Prior to the New York mayoral election, thousands of rabbis (including both rabbis at our Temple) signed a letter urging people to vote against Zohran Mamdani in the name of protecting the rights of Israel and the right of Jews to security, dignity, and identity. The letter began by adopting and incorporating the words of New York Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove:
Zionism, Israel, Jewish self-determination—these are not political preferences or partisan talking points. They are constituent building blocks and inseparable strands of my Jewish identity. To accept me as a Jew but to ask me to check my concern for the people and state of Israel at the door is a nonsensical proposition and an offensive one, no different than asking me to reject God, Torah, mitzvot, or any other pillar of my faith.
In a post-election sermon and in a November 11 Forward essay based on that sermon, Cosgrove attempted to reach out to the many New York City Jews who voted for Mamdani (approximately 1/3 according to polling, with different breakdowns across the city) and to the many more outside New York who supported Mamdani and cheered his victory. Cosgrove sought to assure these Jews—with whom he expressed profound disagreement and bewilderment that they did not share his views—of their place in the community that he and thousands of other signatories (in and out of New York) lead. He insisted that his past calls for Jews to vote against Mamdani—and for congregants to push non-congregant family and friends to vote against him—did not call for “demean[ing], diminish[ing], or sham[ing] another Jew’s viewpoint.”
My past writing made obvious, but to be clear: Cosgrove was speaking to and of me.
I am a Zionist on the most basic definition: Israel should exist as a Jewish state in its current location and it it has a right to defend itself through force. Beyond that, I sit among the many American Jews that American Jewish leaders and institutions have lost or alienated.
I believe Netanyahu and his government is as corrupt, authoritarian, and contemptible as the Trump Administration.1 Whatever the initial justifications for military responses to October 7, the government’s tactics (and perhaps its strategies and goals) have become indefensible—regardless of whether those tactics and policies rise to the level of genocide or war crimes or are merely bad actions. In any event, Israel sits lower on the list of my political and religious commitments and does not form a core part of my faith. Unlike the rabbis in the letter, Israel is not a “constituent building block[] and inseparable strand[]” of my Jewish identity on par with “God, Torah, mitzvot, or any other pillar of my faith.” Prioritizing my “Jewish sel[f]” does not prioritize connection to Israel over “local issues.” If I lived in New York City, I would have voted for Mamdani. And I am more concerned about the American shitshow. That does not mean I do not care about Israel; I do. It does mean that Israel yields when support for it conflicts with other Jewish values. Plus, my maximalist free-speech commitments make me more tolerant of antisemitic-but-protected speech.
In holding these views, I hope I am among those Jews Cosgrove praises in his sermon and essay–“[t]houghtful, caring, introspective” and “wise enough to interrogate their own views” So I welcome the effort his essay reflects. But it rings hollow in several respects.
First, Cosgrove labels (and repeatedly insists that) ahavat Israel is his “North Star.” But he changes the term’s meaning. Pre-election stories about his anti-Mamdani speeches and efforts describe Cosgrove defining it as love of Israel—in context, seeming to mean the State of Israel. The rabbis’ letter argues that prioritizing our Jewish selves meant voting on connection to Israel—a connection that includes broader support of the current military efforts. Cosgrove made the same rhetorical move early in his post-election sermon. Only later in the sermon and then throughout the Forward essay did Cosgrove redefine the concept—to love of the Jewish people, of all who fall in “that sacred subset of humanity called mishpachah, family,” regardless of who they supported in the late election or what they believe about Israel. It is impossible to say which meaning controls. Beyond the specific controversy over one mayoral selection, the question remains whether those who do not prioritize Israel remain mishpachah.
Second, Cosgrove analogizes the split within the Jewish family to the split between Abraham and Isaac following the akedah. But he premises the story on his conclusion that those who share his views about Mamdani represent Abraham within the “home” of Jews, contra the “Issacs of our community [who] have found themselves more at home in the tents of others than in our own.” I know better than to debate Torah with a rabbi. Yet his reading suggests that Jews such as me have left the Jewish tent for the arms of the stranger and must be welcomed back for us to walk together again. That presumption reinforces the existing problem—according to Cosgrove (and other Jewish leaders), I am outside Jewish institutions but he and others will work to welcome me back. Of course, I do not feel as if I have left my religious commitments.
Finally, I am skeptical of those (in all walks of religion, politics, and public debate) who raise the rhetorical heat by othering a part of a community, then insist that everyone “turn the temperature down and build bridges of dialogue.” To his credit, Cosgrove seems to acknowledge that he inadvertently helped raise the temperature–by failing “to uphold the spirit of dialogue and freedom of conscience and expression”–and that he bears some burden in lowering it.
My felt disconnect from the institutional Jewish community over Israel did not originate with the rabbis’ letter or Cosgrove’s advocacy. The basic idea—Israel forms the core Jewish love, value, and principle; it takes precedence over all other loves, values, and principles; the bad happening in the world (including in the U.S.) pales compared with the bad befalling Israel—has been everywhere for a long time, certainly since October 7. So, too, has my difficulty in finding room to hold and express contrary views.
I have never met Rabbi Cosgrove; I find him a thoughtful and engaging speaker and writer. I appreciate the value in his recent sermon and essay and hope others will follow suit. Inadvertently, however, it highlights the continuing problem.
- A talking point in the Antisemitism/Anti-Zionism debate insists that criticizing the Israeli government and its policies is fair game and does not constitute antisemitism. But for many, that freedom to criticize ends with domestic policy (e.g, reorganizing the judiciary or prohibiting women from praying at the Western Wall) and does not extend to criticizing the Gaza War or the government’s war policy and strategy. ↩︎