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I recently attended Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Shavuot Jewish heritage event at Gracie Mansion. The response has been intense: A donor cut funds from a Chabad colleague over their affiliation with me, and someone even attempted to get me fired.
I understand the anger and the noble intentions of some Jewish leaders who called for a boycott of the mayor’s event. Mamdani’s recent video about “Nakba Day,” which depicted Israel’s war for independence and the plight of Palestinians in a one-sided manner, was deeply disturbing and irresponsible. It was dishonest, divisive and unhelpful, offering no path toward peace, no serious attempt at nuance and no contribution to making New Yorkers safer.
But how would skipping the event accomplish anything meaningful? It would not change the mayor’s views, have any real impact on him, or delegitimize him in the eyes of the average New Yorker.
His legitimacy as mayor comes from the fact that he was democratically elected. If he loses legitimacy, it will not be because someone skipped this or any other event. It will be because New Yorkers judge his record, his rhetoric, his ability to keep them safe, and whether the city thrives under his leadership.
In March, there was a similar controversy over a meeting between Mamdani and Orthodox Jewish leaders, including leaders from Williamsburg, Flatbush and Crown Heights. Mainstream Jewish leaders representing some of New York’s largest and most respected Jewish organizations accused City Hall of orchestrating the meeting as a photo op.
Yet after the meeting, the photos were not sent out by City Hall, but by Jewish participants. In other words, the very spectacle that some Jewish leaders feared would be used as a political prop was ultimately created and circulated by other Jewish leaders.
If someone is uncomfortable attending his events, that is perfectly fine. But there is a serious difference between making a thoughtful decision not to attend and creating a public spectacle over who shows up and who does not.
Even among those who chose not to attend the Shavuot ceremony on May 18, there were different approaches. Some leaders declined to attend and were honest with City Hall about why.
But there were also those who stayed silent on the Nakba video and then hid behind “scheduling conflicts” when communicating with City Hall. They deserve no praise for courage. That is performative, dishonest and weak.
The irony in all of this is that the holiday of Shavuot strongly rebuts the falsehoods and lies told about Israel.
Shavuot is not just a Jewish heritage event. It is the holiday on which Jews celebrate the giving of the Torah more than 3,000 years ago, when God made a covenant with the Jewish people and bound the Land of Israel to the Jewish people and the Torah.
The Torah is filled with commandments that can only be fully observed by Jews living in Israel. The Jewish people were on their way to the Land of Israel when they stopped at Sinai and received the Torah.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani hosts a Shavuot celebration at Gracie Mansion in New York City on May 18, 2026. (Grace Gilson)
Shavuot also carries another powerful message: King David’s birth and passing are commemorated on this holiday. David established Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem. He reigned first in Hebron and then in Jerusalem. His son, King Solomon, built the Temple on the Temple Mount. The Hebrew Bible (2 Samuel 24:9) tells us that there were 1.3 million “able-bodied men” living in Israel and Judah, from which some extrapolate that there were 5 million Jewish people living under David’s rule.
One cannot host a Shavuot event while trying to distance Jewish identity from the Land of Israel, because Shavuot itself testifies to our deep-rooted connection.
A creative response from Jewish leaders might have provided the mayor’s office with this context. What if Jewish leaders had used the opportunity to say publicly: Mr. Mayor, we are coming to celebrate Shavuot with you, but you must understand what Shavuot means. It means Jewish history in Israel did not begin in the 1800s, the 1920s, 1948, or 1967. Shavuot signifies that Jewish identity is deeply rooted in Israel, from Abraham to King David, all the way to today. We mark this holiday as confirmation that the Jewish people’s connection to Israel is sacred and unbreakable.
We can’t say how the mayor might have responded, but it would have changed the media conversation around the decision to “boycott” the event. Rather than a tally of who was and wasn’t showing it up, it might have led to a conversation about the Jewish connection to Israel, and perhaps a teachable moment for the mayor and his staff.
I called out the mayor’s Nakba video, and I still attended the event.
Both messages matter. We must condemn harmful behavior and, as the Lubavitcher Rebbe taught years ago, respect the office of public officials regardless of our concerns about the person occupying it. More importantly, we must always keep the door open to education and engagement.
That includes our own education and growth. It is important that we, as leaders, engage in serious self-reflection about our own failures of leadership. What are we doing wrong? Are we pursuing the smartest strategy, and is it actually working?
The Jewish world needs unity in the face of rising antisemitism, along with smart, strong and responsible leadership. That urgency grows as more young people are persuaded by historical distortions that undermine Israel’s legitimacy and threaten Jewish safety. We can debate methods, but we cannot lose sight of the goal of standing together, protecting our people and defending the truth.
To those who reached out to me with concern, thank you. I still have my jobs, my family, my friends and my peace of mind. In the end, the only thing I lost was a little sleep from a few angry late-night phone calls.
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