Mayoral candidate Brad Lander said he’s so Jewish “that I almost became a rabbi” while discussing his faith and the fight against antisemitism Wednesday night.
Lander, the city comptroller, also took swipes at a chief rival for Democratic nomination, Andrew Cuomo, claiming the ex-governor discriminated against Jews and has weaponized antisemitism for personal gain.
“Donald Trump and Andrew Cuomo are welcome to disagree with my positions. But they don’t get to decide who’s a good Jew,” Lander said during his speech at the West Side Institutional Synagogue.
Lander, who described himself as a “liberal Zionist,” said he has been steeped in Judaism since childhood.
“You may be surprised to learn it, but growing up, I almost became a rabbi,” the St. Louis native said.
He was the national social action vice president of the Reform Jewish Youth Movement and a member of the Hillel chapter when he attended the University of Chicago.
Lander was also a Hebrew School teacher, a “so-so songleader” and a “pretty good canoe instructor” at Jewish summer camp.
In addition, he organized youths for a 1987 rally in Washington, DC, to free Soviet Jews as well as efforts to fight Republican cuts to social programs.
“I was taught to stand up both for Jews and for all people who are facing oppression — to work to build a more equal and inclusive society grounded in the Jewish value of b’tzelem elohim, that idea that everyone is created in the image of God,” he explained.
He named his kids after Jewish heroes. His son, Marek, after Warsaw Ghetto uprising leader Marek Edelman, and his daughter, Rosa, after workers rights advocate Rose Schneiderman.
Lander also showed sharp elbows, rapping Cuomo, in particular, over his actions against Jews or unfairly smearing people as antisemites. Polls show the ex-governor is the front-runner in the Democratic primary for mayor.
“Andrew Cuomo, who has been sued for antisemitic discrimination and caught using anti-Jewish slurs, came to this very shul and tried to weaponize antisemitism against me, the highest-ranking Jew in New York City government, for his own political gain — right out of the Donald Trump playbook,” he charged.
He was referring to three Jewish congregations that sued the then-governor over a “streak of antisemitic discrimination” for his crackdown on religious gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, Cuomo said the restrictions were put in place to stem the spread of the deadly virus.
Lander also cited a New York Times story that reported that Cuomo condemned Jews observing Sukkot with “curse words and slurs and ‘making fun of our ‘tree houses.’”
“When it comes time to score political points, he uses antisemitism as nothing more than a political game. A few years back, he secretly distributed a mailer falsely claiming his opponent was antisemitic, and then pretended he didn’t know about it,” he said.
He was referring to a dirty tricks state Democratic Party mailer in 2018 that slimed Cuomo’s primary rival Cynthia Nixon as antisemitic, a controversy reported extensively by The Post.
Another mayoral candidate who is Jewish, former city Comptroller Scott Stringer, also criticized Cuomo for exploiting antisemitism for political gain, during a recent West Side Institutional Synagogue address.
The Cuomo campaign defended the ex-governor’s record combatting Jew hatred.
“Amid a rise in antisemitic attacks, the governor passed the strongest hate crime laws in the nation, made New York the first state in the nation to ban BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions movement], developed a model program that delivered millions of dollars in security upgrades for synagogues and yeshivas and when Hamas was firing rockets into Israel, he organized a solidarity mission from New York to show the world that we stand with them,” said Cuomo campaign spokesman Rich Azzopardi.
“Lander, on the other hand spent his adult life as a card carrying member of anti-Israel, pro-BDS Democratic Socialists of America and – in the only significant action as comptroller — divested pension funds from Israel bonds. New Yorkers know Andrew Cuomo has the record and the experience to get this city back on track and won’t be fooled by Lander’s feeble attempts to deflect from his record.”
Lander said Jews across the spectrum differ on the actions of the Israeli government and criticism of the Jewish state doesn’t make an American Jew any less so.
“I have sharply criticized the actions of the Israeli government, called for a cease-fire in Gaza, for an end to the war, for the resumption of aid to prevent starvation of Palestinian kids, and criticized the ongoing apartheid of life in the West Bank. We aren’t going to agree on all of this,” he said.
“We haven’t for 2,600 years.”
He said not all critics of Israel are anti-semites.
“But let’s be clear: if you’re using the word Zionist as a slur for Jews, if you’re targeting people because they’re Jewish, if you’re going to a Orthodox Jewish neighborhood and calling the people `gross’ and telling them to go back to Europe, if you don’t think Israeli Jews are fully human, and deserving of human rights — then you have crossed way over the line into antisemitism, and you are part of the problem. And I will stand up and oppose you fiercely,” said Lander, touting his own plan to combat antisemitism if elected mayor.
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