It’s been a whirlwind of a year for New York City, with major changes hurtling toward the Big Apple and altering Life As We Know It — from congestion pricing to a new mayor whose activism around Israel has alarmed many Jews and thrilled others.

For the city’s Jews, the changes have ranged from the lofty to the ludicrous. From a tacky menorah sketch that never aired on “Saturday Night Live” to multiple kosher institutions that failed to thrive in New York’s competitive restaurant industry, here are 12 things that New York City lost — and in other ways, won — in 2025.

The first-ever Solomon Schechter day school

Last December, the first-ever Solomon Schechter day school — part of the network of once-thriving Conservative Jewish day schools — voted to rename itself the Queens Hebrew Academy. That meant that for the first time in nearly 70 years, New York City did not have a Solomon Schechter school, following the closure of Schechter Manhattan in 2023 in response to a decline in enrollment.

Exterior view of the former Schechter Queens, now the Queens Hebrew Academy. (Wikimedia Commons)

The school’s renaming is a reflection of its neighborhood’s changing demographics. Many of its students come from Kew Gardens Hills, Forest Hills, Rego Park, and Little Neck. Today, those neighborhoods are Bukharian strongholds — Jews from the Bukhara region of Uzbekistan whose tradition incorporates some Persian Jewish influences. Their religious needs are distinct from, but often overlap with, more Orthodox practice. 

The ‘Anora’ menorah ‘SNL’ sketch that never made it to air

Jewish “Saturday Night Live” cast member Sarah Sherman told Seth Meyers that a sketch involving a menorah shaped like a bikini-clad Russian-American sex worker, inspired by the Academy Award-winning film “Anora,” never made it to air.

Actress Mikey Madison enjoys the reveal of the “‘Anora’ Menorah’” on “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” (Screenshot via YouTube)

Though the “‘Anorah’ Menorah” sketch never saw the light of day, allegedly after not getting enough laughs in dress rehearsal, Anora herself — the Oscar-winning Jewish actress Mikey Madison — did get to see the “Anora” menorah for herself on “Late Night.” 

The menorah made yet another televised appearance in a promotional video for “SNL” the following month, when Madison hosted after taking home the Oscar.

A free ride to day school across 60th Street

Congestion pricing, a new toll for drivers crossing below 60th St. in Manhattan, was implemented on Jan. 5, making New York City the first city in the United States to implement such a toll. As a result, many parents of Jewish day schools located just south of the Congestion Relief Zone reconfigured how they take their kids to school. 

The Heschel School, a pluralistic day school located between 60th and 61st Streets on West End Avenue, and the Shefa School for Jewish students with disabilities at 60th and Broadway, are both on the edge of the Congestion Relief Zone.

The Heschel School on the Upper West Side sits between 60th and 61st Street, just a block away from New York’s new Congestion Pricing Zone. (Design by Grace Yagel)

Heschel parents told the New York Jewish Week last January that they would consider taking the subway to school, trying a new route, or parking north of their usual spot to avoid a maximum toll of $9 during peak hours.

A new report by Cornell University this week has found that the air in the congestion pricing zone and New York City in general has gotten clearer since the pricing scheme was put in place.

Hebrew Union College’s downtown campus

In January, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, the Reform movement’s rabbinical seminary, announced it was selling its building to New York University for $75 million, and would be moving to a landmarked building on W. 66th St. in 2027. HUC opened downtown in 1950 in a merger with the Jewish Institute of Religion, another Reform educational institution. 

Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion’s New York City campus has been located on West 4th Street in Greenwich Village since 1979. (Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Patis (again)

Rest in pastry to the tomato tart at Patis at the Arthouse Hotel (222 W. 77th).  You will always be famous to me. 

Patis, Arthouse Hotel, one of more than a dozen locations in the kosher bakery’s chain, closed in March, and was shortly replaced by another kosher café, Le Lis. Patis filed for bankruptcy in June 2024, and their location on 37th St. closed in January. However, the French patisserie and lunch chain still has multiple locations throughout New York City and New Jersey.

Le Lis at the Arthouse Hotel offers a similar menu to Patis, and because it’s in the same hotel lobby, the design has not changed at all. You can still order a bagel, anything from the full espresso bar, and all kinds of croissants, viennoiseries and sandwiches.

