HOW MAMDANI IS ALREADY FAILING NY JEWS

I'm not a New Yorker. Like many of you, much of my family sojourned there, but it's not my city.

That does not make it unimportant to me. This is because with its nearly 375 years of Jewish history and a Jewish population second to none outside Israel, what happens in New York matters very much to Jews. And when what happens includes an outrageous failure to protect Jewish civil rights and institutions, it concerns every Jewish person in America.

Like many Americans, I have my own opinions about New York politics. As a private citizen and resident of another state, I generally reserve those opinions for dinner table conversation. But as an American rabbi, I cannot and will not keep my opinions about what happened there on November 19 to myself.

For those of you who have not been paying attention, I'm referring to the distressing anti-Israel protest that took place outside the Park East Synagogue, a modern Orthodox congregation.

What triggered the protest was an informational meeting about aliyah (literally "ascending," the word has for thousands of years also denoted immigration to Israel). The event was sponsored by an organization called Nefesh b’Nefesh. Attendees were greeted by protestors chanting, "Death, death to the IDF," "Globalize the Intifada," and "Resistance, you make us proud — take another settler out," among other things. (Note that in this context "settler" denotes every Jewish Israeli citizen.)

Their purpose was clear. As one protest leader loudly announced—repeatedly—"We need to make them scared." Their protest was noisy, disruptive, and intimidating. Just as they intended it to be.

To say the least, it required a proper defense of Jewish civil rights and institutions. Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams managed to do this, stating in various forums: "What happened ... last night was totally unacceptable no matter your faith or background. This type of protest and vile language should concern us all" and "when you desecrate one house of worship, you desecrate them all."

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch likewise responded with an apology to the Jewish community for the department's failure to arrange the Park East protest in a way that ensured safe access.

Contrast this with the statement issued by Mayor-elect Mamdani’s office:

"The mayor-elect has discouraged the language used at last night’s protest and will continue to do so. He believes every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation, and that these sacred spaces should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law [emphasis mine]."

He and his communications team could easily have limited themselves to simply stating that "every New Yorker should be free to enter a house of worship without intimidation." He chose instead to cross a line when he validated the protestors’ narrative, suggesting the synagogue bore some responsibility for being targeted; that its "sacred spaces" were being used to encourage criminal activity. Violations of international law, no less.

That he did so with no evidence—and in agreement with baseless claims from protestors who openly glorify violence—the mayor-elect insinuated that the synagogue was itself engaged in illegal conduct.

I happen to know quite a bit about the Nefesh b'Nefesh program held at Park East that night. In my previous position, I helped to arrange similar events. Some years ago when Arthur and I were mulling over making aliyah, we attended Nefesh b’Nefesh presentations. The organization does not promote "violations of international law," unless one believes it is a crime to move to Israel (which the protestors very much believe). What the organization does is help North American Jews navigate the logistical realities of making aliyah—the centuries-old Jewish practice of moving to the Land of Israel.

Moving to Israel is not a modern political invention. For more than a thousand years, Jews have relocated there as a spiritual aspiration, a religious commitment, or simply as a return to our Jewish roots. Anyone who has been to Israel has seen the medieval-era synagogues and other Jewish landmarks that testify to centuries of Jewish return.

To suggest that this type of program constitutes encouraging violations of international law is to cast suspicion on everyday Jewish life. Treating Jewish communal activities as inherently suspect is a classic pattern of marginalization. We already knew that Mamdani is antizionist. What he's also asked us to believe is that he's very much not antisemitic. What occurred outside a synagogue—whose senior rabbi is a Holocaust survivor—was the very definition of antisemitism. If Mamdani cannot understand that, he cannot protect Jewish civil and religious rights.

Our Constitution certainly protects the right to protest in front of synagogues. For nearly two decades, protestors have weekly harassed members of Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor. The courts have upheld their right to do so under the First Amendment and, because I strongly support free speech—even deeply offensive speech—I believe they made the right decision.

But Mamdani didn't say that either. Instead, he chose to lecture a synagogue about what it should and should not be doing in its "sacred spaces."

As a public official—his inauguration is but weeks away—he has no business whatsoever explaining to Jews what we may or may not say in our institutions. A synagogue—yes, even (perhaps especially!) ours—is called in Hebrew a beit knesset, literally a house of gathering. Its sanctity has always derived from being a place for Jews to come together. It is—as it should be for all peoples—for us alone to determine what is said therein. That authority does not extend to elected leaders.

Their job is to uphold the Constitution and its principles for everyone.

Just as our leaders must recognize the rights of the people to protest, they must also robustly reassure the targets of such protests that their rights are equally sacrosanct. The mayor-elect, by contrast, chose instead to abandon that responsibility and lecture a synagogue about what may be said within its walls.

Sadly, I’ve seen nothing to suggest that the new mayor of New York intends to uphold that fundamental responsibility. This is a shame for New Yorkers. They, like all Americans, need leaders who protect their rights and institutions without hesitation.

A group of Jews hosting an aliyah program is not a crime. To blame them for being assailed by protestors is unconscionable. Elected officials should not “victim-blame” Jews or our institutions when—as is increasingly the case—they are attacked. And while it is legal for protestors to scream their vile beliefs, it is utterly unacceptable for elected leaders to turn the tables on the very citizens they were elected to protect.