By Gabriel Boxer

Religious freedom is one of America’s greatest gifts to the Jewish people. It is the constitutional shield that allowed our community to build institutions, live openly as Jews, and participate fully in public life without fear of state imposed belief.

That is why New York City Mayor Mamdani’s public religious messaging, including calling on New Yorkers to “embrace” Muhammad alongside his own personal embrace of Islam, deserves firm and principled criticism.

Let’s be clear at the outset. Every American, including the Mayor, has the absolute right to practice his faith openly and proudly. Muslims in America deserve the same religious liberty that Jews have fought hard to secure and defend. That is not in question.

What is in question is whether an elected official should use the authority and visibility of public office to urge religious alignment from the broader population he serves.

That is not religious freedom. That is religious persuasion from a political platform.

Jews know from long and painful history why this distinction matters. In country after country, political authority and dominant religious doctrine were intertwined. Minority communities paid the price. The American system broke from that model by design. No state faith. No civic pressure to adopt a creed. No government endorsed spiritual path.

When Mayor Mamdani speaks about his personal faith, that is his right. When he invites all New Yorkers to spiritually follow in that direction, he steps beyond personal testimony and into public religious advocacy. That is a line public officials should not cross, no matter which religion is involved.

New York is not a religious body. It is a civic one.

The mayor represents Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, and those who are undecided or unaffiliated. His unifying language should be rooted in law, rights, safety, opportunity, and mutual respect. It should not be rooted in calls to religious embrace of any prophet or tradition.

For the Jewish community, this concern is not theoretical. We are living through a sustained surge in antisemitic incidents, harassment, and violence. Many Jewish New Yorkers already question whether city leadership fully understands their vulnerability. In that climate, religiously charged political rhetoric does not reassure. It is unsettling.

This is not about opposing Islam. It is about defending neutrality in government.

If a Christian mayor urged citizens to embrace Jesus, Jewish organizations would object immediately and rightly. If a Jewish mayor urged the public to embrace the Torah’s authority, there would be public outcry. The standard must be consistent. Public office is not a pulpit for religious recruitment.

America is not a Muslim country. It is not a Christian country. It is not a Jewish country. It is a constitutional republic where all faiths stand equal before the law and none is promoted by the state. That framework is exactly what has made Jewish flourishing here possible.

Mayor Mamdani is free to be devout. He is free to be public about his devotion. But he also has a duty to maintain a clear boundary between his personal faith and his public role. Encouraging religious embrace from the political stage blurs that boundary and weakens the civic compact that protects every minority, including ours.

Religious liberty works only when the government stays in its lane. That principle must be defended, even when it is uncomfortable, and even when the official involved is popular.

Gabriel Boxer is the CEO of Guru Marketing, aka “The Kosher Guru”.