So, a meeting consisting of Mayor Mamdani and some chasidic leaders is to take place soon. Yes, this is the mayor who declined to criticize the concept of “Globalize the Intifada,” who took little action against protesters outside a Manhattan synagogue, who hosted at Gracie Mansion Mahmoud Khalil, the infamous anti-Israel and pro-Hamas agitator, who had nothing to say about a Quds rally this week in Manhattan in which they chanted, “Say it loud and say it clear: we support Hamas over here,” and the same thing was said of Hezbollah – both acknowledged terrorist organizations. Yes, this is the same mayor whose wife liked social media posts in which the October 7 atrocities were described.
Where is the self-respect of these Jews? Rabbi David Niederman, of United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, and Rabbi Moshe Indig, a leader in Satmar: Why are you doing this? To curry favor with an anti-Semitic mayor? As they say in Yiddish, “Es vet dir gornisht helfen” – It won’t help you a bit.
The Gemara in Sotah (41a) tells us the story of Agripas HaMelech, an illegitimate king of Israel who was a beloved leader of the Jews. He read a portion of the Torah in which it says that a non-Jewish king may not rule Israel, and tears started flowing from his eyes. The Jewish people present cried out, “You are our brother!” For this fawning over Agripas, the Jews suffered many calamities. Fawning over an antagonistic mayor will do us no good.
And then you have Neturei Karta, which reaches lower levels every day. There was some kind of anti-Israel protest in which “Death, death to the IDF” was chanted. And there was the ever-present Neturei Karta right behind them, as though to say, “We are also for the death of Jews in the IDF.”
One of the leaders of Satmar in Kiryas Yoel addressed an audience and said that we may not even begin to feel good about the success of the Israeli army in its current war with Iran. To do so is heresy. Is that what the Jewish people really need to hear right now? And not some form of chizuk, encouragement?
It’s a shame that we have met the enemy… and he is us!
Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, former President of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the Rabbinic Consultant for the Queens Jewish Link.