The Rabbinic Freak-Out About Zohran Mamdani

Last week, a group calling itself The Jewish Majority published a “Rabbinic Call to Action” aimed at New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in the last weeks of the campaign. “We cannot remain silent in the face of rising anti-Zionism and its political normalization throughout our nation,” the letter reads. Signed by over 1,100 rabbis, the letter quotes New York rabbis Ammiel Hirsch and Elliot Cosgrove, who had each issued their own anti-Zohran sermons and videos, insisting that Mamdani poses a danger to the safety of the city’s Jews and that Zionism is an inextricable part of Jewish identity.

On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, editor-at-large Peter Beinart, senior reporter Alex Kane, and advisory board member Simone Zimmerman discuss this rabbinic campaign, what it means for the sizable Jewish minority who supports Mamdani, and what it says about the priorities of institutional Judaism at a moment of profound political instability.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Articles and Media Mentioned and Further Reading

Rabbi Cosgrove’s sermon on Mamdani

Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch on Mamdani

“Why Mamdani Frightens Jews Like Me,” Bret Stephens, The New York Times

The Jewish Majority, “A Rabbinic Call to Action”

“Brad Lander’s Campaign of Solidarity,” On the Nose

“Tax the Rich” post on X by Maria Danzilo

Halachic Left High Holidays reader

“Zohran Mamdani is not antisemitic, Satmar’s Brooklyn leadership says,” Jerusalem Post

“Jewish New York’s reckoning with Zohran Mamdani,” Noa Yachot, The Guardian

“Many American Jews sharply critical on Gaza, Post poll finds,” Naftali Bendavid, Scott Clement, and Emily Guskin, The Washington Post

“‘The Issue is Not the Issue’ – The Free Speech Movement 1964 - The Anti-Mamdani Craze,” Shaul Magid on Substack

Mamdani’s video “My Message to Muslim New Yorkers—and Everyone Who Calls This City Home”

“The racism and Islamophobia behind many of the attacks on Zohran Mamdani,” Richard Luscombe, The Guardian

“Religion, Secularism, and the Jewish Left,” On the Nose

“The Anti-Soros Strategy at the Heart of Trump’s War on Progressive Nonprofits,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents

“Trump’s war on the left: Inside the plan to investigate liberal groups,” Nandita Bose, Jana Winter, Jeff Mason, Tim Reid, and Ted Hesson, Reuters

Beyond Israelism with Simone Zimmerman on Zeteo

Transcript forthcoming.