New York’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani convened the first annual interfaith breakfast of his administration on Friday.
Several organizations that have sponsored the event in the past – the Anti-Defamation League, the UJA-Federation of New York, and the New York Board of Rabbis – did not sponsor it this year, underlining the tension between the mayor of the city with the world’s largest Jewish population outside Israel and many of the Jews in that city.
The press release announcing the event said its purpose is to “bring together faith leaders from across the five boroughs to honor the city’s religious, spiritual, and cultural diversity.”
Considering Mamdani’s past anti-Israel and anti-Zionist record, it seems a bit ingenuous. Why? Because Israel is central to Judaism, and the mayor’s animosity toward Israel is a slap in the face to the New York Jews for whom Israel is central to their identity and religious belief.
You can’t celebrate New York’s religious diversity while undermining one of the key elements of Judaism. It is therefore understandable why these prominent Jewish organizations did not want to take part in this event.
According to the polls, one-third of New York’s Jews voted for Mamdani. For many of them, though by no means all, Israel is not a central part of their identity or belief.
If it were, the chances would be slim that they would have voted for a man who has backed BDS, repeated the libel of genocide in Gaza that is fueling antisemitism on both the Left and the Right, and threatened, against any standing American norm or legislation, to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he come to New York.
That posture matters because in today’s New York, hostility toward Israel does not remain confined to policy debates or activist slogans. It bleeds outward – into attitudes toward Jews themselves.
As antisemitic incidents rise across the city, many Jews experience the line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism not as some kind of theoretical distinction but as a very real part of their lives.
The anxiety this produces is not evenly distributed. Visibly Jewish New Yorkers – those who wear kippot or ultra-Orthodox garb – are the ones most often harassed, threatened, or attacked on the city’s streets.
For them, the mayor’s record is no abstraction, as antisemitic acts in New York skyrocketed after the anti-Zionist paroxysm that followed October 7. Language and policies that delegitimize Israel risk normalizing a climate in which Jews are seen as fair targets – especially Jews who support Israel.
Jewish orgs' decision to not sponsor mayor's breakfast rooted in real anxieties felt by many NY Jews
Seen in this light, the decision by major Jewish organizations not to sponsor the mayor’s interfaith breakfast was not petulant, ideological, or performative. It was cautious. It was sober. And it was rooted in a sense that the city’s leadership has not yet fully grappled with the anxieties facing many of New York’s Jews.
Interfaith events are meant to signal reassurance – that minorities are seen, protected, and understood. In its early days, this administration has done little to convince many New York Jews that this is true in their case.
For many Jewish leaders, lending their names to the breakfast would have implied a level of confidence that simply does not exist right now – confidence that City Hall understands where antisemitism is coming from, who is being targeted, and what needs to be done to stop it.
Declining to sponsor the event was not a rejection of interfaith dialogue. It was an acknowledgment that dialogue alone is not enough – it is action that matters, and the mayor’s actions so far have not assuaged mainstream Jewish concerns.
If the mayor is serious about easing Jewish anxiety, the path forward is clear. It begins with recognizing that antisemitism in New York – some of it flowing from anti-Zionism once espoused by Mamdani and a number of his key staffers – is not abstract. Real people are experiencing it.
The absence of these organizations from the breakfast table is not a misunderstanding – it is a measure of how far trust between City Hall and New York’s Jewish community has eroded. It is up to Mamdani to win it back. If he does, it’s safe to assume these legacy Jewish groups would be happy to sponsor the annual interfaith breakfast next year.