{"id":124625,"date":"2026-02-06T01:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T01:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/124625\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T01:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T01:22:08","slug":"mamdani-names-new-antisemitism-czar-and-shes-already-facing-ire-of-orthodox-jewish-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/124625\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani names new antisemitism czar \u2014 and she’s already facing ire of Orthodox Jewish community"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Zohran Mamdani tapped the head of a left-leaning Jewish organization as his antisemitism czar <\/a>Thursday \u2014 but she\u2019s already facing the ire of some Orthodox Jewish leaders.<\/p>\n

Phylisa Wisdom, 39, the former executive director of the lefty organization New York Jewish Agenda will lead the Mayor\u2019s Office to Combat Anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhylisa\u00a0is a respected leader and powerful voice in the fight against antisemitism in New York City, Albany and across the country,\u201d Mamdani said in a statement. \u201cDay in and day out, across all five boroughs, we will work together to root out antisemitism and build a New York City where Jewish New Yorkers are safe, respected, and free.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Zohran Mamdani named Phylisa as his antisemitism czar. Phylisa Wisdom<\/p>\n

While Mamdani is a known fierce critic of Israel<\/a> \u2014 who supports the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the Jewish state \u2014 the organization that Wisdom previously headed, NYJA, states it is made up of \u201cliberal and progressive Zionists\u201d and opposes BDS, according to its website.<\/p>\n

Wisdom also previously worked for Yaffed, a group that pushes for oversight of secular education in yeshivas.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Councilman Simcha Felder <\/a>claimed the organization \u201cslanders yeshivas and has done irrevocable harm to the Jewish education system\u201d \u2014 as he called Wisdom\u2019s appointment a \u201cshanda,\u201d the Yiddish term for disgrace, and said that it should be withdrawn.<\/p>\n

Felder said that although the office was created out of necessity due to rising antisemitism, the new head honcho could only fuel Jewish New Yorkers\u2019 anxieties and be used to \u201cwhitewash and legitimize antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wisdom was previously the executive director of the New York Jewish Agenda. Phylisa Wisdom<\/p>\n

A 2023 Department of Education investigation<\/a> found that 18 schools run by the Hasidic Jewish community failed to provide basic secular education requirements in violation of state law.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York City has long been a beacon of hope for the Jewish community,\u201d Wisdom said in a statement. \u201cWe will continue to ensure that Jewish safety and belonging remains at the core of this administration\u2019s vision for a more livable city. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn a time of rising hatred and fear, I look forward to embracing this solemn responsibility\u2014both to represent the diverse array of Jewish voices to City Hall in this critical moment, and to demonstrate the power of pluralistic democracy in the greatest city in the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mamdani called Wisdom a \u201crespected leader and powerful voice\u201d in the fight against antisemitism. Matthew McDermott for NY Post<\/p>\n

In a Thursday interview with WNYC\u2019s Brian Lehrer, Mamdani was pressed about the policy differences between him and Wisdom \u2014 noting her support for Israel existing as a Jewish state and for yeshiva reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe differences of opinion we may have on the question of Israel and Palestine are not an impact on the importance and urgency we treat the fight against antisemitism in New York City,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mamdani previously said he would focus on \u201ccompliance rather than punishment\u201d when it came to yeshivas, and that cutting off funding would be \u201ca step too far\u201d for schools that fail to meet secular education standards.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Mayor and this administration believe that every child deserves a good, safe education that is both high quality and culturally relevant \u2014 and that private religious, non-public schools are a part of the fabric of our city\u2019s education system,\u201d Mamdani spokeswoman Dora Pekec said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Moshe Davis, the head of the office under Mayor Eric Adams, raised concerns over the pick in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish Phylisa well and genuinely hope she succeeds in making New York City safer for a Jewish community that is understandably on edge. That said, I am concerned about this appointment. The Mayor\u2019s Office to Combat Antisemitism was built to be operational, not symbolic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Zohran Mamdani tapped the head of a left-leaning Jewish organization as his antisemitism czar Thursday \u2014 but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3862,57,9,56,63,65,64,13267,58,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-124625","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-antisemitism","9":"tag-metro","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-ny","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-nyc-headlines","14":"tag-nyc-news","15":"tag-simcha-felder","16":"tag-us-news","17":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}