A Busy Day

By: Larry Gordon

During different times of the year, there is a plethora of events and activities that are meant to attract different segments of New York and New Jersey’s vibrant Jewish communities. And the start of summer is one of the busiest times. In fact, last Thursday was so busy that we could have spent the entire day traversing the city as we headed from one event to the other.

First, there was a real estate show at the New York Hilton with property vendors and entrepreneurs displaying their properties through videos and private consultations for buyers who are anywhere from mildly interested to seriously contemplating buying property in Israel.

During the show, Republican candidate for governor of New York Bruce Blakeman came to the Hilton to meet with Jerusalem’s Mayor Moshe Lion. The show and the meeting are just one aspect of how New York’s Jewish community is attached to Israel and in particular the city of Jerusalem.

Later that evening, there was a dinner hosted by the Israel Justice Organization (IJO) that featured members of the Knesset who were in New York, like Mayor Lion, to take part in the Israel Day Parade on Fifth Avenue.

The parade is an opportunity to squeeze in a series of related events because so many Israeli dignitaries are already here to join in the festivities.

The IJO dinner for Knesset members is an annual event that usually takes place at the iconic Reserve Cut restaurant in Midtown. The dinner was hosted by board members, Dr. Joe Frager and Jonathan Burkan. Along with MKs, the dinner hosted Israeli dignitaries such as Minister of Heritage Amihai Eliyahu, Minister of Aliya and Integration Ofir Sofer, and Minister of National Resilience MK Yitzchak Wasserlauf, who at 33 is the youngest minister and Knesset member.

One of the odd things about this event both last year and this year was that the private room at Reserve Cut contains only 30 seats around a long rectangular table, which is not nearly enough when you calculate that each Knesset member brings anywhere from four to eight assistants and security personnel, not to mention the SUV drivers and their security detail, who were parked outside.

But it’s always a great dinner with important and sometimes confidential matters being discussed by the ministers.

Sunday was a great day with perfect weather for the march up Fifth Avenue. One of the negative distractions to the event this year was the immature and childish behavior of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The mayor wanted to give the impression that he was keeping his distance from the parade because he is an enemy of Israel. But that’s not really true as insiders involved in organizing the parade told me, as the mayor was indeed involved behind the scenes, even objecting to the Jewish Community Relations Council’s (the parade’s sponsor) choice for the respected title of Grand Marshal of the Parade.

Mamdani objected to the JCRC appointment because the person was a known supporter of President Trump and of course, Israel. As a compromise, the JCRC selected New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch as Grand Marshal. Last week at a news conference, Commissioner Tisch stood beside Mayor Mamdani as he announced to the world that he would not be participating in the parade. But then Tisch announced that she would be there, participating “proudly.”

In a sense they are New York’s latest “odd couple.” The mayor has a way about him that unnerves many New Yorkers—Jews and non-Jews alike. He’s like the answer to the question: Which one doesn’t belong?

Regardless, former mayors Michael Bloomberg and Eric Adams proudly marched to cheers from the crowd, along with a slew of elected officials and NYPD officers. More than 50,000 participated, making it the largest turnout in the event’s history.

Back at the property expos at the Hilton, there were many people just skipping around from booth to booth or table to table. One has to assume that if you were there you were in all likelihood interested in purchasing a home in Israel.

I started up a conversation with one man perusing the various real estate possibilities, who shared with me that over the last five years, he has bought five apartments in and around Jerusalem. He said he was motivated to own a home in Israel not just for himself, but also so that each of his children and their families would have a place to live in Israel when the time was right.

He said he has five children but was still there looking. When I asked him why, he said that a couple of his children were not happy with the area of Jerusalem where he had bought homes. He said some of them wanted to live in more religious areas. I commented to him that it was an interesting dilemma to have and wished him the best of luck in his endeavors. He said that while we were standing there talking, his oldest son was looking around for the right apartment for him and his family to live in someday.

The weather was beautiful on Sunday, and the parade was a great success. At the end of the day, Mayor Mamdani looked foolish as he has so many times during his brief tenure in City Hall. I suppose among other things, it’s a real-life illustration of where acting stupid is going to get you.

So, the chief executive of the great city of New York stayed away because he has a problem with Jews and Israel. And by the way, just because he meets on occasion with a few people from Satmar doesn’t obfuscate his deep hostility toward Jews. They think that in his eyes, they’re different from other Jews. They’re not.

Mamdani’s mistake is that the parade was more about the New Yorkers he was elected to represent than Israel. Yes, the people in the parade were for the most part New Yorkers who may have family in Israel, which brings them to enjoy a close relationship with the Jewish state. This is an attachment that is not much different than Mamdani’s connection to Uganda, l’havdil. But that makes too much sense.

Over the weekend, Israeli forces drove further into Lebanon then they did since 1967. They took over the Beaufort Castle, which has long been a Hezbollah stronghold. In the meantime, as talks with Iran stretch out, the Mullahs will try to tie an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon to any peace deal, which Iran will never keep anyway. A few days ago, when it was reported that Iran had agreed not to build a nuclear bomb, the administration woke up to the fact that the Iranians only agreed to such a deal because they were planning to buy a bomb from a country that already produces nuclear weapons, such as Pakistan.

Also on Sunday, two teenagers were badly hurt in a car ramming at a busy junction in Gush Etzion. One was rushed into emergency surgery. So, the more things look like they’re changing, the more they stay the same.

The past few days have been tremendously busy. So busy, in fact, that it was almost easy to forget about the nonsense that is Zohran Mamdani. 

Read more of Larry Gordon’s articles at 5TJT.com. Follow 5 Towns Jewish Times on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates and live videos. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome at 5TJT.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.