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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani went to Orthodox Borough Park ahead of Rosh Hashanah — to Eichler’s Judaica store. They gave him honey, showed him a shofar, and wished him “shanah tovah.” The visit was meant to look like a holiday gesture. It fell apart almost immediately. Stephanie Benshimol, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, walked into the store and told the mayor to his face that showing up there was chutzpah. In her words, it is his line on Israel and his weak response to rising antisemitism in the city that make Jews less safe. “This is where my grandmother and grandfather came after the war. What right do you have to come here now?” Security escorted her out, but on the street she kept following the delegation, handing out Israeli flags and asking the people with him why they were welcoming a man many see as hostile to the Jewish state. Mamdani stayed calm, congratulated residents, and said he was glad to be in a Jewish neighborhood. Some Hasidic leaders already have working contacts with City Hall. Another part of the community sees this not as reconciliation, but as PR from a politician who spent years attacking Israel and never clearly rejected slogans like “globalize the intifada.” Rosh Hashanah begins on the evening of September 11. The tension is not letting up. And the charge is simple: you @NYCMayor cannot be an antisemite and the mayor of New York at the same time!