New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is an avowed Jew-hater who has repeatedly demonstrated over the last decade his hatred for Israel; his support for Hamas; and even his support for a “global intifada,” which, by extension, includes the destruction of the United States as we know it. And yet, according to recent polls, 43% of New York Jews are supporting him, including 67% of Jewish voters between the ages of 18 and 44.
This is analogous to black voters voting for former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke (who ran for president in 1992). How is it even possible for these Jewish New Yorkers to be supporting a man who wants a nation of Palestinian state that would eliminate the existence of Israel as we know it?
The answer to this question actually lies in an understanding of Judaism, and how it is different from other religions. Comedian Evan Sayet (follow his brilliant insights @evan_sayet) has simplified it perfectly when he says the following: A Christian has accepted Jesus as his savior. A Muslim accepts Allah as God and Mohammed as his one true prophet. But, as Evan accurately explains, “to be called a 'Jew,' however, one does not need to believe anything at all. To be called a Jew, all one needs to have done is to have fallen out of a Jewish woman’s womb.” (The statement is not totally true, as one can also become a Jew through conversion.)
Judaism is a religion based on the God's word through the Revelation at Sinai. It is a faith based on the observance of the 613 commandments found in the Torah. Holidays like Passover, religious laws such as keeping kosher, and the belief in one God are all cardinal tenets of the faith. But, ironically (and sadly), a person can be considered a “Jew” if their only relationship to the theology is, as Evan puts it, they fell out of a Jewish woman’s womb.
And here lies the challenge that explains the Jewish New Yorkers who support the anti-Semitic Mamdani. They came out of a Jewish womb, so by definition they are “Jews.” But they have absolutely no relationship to the theology or practices of Judaism.They are more agnostic, or even atheistic, than Jewish; they do not practice the laws of Judaism; they do not accept the philosophies and theologies of the religion; and they barely, if at all, observe any Jewish holidays. For most of these “Jews,” their connection is not religious, but only cultural: eating bagels and lox, liking Adam Sandler and Barbra Streisand, and enjoying lunch at a deli. These are the “Jews” who, when their grandmother dies, tell the officiating rabbi that they are having a Jewish funeral for her out of respect for her, but “Rabbi, it has to be Jewish, but not too Jewish.”
But human beings need some sort of personal philosophy or theology in their psyche. So these Jews in name only (JINOs?) find their personal theology in politics: almost always as leftists.
Leftism replaces Judaism as their religion. Like an overzealous convert to a new faith, they embrace their new religion of leftism with blind fanaticism. Like young children, they rebel against the time-tested and honored beliefs and practices of their ancestors. Everything progressive and on the left is good; while anything “God-based” is evil in their eyes. If something is antithetical to their grandparents' practices and Judaism, then it is considered, in their eyes, to be worthwhile. All things on the political left are excellent, and the moral and ethical foundations of Judaism, and of the United States, are condemned.
These Jews in name only worship at the altars of AOC and Bernie Sanders (a prime example of the corrupted Jew), who is possibly history’s biggest example of this sickness. Their hatred for Donald Trump knows no limits, as he embodies the Jewish values of loving God, pursuing justice, and doing actual good deeds.
These leftists choose to ignore thousands of years of history, in which the persecutions of Jews happened to observant and non-observant Jews alike. They turn a blind eye to the historical reality that the assimilated Jew throughout history was oppressed in the same way as the one who kept the Jewish laws. They forget that Hitler didn’t differentiate between the observant Jew and the assimilated Jew when he filled the death camps. And these leftists refuse to accept the blatant truth the Hamas did not ask their victims whether they kept kosher or not, but rather tortured and murdered everyone equally.
These useful idiots hold signs saying “Jews for Palestine,” oblivious to the simple reality that this “Palestine” they cheer for would be based on Sharia law, and ultimately demand that each of them be converted to Islam, enslaved, or killed.
And they support Zohran Mamdani. This is a man who wants Israel destroyed, be it financially through his support of BDS or militarily through Hamas; who refused to co-sponsor a bill commemorating the Holocaust; and who would arrest duly elected Israeli officials, choosing to subscribe to international anti-Semitic resolutions over American law.
Yes, these leftists support a man who wants their destruction, regardless of their level of Jewish religious observance. They truly are like the chicken who would vote for Colonel Sanders.
Little can be done about these extremists who have rejected the religion of their birth in favor of political leftism. But, as a rabbi who is committed to the United States and is politically conservative, I have a plea for all of my fellow Americans, and especially conservatives.
Please do not judge all Jews by these leftist extremists. They do not speak for Judaism, and certainly not for other American Jews who are committed to supporting both America as our home, and Israel as the one democracy and true American ally in the Middle East. While these leftists may have abandoned the United States as the bulwark of freedom that it is, this is not how the majority of American Jews feel. Most Jewish Americans recognize that for over 200 years the United States has been the best nation for Jews in history. Jewish roots in this country go back to its founding, and most of us are grateful to be an integral part of this great country.
This is our home, and we are proud to be Jewish Americans.
So when you think of American Jews, I implore you to think of the many Jewish Medal of Honor recipients going all the way back to the inception of the Medal in the Civil War and continuing through every war right up through 2018 (so far). Think of the commitment that your Jewish neighbors have to American values; and remember that most of us have values that are consonant with your own. Most American Jews see Mamdani for what he is: self-serving, anti-American, and anti-Semitic. “Jews for Mamdani” is the same as “Jews for Palestine,” “Jews for Hamas,” and even “Jews for Hitler." It is a slogan of these leftists who are crying out for their own destruction.
I often say that I have more in common with my friend Rob McCoy, Charlie Kirk’s pastor and spiritual advisor, than I do with these secularized Jews who have converted to the religion of leftism. Please remember that this is true for most of us.
And may God have mercy on the souls of those who were born as Jews, but renounced their faith in favor of the secular god of leftism.
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