(New York Jewish Week) — New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani met privately with about a dozen rabbis Thursday afternoon, including one of his most vocal rabbinic critics, who spoke positively about the meeting.
The specific content of the discussion, held between Mamdani and his team, and the leadership of the New York Board of Rabbis, was kept private. But multiple rabbis in attendance said they were “heartened” by the meeting, during which they shared the concerns of Jewish New Yorkers.
“Everybody was able to express their concerns very candidly,” Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, the group’s executive vice president, said in an interview, adding that recommendations were made for Mamdani’s administration. “We also agreed there would be follow-up meetings and we would strengthen lines of communication.”
Ammiel Hirsch, senior rabbi of Stephen Wise Free Synagogue and one of Mamdani’s loudest critics from the pulpit, was relatively complimentary of the mayor-elect in an interview. He said the meeting was “productive” and that Mamdani is “a good listener.”
Jason Herman, senior rabbi of the Hudson Yards Synagogue, wrote on Facebook that Mamdani stayed past his allotted time to extend the meeting, making himself late for another engagement — “not a small thing 3 weeks before inauguration,” he wrote.
Another vocal Mamdani critic, Park Avenue Synagogue’s senior rabbi, Elliott Cosgrove, confirmed that he was in attendance.
Though he declined to share specifics about what was asked of Mamdani, Potasnik, who is one of five rabbis on Mamdani’s transition committees, said, “You know the concerns. All the concerns were put on the table.”
Many Jewish New Yorkers have expressed concerns about Mamdani, an anti-Zionist who supports the BDS movement, and where his leadership would leave Jews who support Israel. Those concerns came to the fore last month after a pro-Palestinian protest outside Park East Synagogue, when Mamdani issued a response that many Jewish leaders found disappointing. (The protest sparked a pro-Israel rally outside Park East two weeks later that included Potasnik on the lineup of speakers.)
According to Rabbi Marc Schneier, a vocal critic of the mayor-elect, Mamdani has since been receptive to the idea of legislation that would outlaw demonstrations happening immediately outside houses of worship. Thursday’s meeting marked another time when Mamdani has listened to recommendations from Jewish leaders addressing their constituents’ concerns.
Mamdani responds to anxieties of New York's Jewry
When asked if Mamdani said anything Thursday that he hadn’t said previously, Potasnik replied, “I think recommendations are going to be taken into serious consideration.”
Mamdani’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the meeting.
Hirsch said he felt Mamdani and his team are “well aware of our concerns and our anxieties,” but that the onus would be on the incoming mayor to “be sensitive to what concerns us” once he takes office on Jan. 1. He added that the New York Jewish community is “very anxious” seeing anti-Zionist rhetoric flourish alongside a rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes.
Overall, however, Hirsch spoke positively about Thursday’s meeting with Mamdani. Hirsch’s tone starkly contrasted his past recollection of a meeting with Mamdani during the election, which he shared in a sermon following Mamdani’s victory.
“As the meeting unfolded, our mood steadily darkened and our fears increased,” Hirsch said during the sermon about the previous meeting, pointing to Mamdani’s long-held pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist beliefs.
On Thursday, Hirsch said he thinks Mamdani has shifted from campaign mode to governance mode.
“My impression was that the mayor-elect is focused now on governing, and I think that influences his demeanor, but also his decision-making,” Hirsch said.
Mamdani has been embraced by the anti-Zionist and non-Zionist Jewish groups Jewish Voice for Peace and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. He was also given a warm welcome at a celebration by Williamsburg’s Satmar Jews earlier this week, a Hasidic sect that is anti-Zionist for religious reasons.
On Thursday night, Mamdani posted a video from his visit to Williamsburg, where he can be seen shaking hands with leaders from both Satmar factions and getting a shoutout from the stage.
“Last night marked Kuf Alef Kislev, the 81st anniversary of the Satmar Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum’s escape from Nazi-occupied Europe. His rescue and later founding of the Williamsburg Hasidic community helped shape the future of our city,” Mamdani tweeted. “These celebrations recognize that history and the remarkable rebirth that followed. I was so grateful to join and greet the rebbes.”
Jewish leaders across the ideological spectrum have expressed a desire to build a relationship with the next mayor, and Mamdani has also said he does not intend to make anti-Zionism a litmus test for his administration.
Already, he has retained NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, a supporter of Israel who has criticized pro-Palestinian protests, and whose prominent wealthy family supported Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the election. (Tisch recently apologized to Mamdani after her brother called him an “enemy” of the Jewish people.)
Mamdani was mentioned prominently in a letter signed by 1,100-plus rabbis that called out the “political normalization of anti-Zionism.” On Thursday, he met with rabbis like Hirsch, who was quoted in that letter, and Cosgrove, who delivered a sermon against Mamdani that inspired the letter’s very existence.
In a social media post on Friday morning, Hirsch emphasized that he did not leave the meeting feeling like placated and said he had told Mamdani that Jews in the city would “energetically oppose any and all anti-Israel rhetoric and action” once the mayor-elect takes office.
“While we were pleased to be able to discuss our concerns with the mayor-elect, those concerns remain,” he wrote, adding, “I continue to worry deeply about the upcoming four years and conveyed to the mayor-elect that anti-Zionist rhetoric and anti-Israel policies will threaten Jewish safety in NYC and will, inevitably, lead to an unproductive and tense relationship with the Jewish community.”
Herman, who signed the anti-Mamdani letter, also wrote that he was reserving judgment. “This was only a first step but an important one,” he wrote. “We will wait and see how things continue to unfold.”