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.
❄️ Hundreds of Jewish teens stranded in NYC
-
1,500 Jewish teens are stranded in New York after the winter storm punctuated an international teen summit sponsored by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
-
Before the historic blizzard began, three former Israeli hostages led 4,500 Jewish teens in reciting the Shema in Times Square on Saturday night.
-
Segev Kalfon told The Times of Israel that he dreamed of singing the Shema on stage during his two years in Hamas captivity.
-
Young Australians from Chabad’s Bondi Beach community, which was targeted by a mass shooting during a Hanukkah event in December, also took the stage. Piva Schlanger, the 17-year-old daughter of murdered emissary Rabbi Eli Schlanger, told the crowd, “We will keep being Jewish, loudly and proudly.”
-
Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, the chairman of Chabad’s Global Networks, announced a new youth center in Sydney to be named for Schlanger and said that “darkness will not have the last word.”
-
Police and Jewish volunteers maintained a high security presence, as local community members remain tense over last month’s car ramming into Chabad’s world headquarters, which is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
-
The 18th annual summit brought Chabad teens from 60 countries to New York, where they also visited sites like the Ohel, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson’s burial site in Queens, and met Jewish leaders including City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Comptroller Mark Levine.
🇮🇱 Should Mamdani be invited to the Israel Day Parade?
-
Yaakov Hagoel, chair of the World Zionist Organization, has invited Mamdani to join New York’s annual Israel Day Parade in May — but the Israeli Consul General is pushing back.
-
“I have already approached him in the past and clarified that the responsibility toward more than a million Jews in the city demands a clear stance against antisemitism,” Hagoel said on X after extending his invitation to Mamdani.
-
Ofir Akunis, the Israeli Consul General in New York, reprimanded Hagoel and said he should not “invite others who don’t acknowledge Israel’s existence as a Jewish state,” reported The Jerusalem Post.
-
Whether or not Mamdani is invited, he already told JTA in October that he “will not be attending the Israel Day Parade.” He added, “My lack of attendance should not be mistaken for a refusal to provide security or the necessary permits for its safety.”
🕍 Most Jews support synagogue buffer zones
-
83% of Jews in New York State support Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposal of a 25-foot buffer zone around houses of worship where protests would not be permitted, according to a new poll conducted by the ADL Center for Antisemitism Research for the UJA-Federation of New York.
-
Large majorities of Muslims (76%) and Christians (72%) also said they supported the move, which had 70% support among overall voters statewide. The survey of 3,989 voters was conducted from Feb. 6-11.
-
Hochul proposed the buffer zones after pro-Palestinian protests targeted two synagogues hosting Israel-related events in NYC. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said his legal department is reviewing a 100-foot buffer zone proposed by Menin at the city level, but suggested there could be First Amendment concerns.
✍ Outgoing antisemitism czar rebukes Mamdani
-
Moshe Davis, outgoing director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, criticized Mamdani for revoking the city’s adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism and urged him to “Let New York’s Jews define the hate they face” in a New York Daily News op-ed.
-
Phylisa Wisdom, Davis’s replacement, has indicated that she aligns with Mamdani in opposing codification of the definition, which characterizes some forms of Israel criticism as antisemitic. Wisdom officially started the job today.
🎙 Columbia students testify about antisemitism
-
Three Columbia University students shared their experiences with on-campus antisemitism on Friday during a session for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which is investigating the federal government’s response to antisemitism allegations.
-
Students from Harvard University, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and American University also testified, along with federal, academic, legal and policy experts.
-
A commission spokesperson told The Columbia Spectator last week that the school is no longer part of the yearlong investigation, without giving a reason.
🚨 Yiddish snow alerts
-
Are you a Yiddish reader? Click here to follow NotifyNYC alerts about the blizzard in Yiddish.
