Perlman, Lansky, and Deporting Mahmoud Khalil

The day rabbis start telling US judges what to do, would be a bad day. The separation of church and state is a vital one and while rabbis ought to do everything to uphold, teach and advocate for Jewish law, they must also respect the boundaries between law and religion. This is why I was surprised when Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky of the Upper West Side wrote in support of his congregant Judge Jesse Furman’s decision to block the deportation of Hamas activist at Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil. 

Posting on his Facebook page, Rabbi Kalmanofsky wrote: “I am a passionate, liberal Zionist, and unshakeable lover of the state of Israel…But this is the United States of America (or has been until now), and everyone has free speech rights, whatever wrong things they say. You don’t like what they say? Outargue them. That’s how liberal societies work. If this legal resident can be arrested and deported for exercising First Amendment rights, then anyone can. Absent proof of any genuinely nefarious deed – which I have not seen – the Constitution protects Mahmoud Khalil as it protects you and me. And kudos to my friend and congregant Judge Jesse Furman on his ruling.”

As someone who lectures often on matters of Jewish history, the first thing that came to mind when seeing this, was the story of a different New York City Jewish judge who was not recognized for being a follower of the law, yet acknowledged today as an American hero–Judge Nathan Perlman. 

A decorated civil servant who served as a member of Congress and a New York City Deputy Attorney General, in 1938, Perlaman watched with horror the rise of the German American Bund, and the American Nazi movement. American Jews watched with horror as New York City’s Upper East Side became a hub for the Bund’s meetings and the movement of German Nazism was finding its way to more and more young minds and hearts. That is when Perlman, a New York judge, with the silent blessings of the FBI, called a meeting with famous mob mastermind Meyer Lansky. 

“You got some boys who might want to punch a Nazi?” the good judge asked Lansky. “I do, Judge,” Lansky answered. “Respectfully, you understand we can do better than punch?” Lansky left the meeting instructing New York City gangsters to  “marinate” the Bund Nazis but not to “ice” them. The gangsters would come in to meetings of Nazis, wreak havoc, leave Nazis injured, and ultimately helped to expel the Nazi movement from New York, and the eventual defeat of the German Bund’s anti-American, Pro-Nazi movement. Many books have been written since on how New York City’s Jewish gangsters defeated the rising Nazi movement in the United States, a movement that had millions of followers. The odd collaboration between Perlman, a man of the law who often received the silent blessings of the FBI for his efforts, and the gangsters who led lives of breaking the law, has led to one of the greatest chapters in the book of American Jewish life. 

Yes, legal scholars, lawyers, and judges should debate the matter of deporting Mahmoud Khalil. Yet each and every American must view the story of Mahmoud Khalil through the clear moral lens Judge Perlman viewed the German Bund and Nazis in the United States–Khalil has made American Jews less safe and was continuing to do so with no qualms. Khalil led a movement that ,with extraordinary success, made Jews a pariah on the Columbia University campus. We do not have intellectual differences with Khalil, as we did not have intellectual disagreements with members of the German Bund in the 1930s–they want us to cease to exist, and we wanted to continue to exist. 

Does this mean there are legal grounds for detaining or deporting Khalil? Not necessarily. Does it mean rabbis or the Jewish community should be telling Judge Furman how to decide this case? Of course not. It does mean, however, that saying “ the Constitution protects Mahmoud Khalil as it protects you and me” is legally debatable and historically untrue for America’s Jewish community. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King had the foresight to look at existing laws and the Constitution, and understand that protections of the time were simply not working to give African Americans the safety and equality they deserved. In a post-October 7th world, it is time for American Jews to look at our new reality, which was made less safe by people like Khalil, and work with lawmakers and law enforcement to make sure our children can attend colleges and walk the streets of New York City, free of hate and intimidation.