New York City mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani presents a danger to New York City Jewry, and community members should rally to oppose his election, Park Avenue Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove said in a Saturday sermon, reiterating this in a Tuesday conversation with The Jerusalem Post.
“I believe Mamdani poses a danger to the security of the New York Jewish community,” Cosgrove said in a recording of his sermon. “He is a danger to the Jewish body politic of New York City.”
Cosgrove told the Post that the danger he was referring to came in the form of radical rhetoric that had ultimately fostered antisemitic violence.
While he did not believe all criticism of Israel was anti-Zionist or antisemitic, Cosgrove said that “we live in a time where there is a blurring of lines between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.”
“Anti-Zionist rhetoric has become a prompt for attacks on Jews, from online to graffiti on synagogues to physical violence.”
Riding the crest of charged language about Israel, antisemitic attacks have manifested, including the Washington, DC Jewish museum shooting and the Colorado hostage advocacy march firebombing.
There is need to pay attention to “Mamdani’s refusal to condemn inciteful slogans like ‘globalize the intifada,’ his denial of Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish state, his call to arrest Israel’s prime minister should he enter New York, and his thrice-repeated accusation of genocide in Thursday’s debate... for these and so many other statements, past, present, and unrepentant,” Cosgrove said on Saturday.
“Mamdani’s distinction between accepting Jews and denying a Jewish state is not merely a rhetorical sleight of hand or political naivete – though it is, to be clear, both of those – he is doing so to traffic in the most dangerous of tropes, an anti-Zionist rhetoric.”
On Tuesday, Cosgrove said he was not positive that Mamdani would take meaningful action if there were a concert in Central Park like the Glastonbury festival, in which punk-rap duo Bob Vylan called for “death to the IDF.”
Every year, the NYC Jewish community holds an Israel parade; Cosgrove questioned if the community would feel safe holding the event if Mamdani were mayor.
The Conservative movement rabbi told the Post that the most important part of his sermon was not the first section, in which he warned about the dangers of a Mamdani mayoral administration, as he was essentially preaching to the choir.
'Get out the vote' says Rabbi Cosgrove
The sermon was almost completely warmly received by a congregation that already agreed with him.
It was the second part, in which he encouraged his congregants to “get out the vote and engage to change the minds of the undecided or the ambivalent,” that needed greater attention, he said.
“Each of us has a sphere of influence: Colleagues, family members, coworkers,” said Cosgrove. “We all need to ask where we can move the needle and work to move it.”
Every vote matters, and while Cosgrove didn’t explicitly tell his congregants to vote for former NY governor and current independent mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo, he noted in his sermon that a “vote for [Republican mayoral candidate Curtis] Sliwa, whatever his merits, is a vote for Mamdani.”
He also advised Cuomo to speak less to communities he has already convinced, like sections of the Jewish community, but to those outside his base.
“Cuomo needs to speak at more churches and fewer synagogues, to more barber shops and fewer boardrooms, up his online game, and meet New Yorkers where they are,” Cosgrove said on Saturday.
The rabbi called on his congregants to campaign to their extended networks, acknowledging that there was a split in the Jewish community. Many did not prioritize Jewish self-concern over individual needs for matters such as affordability.
Cosgrove advocated against a hectoring or nagging approach, but to be understanding of the feelings and concerns of Jewish Mamdani supporters who cast doubt on the danger he posed to their co-religionists.
“These are real voices and heartfelt views that are not imagined. There are many Jews who feel alienated from the [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu government and extreme right-wing factions in the coalition,” Cosgrove told the Post.
“There are segments of the Jewish community that don’t want to reduce their relationship to Israel.”
These segments may feel that with their disagreements with the current Israeli government, their differences with Mamdani’s views are “a difference of degree rather than kind.”
Cosgrove suggested that some rationalized that they were “voting for the mayor of NYC, not Jerusalem,” which means his views on Israel come second to his appeals on matters of the economy, though the rabbi expressed some skepticism on Saturday about the merit of the young politician’s economic policies.
The rabbi said that the issue was not a concern for Israel “in the narrow sense,” as Mamdani was not setting foreign policy, but he wanted to make the case that matters of Jewish self-concern are essential in such an election.
“If Mamdani presents a threat to the Jewish body politic, notwithstanding the flaws of all the candidates, the safety of the Jewish community of New York is on the docket,” Cosgrove told the Post.
“One can prioritize Jewish self-concern and dislike the Netanyahu government, or have differences with Israel. It is not a binary issue.”
Cosgrove would prefer that the election not be about “parochial Jewish concerns” and even be “disinterested” in the Jewish community, focusing on matters such as policing, transportation, and affordable housing, but “this is not the election we have.”
He noted that some had suggested that he should hold his tongue pragmatically, as most polls indicated a victory for Mamdani come November. Cosgrove might need to work with the rabbi on behalf of the community.
“I’m not one to stump from the pulpit – I try to separate my role as a religious leader from weighing in on partisan political issues,” said Cosgrove.
He added that if he held a different position, he might address the issue differently, but as a rabbi, he felt he needed to speak to principles.
“This is an election of great importance and impact for the Jews of New York City,” Cosgrove said.