Last week I signed a letter with over a thousand of my colleagues from around the U.S. The letter was prompted by the current mayoral race in New York City, but was really about the current climate we find ourselves in, and the continual politicization of Israel and Zionism. Click here to read the letter. Since October 7th, we’ve seen an already growing trend grow even greater at an alarming rate. Jews have been marginalized and made to feel “other” in a way that’s reminiscent of some of the darkest chapters in Jewish and non-Jewish history. Antisemitism is on the rise and we cannot sit by and watch as this happens.
As Jews, we cannot be asked to leave our Zionism at the door when having conversations and interactions with different groups we want to be part of. We also can’t allow Jews, and Israel, to be used and abused by politicians or political groups to score points and win. In the case of the New York City race, Zohran Mamdani is running to be the mayor of the largest Jewish population in a city outside of Israel. Jews make up a large percentage of the city and his candidacy presents a clear risk. He’s been unwilling to condemn language that calls for the mass murder and terrorizing of Jews around the world, “globalize the intifada”. He has a well-established record of accusing the only Jewish state in the world of crimes like apartheid and genocide. Most importantly, he refuses to acknowledge Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state. This last point is one we must not lose sight of. The Jewish People, like all people, have the right to self-determination in our ancestral homeland. Nobody tells other groups around the world they aren’t entitled to this and it should never become normal for anyone to say this about our people.
I’m a rabbi, and I do believe it’s wrong for me to tell my congregants how to vote and who to vote for in almost all circumstances. Luckily, we don’t live in NYC and as such, this is simply a warning to us all and not an instruction. This week we’re learning in the תורה/Torah about God telling אברם/Avram that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky and that they will be a blessing. God tells אברם that people who bless us will be blessed and people who curse us will be cursed. It’s 2025 and people are still cursing us. It’s sad that so much progress has been made and yet the oldest hatred in the world is still alive and well. It’s sad that we continue to deal with antisemitism on college campuses, in the halls of congress, on the streets of cities, around the world and in elections. We cannot accept people endangering our people. We cannot accept people normalizing the language of murder. We cannot accept people who seek to marginalize us. We cannot be silent when our future is at risk, and our wellbeing is endangered. That’s the reason that I chose to sign this letter in my name. I signed it because as the תלמוד/Talmud teaches: silence is consent.