Mordechai & Mamdani: Stand Up

What happened in Boro Park yesterday (September 2nd) bothered me.

Zohran Mamdani walks into the heart of one of New York’s largest Jewish communities, after everything he has said about Israel, and suddenly there are smiles, gifts, photo ops and a very warm welcome.

Why are we so desperate to make him comfortable?

There’s an old Jewish instinct at work here. We developed it over 2,000 years of exile.

Keep the ruler happy. Build the relationship. Show him we’re good people. Don’t make trouble. Maybe if he likes us, things will be okay. I understand where it comes from but I also think we should know better by now.

And then there’s the other extreme: Mass rallies. Megaphones. Screaming about antisemitism to people who already agree with us, while convincing ourselves that volume equals strength.

The anger is justified. But anger without strategy doesn’t get us very far.

Mordechai understood that. He knew how to work within the system. Esther did too. They were strategic. They understood power. They knew when to speak, how to speak, and who needed to be in the room. And when Haman demanded that Mordechai bow, he didn’t bow.

That’s the balance we need now.

Work within the system. Build better relationships with politicians who share our values. Find and support better candidates. Get better at persuading the undecided.

But most of all, strengthen who we are. That’s really the work of Elul.

A stronger Jewish identity. A deeper connection to Hashem. More Torah. More community. More responsibility for one another.

Because Jews who know who they are don’t need to beg to be liked. And we don’t need to scream to prove we’re strong.

Let’s stand up straight like Mordechai, and like Esther, unite the people under Hashem.

That is the energy we need right now.