KA Community Corner

Archived Articles From Past Weeks

Shalom, Kol Ami Family! If you’ve been keeping up with the news, you’re probably aware that an avowed pro-BDS, anti-Israel activist, with a thin resume but significant financial backing, has just been elected mayor of the city with the largest concentration of Jews outside of Israel. On January 1, 2026, Zohran Mamdani, a charismatic, trust-fund Socialist, will become New York City’s mayor. Some Jewish voters, particularly younger and educated, voted for him, presumably because of both his economic populist promises to ease the financial strain that comes with living in New York and his focus on social justice, incidentally, a very Talmudic concept. (See Bava Metzia 83a:10 for rabbinic commentary on ensuring a poor worker is paid his wages on the same day, before the sun sets, a verse from Deuteronomy 24:12-15. Evidence of 2,000-year-old Jewish concern for economic fairness and workers’ rights, in other words, social justice.)

But many in the Jewish community are worried, because even as Mamdani declares his disapproval of antisemitism, he continually portrays Israel, in actuality the most successful indigenous restoration of a people to its ancient homeland, as an oppressive, Western colonial power subjugating its neighbors with the intent of genocide. Which is not even remotely true (and functions as a dog whistle of the ancient blood libel about Jewish world domination). Not only is Israel not a colonial power, it is an actual survivor of an actual genocide.

Yet the Jewish people refuses to blame other colonial powers for subjugating it. After 2,000 years of persecution, expulsion, pogroms, and genocide, Jews refuse to compete in the victimhood Olympics. We have proudly retired undefeated. Instead, Israel has founded universities, composed symphonies, pioneered medicine, developed technologies, and made deserts bloom. This focus on sharing the fruits of our labors with everyone (whether they like us or not) is moral, practical, and inherently Zionist. Something an am kadosh, a holy nation, would do.

In response to the New York mayoral election, Rabbi Blatt convened one of her well-attended Kiddush Conversations during lunch last Shabbat. She asked us to focus on our response to the election. What can we do? For one, we can seek out and deepen our ties with our many allies. To that end, Rabbi Blatt, President-elect Carolyn Fink, and I attended the Awards Dinner of Saint Leo University’s Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies, on whose National Advisory Board Rabbi Blatt serves. Interfaith allyship is a productive, reassuring response to rising antisemitism. People suggested we all reach out to non-Jewish friends, coordinate with their organizations, listen to podcasts by non-Jewish supporters of Israel, read about how our non-Jewish allies stand up for us. Inspire and strengthen ourselves.

The group also discussed leaning into being more proudly Jewish.  Surveys in Israel show the happiest segment of the Jewish population is the devoutly Shabbat-observant ultra-Orthodox. Israel itself consistently ranks among the happiest nations in the world, despite constant war and upheaval, according to the annual UN World Happiness Report.

For thousands of years, Jews have embraced Shabbat as a time to withdraw from the noise of daily life, clear our minds, and remember what matters most. Let’s infuse our lives more with the rich customs of Shabbat: candlelight, challah, wine, meals with family and friends, singing, rest, prayer, meaningful discussions, and Torah study. If more people (Jews and even non-Jews) reclaimed the practice of Shabbat, wouldn’t our lives, and perhaps even our world, become healthier, calmer, better?

So, Kol Ami Family, come to Shabbat services and see how it feels to spend time away from the noise of daily life. Clear your mind of the antisemitism and anti-Zionism in the media, on college campuses, and in some morally confused communities, and remember what matters most. Stay for kiddush. Take a class. Check out a book from Kol Ami’s library. Learn about how and why our tiny, vulnerable Jewish tribe has outlasted some of the world’s greatest superpowers: Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Greece, Rome, the Ottomans, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union. Every one of them tried in some way to attack, erase, or eradicate either Jews or Judaism. And every one of them has been consigned to the dustbin of history. But the Jewish nation is still here, bloodied but unbowed. So let’s choose to live with meaning and purpose, as we have done for generations, and look forward to the future. Together. Proud. Deeply Jewish.

Rabbi Blatt will be following up on these themes in subsequent emails, bringing us various resources to learn from and take inspiration from. And however you feel about everything going on (and I truly hope New York City’s future is bright for all its residents), you can always get in touch with me. I love talking about this stuff.

B’Shalom,

Jody Sampson-Nair

President