As concerns about Zohran Mamdani and the safety of Jews continue to run high among many Jewish New Yorkers, 13 groups sent a letter to the new mayor asking that he appoint someone who is “grounded in the day-to-day realities of Jewish communal life and capable of engaging meaningfully with communities across all levels of observance, background and political belief” to lead the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism.
The subtext of the letter? Please do not appoint an anti-Zionist, as Mamdani did with many of the Jews who were on his transition committees. The first Muslim to win the city’s top office, Mamdani has long been anti-Israel and has said that he would have Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if he visits the Big Apple.
Moshe Davis, executive director of the Office to Combat Antisemitism since May, still lists his role on his LinkedIn and X accounts, although he hasn’t tweeted on the latter since Dec. 31. There are rumors that a new head of the office could be named as soon as this week.
Karen Feldman, co-founder of the New York City Public School Alliance and the organizer of the letter, told JNS that incidents of Jew-hatred, biased curricula in city schools and radicalized teachers are “increasing year by year.
“We’re seeing a difference in the teacher body and curriculum content in almost every single New York City public school,” said Feldman, who taught social studies with a focus on Holocaust studies at Robert F. Wagner Middle School on the Upper East Side for 26 years.
She added that her group, which was created after Oct. 7 and which involves around 2,500 people, has collected more than 10,000 pieces of evidence of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel bias in city public schools.
According to the letter, its signatories are “a growing network of grassroots, neighborhood-based Jewish organizations across the five boroughs” that represent “a broad spectrum of political and religious perspectives.”
“We are united by our Jewish identity, our pride in Jewish life and our shared concern for the safety and dignity of Jewish New Yorkers,” the writers state in the letter that they emailed to Mamdani on Friday.
The letter cites the recent pro-Hamas demonstration outside a synagogue in Queens and the fire attack on a Jackson, Miss., synagogue.
“The safety, confidence and cohesion of Jewish New Yorkers depend on strong, credible and trusted leadership,” the letter reads.
Feldman told JNS that there hasn’t been a response yet.
60% of hate crimes
In addition to Feldman’s organization, the Park Slope Jewish Affinity Group, NYC Jewish Parents Leadership Council, Progressives for Israel, Jewish Alliance Women’s Circle, Specialized High School Jewish Affinity Group, End Jew-Hatred, Zionist Brooklyn Group and the Hannah Senesh Community Day School signed the letter.
Jews make up about 10% of New York City residents. In 2025, more than 60% of all hate crimes there, from antisemitic graffiti to violent physical attacks, targeted Jews.
Ramon Maislen, whose three sons attend New York City public elementary, middle and high schools, is an active member of the Park Slope group. He got the group, which is based on Facebook, to endorse the letter.
“I am trying to be a voice of reason standing against antisemitism from a liberal, progressive-ish point of view,” he told JNS. “I am trying to be a voice that is representative of the majority of Park Slope’s Jewish community.”
Park Slope is a well-off neighborhood of Brooklyn, full of picturesque brownstone row houses, Prospect Park and several synagogues ranging from Reconstructionist to Chabad. The neighborhood also houses a large Reform synagogue, Congregation Beth Elohim, which hosted Mamdani during his campaign for mayor, and Park Slope Jewish Center, which self-identifies as “liberal, egalitarian Conservative Judaism.”
The neighborhood is also home to the Park Slope Food Coop, which has a small but vocal membership contingent that sporadically tries to get the co-op to boycott Israeli products. To date, that effort has failed.
Maislen lived in Israel for seven years and has Israeli citizenship. His wife is Israeli.
He told JNS that he got involved with the letter because there were two antisemitic incidents and experiences at his sons’ schools over the years, and because “we Jews are all navigating these new conditions we’re facing.
“It’s disorienting to be ‘othered,’” he said. “We’re trying to get our footing.”
