A version of this piece first ran as part of the New York Jewish Week’s daily newsletter, rounding up the latest on politics, culture, food and what’s new with Jews in the city. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.
🏙️ ‘Jesus is Palestinian’ billboard
-
A Times Square billboard declaring “Merry Christmas” and “Jesus is Palestinian” sparked a sharp debate last week. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, a civil rights group, took credit for the billboard.
-
A second billboard from the group quoted a Quranic verse about the birth of Jesus, saying “he will be one of those nearest to Allah.”
-
ADC said the signs were designed to send a message that “Palestine cannot be erased from the Christmas story while Palestinians, Christian and Muslim, are being killed, displaced, and silenced in the land where Christianity was born.”
-
The campaign prompted a rebuke from Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin, who wrote in The Forward that Jesus was “a Jewish figure executed in Judea” and that calling him Palestinian was “anachronistic.”
🧳 Mamdani’s move to the Upper East Side
-
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani mourned the move from his one-bedroom apartment in Astoria to Gracie Mansion on the Upper East Side — and some Upper East Siders are mourning it too, reported The New York Times.
-
Mamdani’s opponent Andrew Cuomo won the neighborhood by 24 points, appealing in part to its concentration of largely affluent Jews who were skeptical about his positions on Israel.
-
Resident Adam Beckerman decried Mamdani’s Israel views and called him “an entitled, ignorant, anticapitalist, anti-Westernist ideologue,” telling The New York Times that he had “no sandwich suggestions” for the incoming mayor.
🥯 Jewish food report
-
“Bubbies” across the country are bringing Jewish home cooking to your screens on “The Great Bubby Cook-Off,” a show that premiered Friday on Kosher.com. The series is presented by the famed Jewish food brand Manischewitz.
-
Finalists from Florida, New York and Connecticut were chosen for a live cook-off in NYC. The winner will be crowned “Bubby 2025” and receive a $5,000 cash prize, along with a featured appearance on the Manischewitz Food Truck as it tours the NYC area.
🗓 Year in review
-
How did 2025 change the lives of New York Jews? Read our list of 12 things we gained and lost this year, from restaurant openings and closings to a Hanukkah SNL skit that never made it to air.
