This past Sunday, September 6, Rabbi Nahum Kaziev, Rav of Ohr Natan in Rego Park, stood outside Jerusalem Bagels on 108th Street in Forest Hills and announced that he was ending an approximately 30-year affiliation with the Democratic Party. Beside him was Rafael Nektalov, founder and editor-in-chief of The Bukharian Times, who announced that he, too, was leaving the party.

“The Democratic Party I once knew is no longer the party I see today,” Rabbi Kaziev said.

Kaziev says he personally helped register more than 1,000 voters as Democrats and, as recently as 2019, joined other Queens rabbanim in encouraging Orthodox Jews to register with the party so they could participate in its primaries.

Rabbi Kaziev’s communal work in Queens dates to the large influx of Jews from the former Soviet Union, many of whom arrived after decades in which Jewish education and open religious practice had been severely restricted. By the early 1990s, he was helping build what became the Educational Center for Russian Jewry and Ohr Natan. Druzhba, its Russian-language publication, brought Torah, Jewish history, and community information into Russian-speaking homes.

From its longtime home in the former Trylon Theater on Queens Boulevard, Ohr Natan grew beyond a shul, offering Jewish education, youth programming, English instruction, immigrant assistance, and food distribution. Kaziev also became active in Queens civic affairs. In 2003, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall named him to the Queens General Assembly as a representative of Community District 6, which includes Forest Hills and Rego Park.

In 2011, while still a registered Democrat, Kaziev sharply criticized Democratic congressional candidate David Weprin during the special election for New York’s 9th Congressional District. At an Ohr Natan gathering attended by Weprin and Republican Bob Turner, Kaziev spoke favorably of Turner’s position on Israel and urged those present to vote. He later told Roll Call that, as the leader of a nonprofit, he was not formally endorsing a candidate.

In 2019, following the closely contested Democratic primary for Queens District Attorney, Kaziev joined Rabbi Chaim Schwartz of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens and Rabbi Hayim Schwartz of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in urging Orthodox Jews to register as Democrats. Their reasoning was practical: In heavily Democratic Queens, registering with the party allowed voters to participate in Democratic primaries that often played a major role in determining who would ultimately hold office.

On Sunday, Kaziev said his decision to leave was not prompted by one candidate or legislative vote, but by dissatisfaction that had developed over time. He criticized what he described as the party’s increasingly far-left progressive and “woke” direction and expressed concerns over Israel, the Jewish community, and antisemitism.

“I can no longer remain part of a political body that has moved so far from the values that originally attracted me,” Kaziev said. Addressing party leaders, he added, “You are losing mainstream Democrats.”

Kaziev acknowledged that he and Nektalov do not agree on every political issue but said they had reached the same conclusion about leaving the party.

Kaziev said his upbringing in the former Soviet Union also shaped his views. “I say this as someone who was born in the former Soviet Union,” he said. “Communism doesn’t work. Socialism doesn’t work. Antisemitism doesn’t work.”

The announcement comes as voting patterns have been changing in parts of Queens. An analysis of the 2024 presidential results found double-digit Republican gains compared with 2020 in Jewish communities in Rego Park, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens Hills, and Hillcrest, as well as gains in other Queens neighborhoods, including Briarwood.

Other prominent Jewish New Yorkers have left the Democratic Party in recent years, including former Assemblyman Dov Hikind, former City Council Member Ari Kagan, and attorney Alan Dershowitz.

“This decision wasn’t made lightly,” Kaziev said. “After 30 years, walking away from something you’ve been part of is not easy.”

“There comes a time when one must stand by one’s principles,” Kaziev said. “For me, the time is today.”

By Shabsie Saphirstein