We have already discussed in these pages the sad and infuriating phenomenon of the self-hating Jews. However, with the advent of the Jews for Mamdani, this situation must be revisited.
Zohran Mamdani, the anti-Semitic and Israel-bashing candidate for mayor of New York, has won the Democratic primary and is shockingly in a strong position to be the next mayor of the city of New York, which has the highest population of Jews outside of Eretz Yisroel.
To make matters much worse, the New York Times reported on Sunday (June 29, Opinion Section) that “a poll of likely Jewish voters had Cuomo coming in first at 31 percent of the vote, with Mamdani receiving 20%.” To prove the point, the Times continued that “Mamdani won most of Park Slope, a neighborhood full of progressive Jews and held his own on the similarly Jewish Upper West Side.” All of this was accompanied by a picture of Brad Lander, New York’s Jewish comptroller, looking up at Mamdani with sickening adulation, since, of course, he cross endorsed Mamdani in the primary.
Who exactly is Zohran Mamdani? First of all, Queens State Assemblyman Sam Berger states emphatically that “Mamdani is running the most deceptive, divisive and anti-Semitic campaign in the history of New York City.” From the New York Times, Newsday and other leftist media, one would think that the worst thing that can be said about him is that he is not too experienced. However, in his own words, as Dovid Hamelech once said (Shmuel II 1:16 ), “picha ana becha” – Mamdani seeks the “dismantlement of Israel,” and the arrest and prosecution of Prime Minister Netanyahu if he steps foot in the city once he is mayor. He has admitted that “If I had dreams of being a politician in this country, I wouldn’t have founded a Students for Justice in Palestine chapter at my college.” In plain English, Mamdani wouldn’t have tipped his hand about the degree of his anti-Semitism had he known it might hurt his chances to execute his evil plans.
Yet, despite all this evidence and much more, pictures from his victory celebration included visibly religious Jews as well as many secular ones. After his interview with Der Blatt, a titular Orthodox rabbi declared to the New York Times reporter that “As mayor, we wouldn’t have a problem with him.” Well, we do have a problem with this “rabbi” and his ilk. Klal Yisroel has always suffered from such traitors and renegades. They are ready to betray their people for a moment of glory or approval from the media, but in the end, they would be in as great a danger from their new Quisling as the rest of us who are horrified at the thought of a Mamdani victory.
To review the Torah’s position on Jews who turn on their brethren to endorse or aid and abet our enemies, the novi Yeshayahu (49:17) warns us, “Your ruiners and your destroyers mimeich yetzeiu, will emerge from your own people.” Rav Dovid Cohen, posek and rov of Gvul Yaavetz (Maaseh Avos Siman Labonim 1:42) lists, amongst many others, the paradigms of these turncoats: Freud, Marks, Lenin and Trotsky. We can now also add those who signed a full-page ad in the very beginning of the same edition of the New York Times Magazine. This miserable clawing statement ostensibly signed by 20,000 Jews and 700 rabbis screams, “Jewish people support food aid for people in Gaza and an immediate end to the Israeli government’s food aid blockade.” These impudent enemies of our nation even purport to cite the “Shulchan Aruch” to prove their allegation. Never mind that the claim of Gaza starvation has been proven false. Never mind that these are the same barbarians who committed the greatest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Never mind that their statistics have been repudiated by objective studies many times over.
What are all these people drinking and where are they coming from?
Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv (Sefer Divrei Aggada) demonstrates one of the sources of this tragic part of our history. When Yosef Hatzaddik locked up Shimon in front of the other brothers, the Medrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Bereishis 148) relates what happened behind the scenes. Yosef, who was the acting ruler of Egypt, called 70 of the most powerful strongmen to incarcerate Shimon. When they approached him, Shimon needed only to raise his voice to them and all their teeth fell out. However, Menashe approached Shimon, struck him once and was able to chain him. Shimon responded, apparently, with deep understanding of what was happening and declared, “This is a blow from the house of our father,” meaning from mishpacha.
Rav Elyashiv concludes: “When seventy nations cannot prevail against us, one Jew can knock us down.”
As the Pardes Yosef (Parshas Mikeitz) also states, “When the hands of Eisav are raised against the voice of Yaakov, he is rendered powerless. But when the voice raised against us is from our own, it is then that we must worry.”
Rav Elchonon Wasserman always quoted the Chofetz Chaim that in their days, Yeshaya’s words applied to the Yevsekim – the Jewish communists – who caused great harm to Klal Yisroel because the poison came from members of our nation (Rav Aharon Sorasky, Ohr Elchonon, page 113).
Rav Chatzkel Levenstein (Ohr Yechezkel, “Darchei Ha’avodah,” page 94) takes us back to the churban Bais Hamikdosh itself, which, as we know, was destroyed not only by our enemies from without, but also from within by our own sins (Yoma 9b). The Rebbe of Vizhnitz, Rav Chaim Meir Hager, would cry when mentioning the children who had rebelled against their parents and brought ruin on the nation. He lamented that the harm they did was infinitely worse than anything our enemies could do.
Rav Elya Meir Bloch, rosh yeshivas Telz (Peninei Daas, Haftorah Parshas Eikev, page 155), actually gives us a great deal of hope about all these disturbing facts. He points out that all of our internal enemies eventually disappeared and became irrelevant. The ancient Tzedukim and Baisusim, the Karaim and the later Maskilim and modern-day Reform, have slowly self-disintegrated. This was a special kindness from Hashem, because otherwise we would forever be dealing with these internal enemies without being able to go forward with our own growth in Torah and mitzvos. Therefore, Hashem either allowed them to fully assimilate, so that they were indeed no longer part of the nation, or they saw the light and repented their ways.
In any case, we must of course try to counteract all the sheker with emes, the distortions with clarity. But, as always, we must strengthen our emunah and bitachon, daven for them to change their ways, or, as Rav Elya Meir predicted, for them to simply fail where our enemies from without are failing as well. May Hashem send us the true yeshuah bemeheirah beyomeinu.
