By: Fern Sidman – Jewish Voice News

In a searing sermon that has since gone viral and reverberated far beyond his Upper West Side congregation, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch — the influential senior rabbi of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue and president of the New York Board of Rabbis — delivered a grave warning about the implications of Zohran Mamdani’s recent mayoral victory. Speaking from his pulpit Friday evening, Hirsch said that the new mayor-elect’s record and rhetoric on Israel “represent not mere criticism, but an existential threat to the Jewish people’s safety in New York City.”

As reported on in The New York Post on Sunday, the rabbi’s remarks have ignited intense debate among Jewish leaders, civic figures, and political observers. The sermon, described by many congregants as one of Hirsch’s most impassioned in recent years, painted a stark picture of what the rabbi views as the rise of ideologically driven anti-Zionism within the city’s political establishment — an ideology he warned could have dangerous, real-world consequences for Jewish New Yorkers.

“His opposition to Israel is not political,” Hirsch declared of Mamdani. “It is existential. He believes that Israel has no right to exist at all — as a Jewish state in any territory.” His voice, captured in clips circulated widely on social media, carried both disbelief and alarm. “This is not the position of a critic. This is the position of an enemy.”

According to the information provided in The New York Post report, Rabbi Hirsch recounted in vivid detail a private August meeting between Mamdani and several “prominent and liberal” rabbis — including leaders who had previously been open to dialogue with progressive figures critical of Israeli policies. “We went with open hearts and open minds,” Hirsch said, emphasizing that the group hoped to find common ground with the young Democratic Socialist. But instead, he said, they left the meeting “horrified.”

“Throughout the meeting, our mood steadily darkened,” Hirsch told congregants. “And our fears increased.”

Mamdani, a 34-year-old Muslim immigrant and longtime supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, has long been a polarizing figure within New York politics. As The New York Post report noted, Mamdani founded a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter during his college years and has repeatedly refused to condemn the slogan “Globalize the Intifada,” widely understood as a call to violent resistance against Israel.

Hirsch characterized Mamdani as “a dogmatic opponent to the Zionist ideal,” comparing his ideological stance to the rhetoric of Hamas, Hezbollah, and their patron state, Iran. “He is not simply a critic of Israel,” the rabbi asserted. “He does not believe in coexistence. He does not believe in two states for two peoples. He does not believe in peace as we define it.”

While Mamdani’s campaign emphasized affordability, transportation reform, and progressive policing policies, The New York Post report observed that his outspoken criticism of Israel — particularly during the Gaza war and the campus protest movement — has alarmed Jewish leaders across the political spectrum. For Hirsch, the issue transcends foreign policy. It is, he said, a matter of communal safety and civic stability.

“You can put fifty police officers outside this building,” Hirsch warned. “But if the overall atmosphere is hostile to Jews, it will severely threaten Jewish safety everywhere in the city — every day.”

The rabbi’s remarks drew a standing ovation from members of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue congregation. Many expressed relief that a prominent liberal rabbi had spoken so candidly at a time when anti-Zionist rhetoric has become increasingly mainstream in academic and political spaces, as was reported by The New York Post.

Hirsch reminded his congregants that anti-Zionism has historically been a mask for antisemitism. “What starts with Jews never ends with Jews,” he cautioned. “The city itself will become nastier and more violent. That is the main threat from the ideologically driven anti-Zionism of Zohran Mamdani.”

His words struck a particular chord among older members of his congregation, many of whom recalled New York’s dark chapters of antisemitic vandalism and harassment in the 1970s and 1980s. Yet younger congregants also expressed growing anxiety over the city’s political climate since Mamdani’s election.

In interviews with The New York Post, congregants praised Rabbi Hirsch’s courage in addressing a politically sensitive issue that many liberal religious leaders have avoided.

“I’m proud of my rabbi for being vocal when it’s needed most,” said Ronen Schwartzman, a lifelong member of the synagogue. “He’s very pro-Israel and not afraid to speak up — a big contrast to much of the Reform movement, which too often stays silent when Israel is under attack.”

Prominent pro-Israel activists outside the synagogue also applauded Hirsch’s stand. Lizzy Savetsky, a Jewish influencer and advocate known for her outspoken defense of Israel, took to social media to praise the rabbi’s words. “He is unafraid to speak the truth,” she wrote. “We need more Jewish leaders like this.”

Hirsch’s sermon, according to the report in The New York Post, is part of a growing pushback by Jewish community leaders alarmed by the normalization of anti-Israel rhetoric within progressive politics. In recent years, similar warnings have been voiced by figures across denominations — from Orthodox to Reform — as antisemitic incidents in New York City have surged.

Despite months of criticism from Jewish organizations and national advocacy groups, Mamdani’s campaign gained traction among younger and more progressive voters, including roughly one-third of Jewish New Yorkers, The New York Post reported. Many cited his populist economic platform and his promise to address inequality in housing and transit as decisive factors.

But for Jewish leaders like Hirsch, the danger lies not in Mamdani’s domestic agenda but in the ideological framework that underpins it. “The Red-Green alliance — the merger of radical leftist and Islamist thought — is not just a foreign policy theory,” Hirsch warned. “It is now manifest in our own city politics.”

His remarks echo a growing unease within New York’s Jewish establishment that the city’s traditionally tolerant political fabric is being replaced by something far more divisive. The New York Post recently reported that several major Jewish philanthropic groups are reevaluating their engagement with City Hall, with some considering new community security initiatives in anticipation of heightened tensions.

Hirsch’s warning also lands amid broader national debates over antisemitism, with congressional hearings and university controversies exposing deep ideological rifts over Israel’s legitimacy.

For Rabbi Hirsch, however, the question is not merely political — it is moral. “The lesson of Jewish history,” he said in closing, “is that we must never be silent in the face of threats. Silence emboldens hatred. And hatred, left unchecked, consumes all.”

His call to action resonated deeply with a community grappling with rising antisemitism, campus hostility, and fears that the normalization of anti-Israel discourse could spill into real-world violence, as was observed in the New York Post report.

“The safety of our city depends on truth and moral clarity,” Hirsch concluded. “We cannot build a compassionate society upon a foundation of lies about Israel and the Jewish people. We must confront these ideologies wherever they appear — in our politics, in our classrooms, in our streets.”

While Mamdani’s team has yet to issue a statement in response to the sermon, The New York Post reported that his spokesperson declined to comment when reached on Sunday evening.

Meanwhile, video clips of Rabbi Hirsch’s address continue to circulate widely online, drawing thousands of views and an outpouring of support from Jewish leaders around the world.

For many, the rabbi’s words encapsulate the mood of a community on edge — a community that feels history’s warnings are once again sounding in the heart of New York.

“Rabbi Hirsch has done what too few have dared to do,” one synagogue board member told The New York Post. “He spoke the truth, plainly and without fear. And in times like these, that’s an act of courage.”