A group of Jewish high school students participated in a rally at Carl Schurz Park, which is outside Gracie Mansion, on Friday.
They recited their morning prayers, sang Jewish songs, danced and a number of Rabbis and students spoke.
While they were adamant that this was not a protest, the location was intentional, and the speakers had a message they were aiming to send to Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
“We love the city, we love the state of Israel, we don’t think that is a contradiction and we are here,” Rabbi Binhyamin Krauss, the principal of SAR Academy in Riverdale, told the crowd.
“I’m here to ask our mayor to make the safety of Jewish New Yorkers a priority and to respectfully listen to the concerns of people who disagree with him,” Annie Croog, a student at Sar Academy, said.
“Zionism is not a detachable political opinion. It is woven into our Jewish identity,” Rabbi David Ingber of Romemu, who is a Ramaz alumnus, said.
“When Zionism is declared morally toxic, the accusation travels from Israel to Zionism, from Zionism to Zionists, from Zionists to Jewish institutions, from Jewish institutions to Jewish people, and Mayor Mamdani needs to know this. Please understand,” he added.
Though some in the Jewish community say they have distanced themselves from Zionism in recent years, people at the event say the concept is inextricably linked with Judaism and that Zionism is the right for a Jewish state to exist.
Friday’s event did not talk about the politics of Israel but rather the need for a Jewish state.
“There is a very broad range of people here, very broad range of views on what the government does or doesn’t do, or which party you like. It’s not what it’s about,” Krauss said.
Not everyone in the modern Orthodox community agrees with the location of the event that happened on Friday.
More than 250 parents, alumni and current students from Ramaz and SAR signed a petition calling to relocate the event to a politically neutral location.
“This gathering needlessly inflames tensions between the mayor and the Modern Orthodox Jewish community, as opposed to inviting him into conversation as a potential ally working for the shared safety of all New Yorkers. Additionally, members of our community do not all share the same opinions regarding Mayor Mamdani. Choosing to gather outside of his residence, whatever the stated purpose, inaccurately portrays the Modern Orthodox community as a political monolith opposed to the mayor,” the petition read.
Mamdani was asked about the planned event earlier in the week.
“I welcome them. They can have a vigil, or I’ve heard some describe it even as a protest. Whatever it is intended to be, they have the room and space to do so outside of Gracie Mansion. I think that at the time that they are there, I will probably be somewhere else across the city,” the mayor said.
This rally comes on the heels of Yom Kippur, which is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.