Silver Moon Bakery as we knew it

The 24-year-old Morningside Heights bakery known for its challah and pastries faced eviction in January after failing to pay rent. 

Silver Moon Bakery, known for its challahs, faced eviction at its Morningside Heights location. (Jackie Hajdenberg)

But in July, at a new location (2664 Broadway), a new version of Silver Moon Bakery rose from the ashes — or perhaps, rose more like a loaf of their challah — with a line of hungry customers out the door. The new Silver Moon Bakery is a collaboration with cupcake bakery Buttercup Bake Shop.

A handy excuse for rabbis

In July, the Internal Revenue Service said it wouldn’t block rabbis and other clergy members from endorsing candidates from the pulpit — long a no-no under the 71-year-old “Johnson Amendment.” That put immediate pressure on rabbis to weigh in from the bimah, especially in New York’s heated mayoral race. The tension was seen when one prominent New York rabbi, Elliot Cosgrove, chose to endorse one of Mamdani’s rivals, while another high-profile rabbi, Angela Buchdahl, warned about Mamdani but declined to make an endorsement in the race.

NYC’s reputation for best bagels 

Apparently, New York City lost its reputation for the best bagels in the world to — wait for it — Texas! Starship Bagels, based in Dallas, won in the “Best Bagels” category at September’s sixth annual Bagel Fest, held in Queens.

The Dallas store beat out 24 other bagel makers from around the world, including entries from Copenhagen, Madrid, Honolulu, and Montréal.

The only New York bagel to win in any category was in the “Best of the Boroughs.” Tough luck, but congratulations anyway to NYC-based Ess-a-Bagel.

Safta’s Coffee and Fine Foods

Safta’s Coffee and Fine Foods, 2345 Broadway at 86th St., opened in February to a fair amount of buzz among Upper West Siders. The kosher dairy spot sold grab-and-go meals like fresh sandwiches and salads, as well as bourekas and babka, and also offered Shabbat and holiday catering. But by November, Safta’s had closed. Owner Sonny Gindi did not give a reason for the closing, according to the West Side Rag.

But this fall, we also gained a totally unrelated Safta (743 Franklin Ave.) in Brooklyn. That Safta is an Israeli restaurant that serves Mediterranean and Middle Eastern favorites like labneh with za’atar, matbucha, shawarma, Moroccan fish and weekend jachnun and malawach, and also offers a cocktail and wine menu.

Thyme and Tonic

Opened in 2020 by Orly Gottesman, the founder of gluten-free bakery chain Modern Bread and Bagel, Thyme and Tonic (474 Amsterdam Ave.), also known as PrimeThyme, started as a kosher, primarily vegan and exclusively gluten-free restaurant and bar on the Upper West Side. In 2023, the restaurant added meat to their menu.

In November, Thyme and Tonic closed its doors and reopened as Mexican fusion restaurant Polanco, named for the upscale neighborhood in Mexico City that boasts a sizable Jewish community. Polanco is under the same owners as Thyme and Tonic; although not exclusively gluten-free, it does have gluten-free options.

The MetroCard

On Dec. 31, the five boroughs are set to permanently say goodbye to the 31-year-old MetroCard, which replaced the subway token in 1994. 

The MetroCard retires on Dec. 31, 2025. (Joan Slaking/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

But with the tap-and-go OMNY card, we gained something new to kvetch about: claims of glitchy extra charges for the same ride, and the complicated phasing out of pre-paid unlimited cards and phasing in of the seven-day fare cap.

As an added bonus, MTA prices are going up next year, from $2.90 to $3 flat.

A mayor who loved to call New York City ‘the Tel Aviv of America’ 

(And the “Istanbul of America.” And the “Seoul of America.” And the “Islamabad of America.”) 

Zohran Mamdani is unlikely to adopt predecessor Eric Adams’s particular quirk, given the mayor-elect’s stance on Israel. (During his campaign he said that he would not visit Israel while serving as mayor of New York, and promised to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu should the Israeli prime minister visit New York during Mamdani’s term.) On the flip side, Mamdani has said he is committed to fighting antisemitism.

Still, New Yorkers will surely miss the many Eric Adams-isms of the past four years.