular Jews who understand
the dangers of a Mamdani mayoralty is one thing. I wholeheartedly support that.
But even though it isn’t their fault, how can you relate to
Jews who believe with complete faith that Mamdani’s views about Israel are the
right ones - and who, in most cases, probably consider Judaism completely irrelevant to their lives?
Comments to the post can be made at Emes Ve-Emunah II where it is cross-posted
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