"We arrive this week at Parshat Lech-Lecha, the beginning of the Jewish story. God calls Abraham and Sarah to leave their home and comfort for a place they do not know, promising, 'You shall be a blessing.' But before we think of the grandeur of that destiny, imagine the uncertainty, the feeling of being strangers in unknown territory, Buchdahl began, adding: Many of you have shared that this is how you feel right now, that this is an existential moment for our Jewish community."
"I fear living in a city and a nation where anti-Zionist rhetoric is normalized and contagious, where Israel is singularly and repeatedly called out and demonized as the worst actor on the world stage, where our children feel ashamed to call themselves Zionists or afraid to wear Jewish symbols or worry they can only belong if they are the good kind of Jew. I'm terrified by how anti-Zionist rhetoric and antisemitic tropes have led to some deadly violence against Jews."
"Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has contributed to a mainstreaming of some of the most abhorrent antisemitism. His shocking 2023 accusation 'When the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it's been laced by the IDF' crosses the line clearly into antisemitism, not only demonizing Israelis, but echoing the age-old antisemitic trope that Jews across the world are the root cause of our problems here."
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of Manhattan's Central Synagogue condemned mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for contributing to the mainstreaming of abhorrent antisemitism while declining to endorse any candidate. She invoked Parshat Lech-Lecha, describing Abraham and Sarah's uncertain journey and linking it to Jewish community fears of becoming strangers in their own city. She warned that normalized anti-Zionist rhetoric demonizes Israel, shames children from identifying as Zionists, discourages visible Jewish symbols, and has contributed to deadly violence. Buchdahl singled out Mamdani's 2023 remark comparing the NYPD to the IDF as crossing into antisemitism and echoing harmful global tropes about Jews.
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