Controversial NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani wished the Jewish community of New York a happy Rosh Hashanah in a social media post on Monday.
“As the sun goes down tonight, the Days of Awe begin for our Jewish friends and neighbors. Yamim Noramim, the High Holy Days begin with Rosh Hashanah, when the Jewish calendar turns to the year 5786,” Mamdani stated in a video message.
He went on to say that the new year of the Jewish calendar proved the Jewish community’s resilience and perseverance.
“That number alone speaks to the endurance of this faith over the millennia, its resilience despite waves of persecution,” he stated.
Mamdani then went on to discuss how he wished that New Yorkers would practice the tradition of turning inwards as Jews do on Yom Kippur.
Mamdani wishes Jewish New Yorkers a Shana Tova
“Yom Kippur will soon follow. On this holiest of days, Jewish New Yorkers will pause to reflect, to atone, and to do the hard work of looking inwards.
“It is a tradition we could all do well to emulate,” he said. “To build a city that feels sweet, and learns from what did not work in the past. Where we are not afraid to admit our failings and grow accordingly. And where, above all, every New Yorker is cherished by the city they love.”
Mamdani ends the video by wishing Jewish New Yorkers a Shana Tova and a sweet new year.
Mamdani has been accused of antisemitism and anti-Zionism by several New Yorkers, including his former opponent Jim Walden.
“For those still trailing in the polls by month’s end, I implore each to consider how history will judge them if they allow vanity or stubborn ambition to usher in Mr. Mamdani,” he said in a statement.
“His past words reveal his extreme bigotry toward police, his authentic commitment to communism, his antisemitic obsessions, and his sympathies for terrorists.”
Mamdani has also previously stated that he intends to end the city’s investments in Israeli government bonds.
“We should not have a fund that invests in violations of international law,” Mamdani told CBS News. “The current comptroller’s approach, as he applied it with Israeli bonds, is the right approach.”
Mamdani stopped short of endorsing the broader demands of the BDS movement, however, which calls for full divestment from Israeli companies.