{"id":25626,"date":"2025-11-02T04:38:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T04:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/25626\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T04:38:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T04:38:07","slug":"angela-buchdahl-prominent-nyc-rabbi-ratchets-up-criticism-of-zohran-mamdani-and-cautions-against-jewish-infighting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/25626\/","title":{"rendered":"Angela Buchdahl, prominent NYC rabbi, ratchets up criticism of Zohran Mamdani \u2014 and cautions against Jewish infighting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, one of New York City\u2019s most prominent rabbis, addressed the growing turmoil within New York\u2019s Jewish community over the upcoming mayoral election \u2014 delivering a sermon at Manhattan\u2019s Central Synagogue Friday night<\/a> that included her most pointed comments yet about frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, while reaffirming her refusal to endorse or oppose any political candidate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fear living in a city, and a nation, where anti-Zionist rhetoric is normalized and contagious,\u201d Buchdahl said during services at her synagogue, one of the country\u2019s largest Reform congregations. \u201cMayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has contributed to a mainstreaming of some of the most abhorrent antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n

She cited Mamdani\u2019s 2023 remark, surfaced this week, saying the New York Police Department had learned aggressive policing tactics from the Israeli army<\/a> and his past reluctance to label Hamas a terrorist group.<\/p>\n

Yet even as she condemned the rhetoric, Buchdahl rejected calls from some in the Jewish community to endorse in the mayoral race \u2014 a demand that has placed her, and other prominent New York rabbis, under intense pressure in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s Jewish institutions, already reeling from a war in Gaza that led to intense anti-Israel protests, have been alarmed by the rise of Mamdani, a progressive state assemblyman from Queens and anti-Zionist critic of Israel. Jewish leaders across the denominational spectrum have debated whether rabbis should publicly oppose his candidacy, citing fears about normalization of anti-Zionism in politics and worries that if elected Mamdani will not protect Jewish interests.<\/p>\n

Last month, over 1,100 Jewish clergy signed a letter denouncing Mamdani and the \u201cnormalization of anti-Zionism,\u201d<\/a> quoting another prominent Manhattan rabbi, Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue, who in a recent sermon endorsed Mamdani\u2019s independent opponent, former N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo. In a sign that Jews are not of one mind on Mamdani\u2019s candidacy, more that 200 rabbis, at least 40 located in or near New York City, signed a second letter charging the first letter was divisive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Buchdahl, who has a national profile as the country\u2019s first Asian-American woman rabbi and as a sought-out spokesperson on Jewish affairs, had previously written to her members to explain why she would not endorse any candidate or sign public political letters, despite her \u201csteadfast support of Israel and Zionism.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Buchdahl declined to sign the rabbinic letter, she drew withering<\/a> attacks on social media from those who said she was failing to advance Jewish interests \u2014 some from<\/a> her own congregants<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In her latest remarks, Buchdahl said she felt so compelled to address the tension directly that she returned during a sabbatical taken to promote her new book.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I needed to be here with my Jewish family,\u201d she said. \u201cSome of you agreed with my position. Some of you, very emphatically, did not.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued, \u201cI was flooded with emails of support, and I want to thank all of you who shared those words with me. But I want to offer even more thanks to those of you who privately and respectfully shared your disagreement with me. I have been listening, and I want to respond in person tonight because that is what you do when you care about your family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buchdahl framed her sermon around Lech Lecha, the Torah portion<\/a> in which Abraham and Sarah leave the familiarity of home for \u201ca place they do not know.\u201d The story, she suggested, mirrors the community\u2019s uncertainty about its place in a shifting political and moral landscape.<\/p>\n

She spoke both to those who see the election as \u201can existential moment for our Jewish community\u201d and to younger Jews who fear that \u201cour community has become too focused on fear and what can be done to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

She acknowledged that Mamdani has met recently with Jewish civic and business leaders and softened some of his language. \u201cI would not quickly trust a campaigning politician changing his lifelong positions,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I hear those who believe we must engage even with those we deeply disagree with, or risk isolating ourselves from the broader good of this city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drawing on an idea from Israeli writer Yossi Klein Halevi<\/a>, Buchdahl described the community\u2019s divide as one between \u201cPurim Jews\u201d \u2014 who prioritize vigilance and self-protection \u2014 and \u201cPassover Jews,\u201d who emphasize empathy and justice for the vulnerable. \u201cBoth memories are sacred, and both are necessary,\u201d she said. \u201cCompassion without caution is reckless na\u00efvet\u00e9; vigilance without empathy is paranoia or despair.\u201d<\/p>\n

While acknowledging that she is \u201cterrified by how anti-Zionist rhetoric and antisemitic tropes have led to some deadly violence against Jews,\u201d Buchdahl also turned her concern inward to talk about the internal Jewish tensions. \u201cIt endangers all of us: the way we are trying to impose a litmus test on other Jews, essentially saying you\u2019re either with us or you\u2019re against us,\u201d she said. \u201cPitting Jew against Jew. Rabbi against rabbi.\u201d<\/p>\n

She warned that such divisions could do more damage than any outside threat. \u201cBoth Temples were destroyed because of sinat chinam \u2014 senseless hate,\u201d she said. \u201cWe can argue robustly and should. But disputation does not require defamation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buchdahl also defended her decision not to make political endorsements, invoking both the federal Johnson Amendment \u2014 the decades-old ban on political campaigning by religious institutions that the IRS recently announced it would stop enforcing<\/a> \u2014 and Central Synagogue\u2019s own policy of non-endorsement. \u201cOnce a rabbi can tell you how to vote, imagine donations being given, or withheld, in exchange for a rabbi\u2019s thumb on the scale,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Instead, she pledged to continue speaking on \u201cmoral issues that unfold in the political realm,\u201d regardless of partisanship. \u201cI thanked President Biden for standing with Israel after Oct. 7, and I thanked President Trump for helping bring home the hostages after others failed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Buchdahl concluded with a message of hope, describing meetings with Jewish students at Yale, Brandeis and Harvard who, she said, \u201cdon\u2019t want to be defined by fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want a Jewish community where disagreement doesn\u2019t mean disconnection,\u201d she said. \u201cWe will find our way forward if we walk it together.\u201d<\/p>\n

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