As New York City’s mayoral race reaches its home stretch, Jewish leaders across the region have finally begun to take a clear stand against Democratic front-runner Zohran Mamdani and his paper-trail of antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Over 1,000 local rabbis have signed an open letter underscoring his threat to New York’s Jewish community — as have major community organizations such as the American Jewish Committee.
But many Jewish leaders have remained silent when it comes to Mamdani — and his potential to further imperil New York’s already imperiled Jews. Among the most prominent is Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of New York’s Central Synagogue — the city’s leading Reform congregation. Now on a book tour, Rabbi Buchdahl has insisted her synagogue will refrain from either supporting or decrying a mayoral candidate as part of its policy “of not endorsing or publicly opposing political candidates.”
Yet while Buchdahl backs out of taking a political stand on the most consequential political campaign of recent New York City history, her pulpit has a long history of advocating for endless other political causes — from transgender rights to Palestinian suffering. Only Mamdani and the mayor’s race, it seems, is Buchdahl backing off from — part of a larger history of progressive American Jewish leaders advocating for every community’s well-being but their own.
This can and must stop — and stop now. But how? The answer can be found within Judaism itself.
Indeed, ever since the Hamas attack on Israel two Octobers ago, I've been asked a question so many other Jews must have asked themselves: How do we move on from here? How do we reconnect with the endless progressive groups that Jews and Jewish institutions like Rabbi Buchdahl and Central Synagogue supported for so many years? Groups that have so disappointed us following the Hamas massacre. The feminists who chanted for Gaza. The #queers who shilled for Palestine. The #blacklivesmatter members who applauded Hamas’ atrocities.
My answer — unlike so many mainstream Jewish leaders such as Rabbi Buchdahl — is we don’t. Why should we? These groups have done astoundingly well by Jewish allies and donors, yet failed Jews spectacularly in our greatest hours of need.
On one hand, with the Gaza ceasefire precariously standing, this hour of need is coming to a close. But with the rise of Zohran Mamdani — and promises by violent pro-Palestinian activists to now “end Zionism” — new threats are emerging. And the time to focus inward has never been greater. Which means that Jews wondering how to rebuild bridges and reestablish alliances must accept that they do not actually need to. Because there are wholly viable alternatives to the “woke” movements that have forsaken us at our disposal — Jews and Judaism itself.
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Pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York
(Photo: Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images / AFP)
In the decades leading up to October 7, a coercive sense of white guilt propelled many Jews and Jewish institutions into funding the identity movements that turned so violently against us. But this patronage must stop. Instead, we must refocus our money and attention inward. And it is to this heightened sense of Judaism we must lean into when considering the bridge building or reparative work that is ahead of us.
On a purely philanthropic level, efforts to “go Jewish” are already taking root. In December 2023 — as anti-Israel protests exploded at college campuses worldwide — Canadian real estate billionaire Sylvan Adams gave $100 million to Ben Gurion University in Be'er Sheva. It was one of the largest gifts of its kind and set a precedent that other donors followed: This past May, Jonathan Gray, president of investment firm Blackstone, donated $125 million to Tel Aviv University.
But this is merely the beginning. At a time of rising assimilation and antisemitism, we need all the Jews we can muster right now. And they are there to be found. Because built into Judaism itself are the queers and blacks and Latinos and Asians and feminists and social Justice fanatics that we’ve so blindly supported outside of our community all these years. And guess what — they’re all Jews too. We don’t need to look beyond Judaism for diversity or intersectionality— we have plenty of it already.
Post October 7, we no longer need to virtue signal our support for folks who don’t share our core values — and are often literally calling for our extermination. We can and must support our own. You want identity and intersectionality – guess what: There is plenty of it right here with us Jews.
After all, Jews have been #intersectional for more than 5,000 years. Recent estimates, for instance, put the number of Jews-of-color, like myself, at roughly 15% of the entire U.S. Jewish population; that’s over a million people (including Rabbi Buchdahl – whose mother is Asian-American).
Today, we must begin to expand the definition of what it means to be part of us. Us Jews. It means claiming the diversity that is everywhere within Judaism today. Why waste our time and cash on #blacklivesmatter when there are plenty of African-American Jews who share our passions and values. Same for Hispanic Jews and Asian Jews — queer Jews and radical feminist Jews.
American Jews still committed to uplifting and elevating marginalized voices — go uplift and elevate marginalized Jewish voices. The folks who have been standing in the background, quieter than most, darker than most, poorer than most. But are very much still Jews. Uplift their voices — rather than bogus identity causes that have so effortlessly sent us to the wolves. Causes we, ultimately, often had so little in common with in the first place.
We can and should retain our commitment to inclusive principles — which are noble, just, Jewish — but apply them to Jews and Jewish environments. Seek connection with Jews who may not look or speak like you. Ensure Jewish institutions no longer merely reflect outdated, Eurocentric views. Make concrete efforts at getting more “seats at the table” – but make them Jewish seats, a Jewish table.
In my case — as the son of an Ashkenazi mother and African-American father — stepping into a larger Jewish world that has often refused to acknowledge me has been scary. But also liberating. Revolutionary. Indeed, never before in modern history have Jews been able to defend ourselves, to protect our people, our community — and our country, Israel. Which is why Jews defending Jews is a truly revolutionary act.
And so as New York’s mayoral race comes to a close — and febrile leaders like Rabbi Buchdahl opt for silence and complicity — this is the time for Jews to become revolutionaries. Our lives and our futures depend upon it.
- David Christopher Kaufman is a former New York Post editor and columnist and an Adjunct Fellow at The Tel Aviv Institute.
First published: 14:32, 10.31.25