If there is a quintessential New York Times reporter, that writer might complain that Orthodox New York Jews have too much influence and are not the “archetypical Jewish New Yorker.”
That’s just what Dana Rubinstein did in a July 6 article about New York City’s first Jewish Advisory Council, which Mayor Eric Adams appointed.
“If there is an archetypical Jewish New Yorker, that person might be found on the Upper West Side, somewhere between Zabar’s and Barney Greengrass,” Rubinstein wrote. But on the new council, “that type of Jewish New Yorker was in short supply. Instead, at least 23 members of the 37-member council are Orthodox, and only nine are women.”
The Times noted that about 40% of Jews in New York city identified as Orthodox in 2011, citing UJA-Federation of New York data. Much more recently—in 2021—the Pew Research Center noted that “Orthodox Jews have much higher fertility rates and live in larger households than non-Orthodox Jews.”
Orthodox Jews have an average of 3.3 children born per adult—more than double the 1.4, on average, for non-Orthodox Jews, per Pew.
“Something is deeply wrong with The New York Times,” Seth Mandel, executive editor of The Washington Examiner, tweeted, sharing a screenshot of the article.
“Yes, please tell us what box every Jew in New York City is supposed to fit into,” added Fabien Levy, press secretary to the mayor.
Dovid Margolin, a senior editor at Chabad.org, called the paper of record “bigoted.”
“Imagine ‘If there is an archetypical American, that person might be found in Rye, be named Graham Cabot III and eat lobster rolls,’” he tweeted.
“Mad ‘(Orthodox) Jews will not replace us’ energy from the Upper West Side’s hometown paper,” another user tweeted.
