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.
🔯 Rivaling antisemitism offices
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City Council Speaker Julie Menin is expected to announce an antisemitism task force today as Mayor Zohran Mamdani works on staffing his own Office to Combat Antisemitism.
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Menin’s group will consist of seven council members and staff, with Jewish caucus members Eric Dinowitz, a Democrat, and Inna Vernikov, a Republican, serving as co-chairs.
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Mamdani is interviewing left-wing candidates to lead his Office to Combat Antisemitism, including Elad Nehorai, a critic of the Orthodox community, and Phylisa Wisdom, who heads the progressive group New York Jewish Agenda. The office was created by his predecessor Eric Adams.
🕍 Synagogue bill arrives
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Menin will also formally introduce a bill that would ban demonstrations within a 100-foot perimeter around houses of worship.
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Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed a 25-foot buffer zone at the state level. Both measures respond to recent pro-Palestinian protests, including one that featured pro-Hamas chants, outside synagogues hosting events that promoted migration to Israel and real estate sales there.
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Both pushes are also likely to face legal challenges and free speech concerns. In 2014, the Supreme Court unanimously struck down a Massachusetts law creating a 35-foot buffer zone around abortion clinics.
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Liz Krueger, a Jewish longtime state senator, told The New York Times she wanted to determine a buffer zone that would pass legal muster. Her Manhattan district includes Park East Synagogue, which was the target of a controversial protest in November.
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Krueger said she settled on a 25-foot buffer zone. “I am trying to hold strong to my beliefs in our Constitution and what we should be doing,” she told The Times. “At the same time I am hearing the fear, particularly from older Jews and Jews who wear clothing making them obviously Jewish in public.”
🚓 Man charged in rabbi assault
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Eric Zafra-Grosso, 32, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Wednesday on charges of assaulting a rabbi in Forest Hills.
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Grosso allegedly assailed Rabbi David Soussan as he was walking to his Bukharian Jewish Community Center on Tuesday. Grosso is accused of shouting antisemitic rhetoric, including “F–k Jews,” before punching Soussan in the chest and face.
- “The gravity of this alleged assault is compounded by the fact that it occurred on International Holocaust Remembrance Day,” said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, who is Jewish.
🚨 Man rams car into Chabad headquarters
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A man has been arrested after ramming his car at least four times into the global headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox movement in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, on Wednesday night.
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The incident took place as thousands of Lubavitchers from around the world gathered there, marking the 75th anniversary of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson’s death and the installation of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson as the community’s leader.
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No one was injured in the crashes, which knocked a rear door off its hinges.
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NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the incident was being investigated as a hate crime and the NYPD was increasing security around houses of worship.
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Mamdani, who gave a press conference alongside Tisch and Attorney General Letitia James, called the incident “deeply alarming,” noting the significance of the anniversary and the site to Jews around the world.
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A 15-year-old boy who told The New York Times he heard the crash from inside the building identified himself as Yechi Hamelech. The phrase, “Long live the king,” is used by some Chabad adherents to declare the Lubavitcher Rebbe as the Messiah. Crown Heights is an epicenter for those who hold that belief, a point of division within the movement.
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The suspect appears to have previously visited Chabad at 770 Eastern Parkway and in New Jersey, according to reporting from COLLive Crown Heights news service. Video footage from inside Chabad’s headquarters showed that he danced there at some point before the ramming.
🎲 Jewish teen takes on sports betting apps
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A Jewish teen is taking on the sports betting apps that are hooking his peers at the Upper West Side’s Heschel School and other schools across New York. Read this report from our Teen Journalism Fellowship.
