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By Grace Gilson
More than 100 people shmoozed among trays of blintzes and cheesecake at Gracie Mansion on Monday night as Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosted a festive Shavuot celebration for Jewish supporters.
The event, billed as a “Pre-Shavuot Celebration in Honor of Jewish American Heritage Month” by Mamdani’s office, featured a large number of left-wing Jewish activists associated with the cohosts, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, New York Jewish Agenda, Bend the Arc, the Williamsburg JCC and Jewish Voice for Peace. They also included representatives from Orthodox groups that supported Mamdani and Jews who work for the city.
The crowd was also notable for those who did not attend, after a number of prominent Jewish groups said they would skip the event over the mayor’s rhetoric on Israel. Some Jewish leaders also decried the event following Mamdani’s publication on Friday of a video to mark Nakba Day, the commemoration of Palestinian displacement surrounding the creation of the state of Israel.
Amid the numerous boycott calls from Jewish leaders, Mamdani’s event Monday served as the latest example of his efforts to cultivate alliances with progressive Jewish groups and clergy despite ongoing tensions with much of the city’s Jewish establishment.
The tensions over Monday’s event echoed a similar dynamic that played out during Mamdani’s first mayoral interfaith breakfast in February, when several major Jewish organizations, including the UJA-Federation of New York, did not sponsor the event after years of participation, while progressive Jewish groups stepped into more prominent roles in the administration’s orbit.
The invocation for the “Pre-Shavuot” event was given by Rabbi Irwin Kula, the president emeritus of the Jewish organization CLAL, whose blessing for Mamdani included “the wisdom” to recognize the “inextricability of Jewish identity and Palestinian dignity,” a mention that drew affirmative murmurs from the crowd.
“The Mamdani administration understands that safety and thriving for Jews is inextricably linked with the safety and thriving of our neighbors,” Phylisa Wisdom, Mamdani’s antisemitism czar, told the crowd to a chorus of cheers. “We will fight antisemitism with vigor, and we will do so in ways that are also in relentless solidarity with other groups.”
During his remarks, Mamdani condemned rising antisemitism in the city and praised Jewish contributions to New York and civil rights throughout history.
“Jewish New Yorkers have worked to cultivate a city that is safe and open to all,” Mamdani said. “You should be accorded the same security and the same peace of mind.”
The mayor then honored Ruth Messinger, the former Manhattan borough president and City Council member who endorsed him during his campaign, telling the crowd that her example “reminds us of the impact we can have by honoring our responsibility towards one another.”
During her remarks, Messinger, who threw her support behind Mamdani for his immigration policies on the campaign trail, connected the Shavuot story to welcoming immigrants in New York City.
“On this holiday, might we, of course, eat well, but also make our own loyal commitment, not so much to follow them where they go, but to accompany them, to accompany them as they settle in, as they look for education and job training and employment opportunities,” Messinger said.
Yaacov Behrman, an activist affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement who criticized Mamdani’s Nakba Day video over the weekend, said he had chosen to come to Monday’s event because he felt it was “important to both be critical of the policies and be outspoken, but at the same time stay engaged.”
Behrman added, “I can’t control the events. I didn’t vote for the mayor, but he is the mayor.”
Jewish comedian Eitan Levine noted that he had not voted for Mamdani but came because he believed Jewish New Yorkers shouldn’t isolate themselves from the administration.
“Deleting ourselves from the conversation is completely the wrong way to go about this,” Levine said.
When asked by JTA about Jewish backlash to Mamdani’s Nakba Day video, Brad Lander, the former city comptroller who is running to represent Manhattan’s 10th District in Congress, said that there was “value in listening to multiple perspectives.”
“We’re not all going to agree with each other on everything, but I don’t know how we’ll get closer to mutual understanding without listening better to each other,” Lander, who is a staunch Mamdani ally, said.
“There are many ways to celebrate Shavuot,” he continued. “Tonight for me, and for, I don’t know, a few hundred people here, very diverse Jews from across New York City, this was a great way to celebrate Shavuot.”