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.
🗽 Mamdani’s inauguration
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As New York celebrates the new year, Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in at midnight. A new era for the city will reveal if he can fulfill his ambitious promises of affordability — and if he can win over the majority of Jewish New Yorkers who did not vote for him.
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The city’s first Muslim, South Asian and millennial mayor will also be the first to use the Quran as he is sworn in.
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During a private midnight ceremony, Mamdani will put his hand on two Qurans — his grandfather’s and one that belonged to Arturo Schomburg, a Black Puerto Rican writer and historian. At the 1 p.m. City Hall ceremony, Mamdani will again use his grandfather’s and another family Quran.
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Mamdani will be welcomed by the country’s progressive stars as some 40,000 people are expected to throng the blocks outside City Hall. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will give opening remarks and Sen. Bernie Sanders will administer the oath of office.
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Even outgoing Mayor Eric Adams, who led a bitter campaign against Mamdani, announced that he will attend the inauguration.
📋 Mamdani appointments
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Mamdani appointed Steven Banks as corporation counsel, the city’s chief lawyer.
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Banks, who was raised a Reform Jew, previously ran the Legal Aid Society and has dedicated his career to legal support for homeless and incarcerated people.
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Banks has said that he considered becoming a rabbi after college. “I have a motivation that comes from my religious background,” he told The New York Times in 2002. “Pursuing justice was the highest calling.”
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Kamar Samuels will be announced today as Mamdani’s choice for schools chancellor, reported City & State.
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Samuels is the superintendent of an Upper Manhattan district and is known for championing racial integration in schools. He is married to Meg Cassedy-Blum Samuels, who is Jewish.
🔯 Antisemitism official says his job is in limbo
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Rabbi Moshe Davis, who was appointed by Adams in May to head the city’s new Office to Combat Antisemitism, said he has not heard from the Mamdani administration about whether he will stay.
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“I currently have the job until I hear otherwise,” Davis told The Free Press.
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Davis’ office this morning released an 80-page report on Adams’ efforts to combat antisemitism and defend New York’s partnership with Israel.
🥯 Jewish food report
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New Absolute Bagels has arrived in the same Upper West Side storefront where the old Absolute Bagels shuttered a year ago, and customers told The Forward that it’s just as good.
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We ate our way across the city this year. Watch our Jewish food highlights of 2025 and add these spots to your list for 2026!
