News

The primary election of Zohran Mamdani as the Democratic candidate for Mayor of New York City, an avowed supporter of Hamas and a proponent of “globalizing the Intifada,” should send chills up every Jew’s spine. In a city with the largest population of Jews outside of Israel, such a result should have been unthinkable.

No doubt, we Jews are often saying Hallel in praise of Hashem’s goodness on our behalf. We do so on every Yom Tov. Many say Hallel on Yom HaAtzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim – all in thanks to Hashem for showing His Divine Providence over the Jewish people.

I guess the word is frustrating. We finally have a president who, as far as Jewish interests are concerned, is doing everything that should make them happy. His political appointments, such as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, are firmly on Israel’s side.

I haven’t been able to write for several weeks due to health concerns, and I have not been able to follow the news that closely, but I am well aware of the controversies surrounding the Orthodox communities, including whether the yeshivah crowd should be participating in the World Zionist Congress (WZC) elections, even via a totally frum platform, Eretz HaKodesh.

In Parshas VaYishlach (B’reishis 32:12), as Yaakov is about to encounter Eisav, he cries out to Hashem, “Save me, please, from the hands of my brother, from the hands of Eisav.” Rashi, in his commentary, explains that Yaakov was pleading to be delivered from the hands of his brother but behaves like the wicked Eisav.

This past Shabbos, I was in Flatbush by my son Simcha. We davened in a local shul, well established in the community and headed by a rav who is a fine talmid chacham. Following davening, a gentleman whom I never met before came over to me and said, “Well, Rabbi Schonfeld, did you experience anything in shul that you can write about in your column?”