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📚 Yeshivas celebrate after Hochul says she will opt into school choice tax credit
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Gov. Kathy Hochul told Orthodox Jewish advocates in a meeting on Thursday that New York will opt into the federal Educational Choice for Children Act, a tax credit program that will provide an annual $5 billion in K-12 scholarships nationwide starting in 2027, reports Yeshiva World News.
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Hochul made the announcement during a private event with leaders of Agudath Israel of America, an Orthodox group that vocally backed the school choice provision. Supporters of the federal program say it would allow many Jewish schools to eventually cover a majority of their scholarship needs, constituting a “major catalyst for Jewish day school affordability.”
👯♂️ Battle of the Bloombergs
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Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg committed in March to spend up to $5 million boosting his former staffer and fellow Jewish New Yorker, Assemblyman Micah Lasher, in the race to replace Rep. Jerry Nadler in Congress.
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Now, another Mike Bloomberg has entered the mix. Lasher’s rival Alex Bores received a $500 donation in March from Mike Bloomberg of Columbus, Ohio, according to Politico. This Bloomberg, a researcher working on energy affordability, said he previously lived in the contested NY-12 district — specifically on the Upper East Side, home to the billionaire former mayor.
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“With all due respect to the other Mike Bloomberg, Alex Bores is one of the smartest and most caring public servants in a country that desperately needs them,” said Bloomberg of Ohio, adding, “I wish I had more to give.”
🚨 Swastika carved in LIRR window
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A swastika was found carved into a window at the Long Island Rail Road station in Lawrence, a heavily Jewish area of Nassau County, reports the Long Island Herald.
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Lawrence Mayor Samuel Nahmias, who is Jewish, called the vandalism “despicable” and said those responsible would be prosecuted “to the fullest extent of the law.” He added that the incident underscored the need for Lawrence’s recently approved initiative to install 160 public safety cameras.
💰 Jewish real estate magnate likens Mamdani’s ‘tax the rich’ to ‘from the river to the sea’
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Jewish real estate mogul Steven Roth compared New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s “tax the rich” rhetoric this week to racial slurs and pro-Palestinian slogans on an earnings call for his company, Vornado Realty Trust.
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“I consider the phrase ‘tax the rich’ when spit out with anger and contempt by politicians both here and across the country, to be just as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs and even the phrase, ‘from the river to the sea,’” Roth said, referring to the slogan commonly used at pro-Palestinian protests.
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The remark by Roth, who has long been a notable philanthropist to Jewish causes, adds to mounting tensions between New York business leaders and Mamdani over his recently announced “pied-à-terre” tax on second homes valued at more than $5 million.
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In a statement responding to Roth’s comments, Mamdani’s office said that he supported business owners and entrepreneurs but that “we need meaningful tax reform that includes the wealthiest New Yorkers contributing their fair share.” Mamdani, a longtime pro-Palestinian advocate, did not address the comparison between the phrase “tax the rich” and pro-Palestinian slogans.
🏆 Darializa Avila Chevalier endorsed by Sanders’ group
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Our Revolution, the progressive organization founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders, has endorsed Darialize Avila Chevalier in New York’s 13th Congressional District. She is hoping to unseat Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the district covering Upper Manhattan and the Bronx.
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“New Yorkers know the difference between politicians who say nice things and those that will actually deliver,” the group wrote on X.
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Avila Chevalier, a leader of Columbia University‘s pro-Palestinian encampment in 2024, said she is running for Congress because she sees “links between the violence that Palestinians face under Israeli apartheid and the violence Black communities face from American law enforcement.”
🪽 An angel arrives in NYC
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The Paul Klee painting “Angelus Novus” is being installed in the Jewish Museum’s Klee retrospective after being delayed by the war with Iran.
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The painting, owned before the Holocaust by the Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin, is on loan from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. It will be installed by Monday morning, Jewish Museum director James Snyder (who came from the Israel Museum), told The New York Times.
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