In just a few hours, polls will open in New York for the crucial mayoral election, where Zohran Mamdani is expected to win.
Those 23 words alone require two footnotes, one minor and one major. The minor point is that although the election is being held today, polling stations have already been open for several days of early voting. According to the city's Board of Elections, more than half a million people have already cast their ballots. The more important note is that, unlike the tired cliché of "crucial elections" repeated everywhere in the world before every vote, this time, for four key groups, New York's Jewish community, the State of Israel, the business community, and the Democratic Party, this election is truly decisive.
This article focuses on the first two groups, but before diving into them, a few words about the latter two. For the business community, the election is fateful because Mamdani defines himself as a socialist and intends to impose particularly high taxes on businesses in the city, which would make New York far less attractive to entrepreneurs.
For the Democratic Party, it is crucial because Mamdani represents a radical faction within the party, a faction that has until now scored few victories. If he is elected mayor, it would signal the direction the party is headed: from moderation to extremism.
For New York's Jewish community, this poses a real threat to their way of life and to their ability to live as a protected and cohesive community in a city that has long been their home.
For the State of Israel, a candidate who refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and threatens to cut economic ties with it and with Israeli companies presents both an image and financial danger.
The support of certain Jews for Mamdani—43% of Jewish voters according to some polls intend to vote for him—is a glaring warning sign for Israel in particular and for the Jewish people as a whole. A small minority of these voters will cast their ballots for Mamdani because of his extreme views on Israel, but most will vote for him despite those views.
In other words, they are willing to tolerate his anti-Israel stance in the name of his economic platform and, above all, his opposition to Trump, whom they reject.
This warning must prompt Israel to take clear, consistent action that does not depend on who wins the New York mayoral election. Whether Mamdani prevails, or Andrew Cuomo or Curtis Sliwa wins instead, Israel must grasp the gravity of the situation and take significant steps with two main objectives. First, to reach out to those Jews who are voting—or have already voted, for Mamdani in early voting. That will be a complex and long-term mission requiring considerable effort. Therefore, most of Israel's focus should be on the second goal: making Israel important enough to liberal American Jews that they will no longer be willing to tolerate anti-Israel positions, even when they otherwise support a candidate's policies.
Fortunately, Israel will find a willing partner in this effort. Leading rabbis in the Reform movement, the largest and most liberal branch of American Judaism, are eager to do just that.
Rabbi Hirsch, one of America's leading Reform rabbis, recently said that when the Reform movement educated its youth to pursue "tikkun olam", it never intended for that to come at the expense of their love for Israel and the Jewish people.
The correction must be carried out hand in hand with the Reform and Conservative movements, which not only represent the majority of American Jews, but also most of New York's Jews and those planning to vote for Mamdani. Given the current situation, this will require Israel's leadership to stop its constant attacks on non-Orthodox Jews and, heaven forbid, perhaps even attend a non-Orthodox synagogue or two, something Israeli leaders have long avoided as if it was fire.
We are brothers and sisters, for better or worse. We must remember and remind ourselves of that, especially in times of crisis.
