Zohran Mamdani talked with constituents at the 2022 block party organized by Tikkun BBQ on 31st Avenue in Astoria. Courtesy of Tikkun BBQ via Eli Goldman
By Andrew Silverstein
July 1, 2025
Since Zohran Mamdani’s surprising Democratic mayoral primary upset last week, New York Jewish leaders’ uneasiness with the democratic socialist’s pro-Palestinian activism has spawned Islamophobic attacks from national Republican figures.
But to Eli Goldman, the Jewish owner of Tikkun BBQ in Mamdani’s Queens district, the 33-year-old state assemblyman is “a pretty upstanding, decent guy, trying to do the right thing.”
While some Republicans warn a Muslim mayor will turn New York City into an Islamic caliphate, and some New York Jews debate whether a mayor who opposes Zionism can effectively lead at a time of rising antisemitism, missing from the discussion is the voice of the sizeable Jewish community in Astoria, Queens that Mamdani has represented since 2021.
Their views, shaped by their neighborhood and personal experiences with Mamdani rather than national politics, offer a more nuanced picture.
Goldman, 36, is disappointed Mamdani failed to condemn Hamas by name after the Oct. 7 attack, and wished the candidate had responded differently when he refused to denounce the pro-Palestinian slogan “globalize the intifada,” which some see as a call to violence against Jews. But Goldman has also had conversations with Mamdani at his Tikkun BBQ Astoria grill events and burger pop-ups that double as public health education initiatives and fundraisers for charities – inspired by his Jewish upbringing.
“I bumped into him at restaurants, at bars, and on the subway,” Goldman said. “I’ve never gotten the sense that there was any whiff of antisemitism.”
Democratic Socialists lead diverse Queens neighborhood
Goldman’s position reflects life in one of the country’s most diverse communities. Long known as New York’s Greek neighborhood, Astoria in Queens has large Middle Eastern, Balkan, Brazilian, and Bangladeshi populations, alongside a growing community of over 20,000 Jews in northwest Queens, according to the UJA Federation of New York.
Most local Jews remain unaffiliated with congregations, said Rabbi Joshua Rabin of Astoria Center of Israel, the neighborhood’s oldest synagogue, housed in its original 1926 building. But since arriving at the conservative synagogue in 2022, he has watched his small congregation double in size – partly fueled by gentrification that has drawn young professionals to the traditionally immigrant area.
”The assemblyman’s election in the primary comes at a very interesting time for the emerging Jewish community in western Queens,” said Rabin.
Astoria has become a laboratory for Democratic party realignment – becoming more diverse, more progressive, and more critical of Israel. With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as its congressional representative, it is unique in that every local elected official is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Even when vastly outspent, these young, diverse upstarts, Ocasio-Cortez, Mamdani, City Council member Tiffany Cabán and State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, easily defeated establishment Democrats. Something Mamdani, who immigrated as a child from Uganda, repeated in his victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, despite attack ads that painted him as a threat to the Jewish community.
Twenty months into the Israel-Gaza war, with almost 70 percent of Democrats, including many Jews, holding negative views of Israel, according to a Pew Research survey, Mamdani’s rise reflects broader tensions. Jewish leaders are grappling with what it means that Mamdani, who supports boycotts of Israeli settlements, may upend decades of stalwart democratic support of Israel in the city with the largest concentration of Jews outside of Israel. Republican leaders who claim the former Student for Justice in Palestine leader is antisemitic are seizing on the divisions. “Congratulations to the new leader of the Democratic Party,” JD Vance posted on social media.
In Astoria, where Mamdani won by 52 points, Jewish reactions vary widely. “We’re proud to consider ourselves supporters of Zionism as a congregation,” Rabbi Rabin told me, while acknowledging diverse individual views. He calls attacks on Mamdani as a Muslim and immigrant “racism plain and simple,” but added: “There is merit to be concerned about: What does any candidate, no matter their religion or background, mean when they say antisemitism is a concern?”
One older congregant, a registered Democrat in Astoria for nearly 50 years, opposed Mamdani based on concerns about police funding — despite the fact that he has vowed not to “defund the police.” Her reservations, however, extend beyond policy. “I don’t think he’ll make a good mayor for Jews,” she told me, “because he’s a Muslim.”
Many other Jewish residents, however, moved to the neighborhood specifically for its diversity. Nancy Mace, a Republican member of Congress from South Carolina, shared an image on X of Mamdani in South Asian garb, writing “we have forgotten” 9/11, but in New York neighborhoods like Astoria, the image doesn’t read as foreign.
When Mamdani praises the breakfast sandwiches at D & F Italian Deli, the tacos at the Mexican run St. James Deli, or the pastries at Afghan owned cafe Little Flower, he’s showing himself to be a real New Yorker – proud of his own ethnic roots, and also a cultural omnivore. Latino New Yorkers were impressed by Mamdani’s Spanish language campaign video, Jews approved of his bagel order, and most New Yorkers appreciated his campaign ad for more permits for popular Halal carts.
Multiculturalism is constantly on display in Astoria. “It’s a beautiful thing,” said 50-year-old Rachel Paster, a labor lawyer and mother of two, who described the midnight Greek Easter processions, Gay Pride events, and Eid celebration in Astoria Park. “I can’t imagine a better place to live to be able to see this and just feel the joy that other people have,” said Paster, a Jewish resident of Astoria for 24 years, “and then our own joy [as Jews], of course.”
Two years ago, Paster hosted a community Chanukah party in her home for Jews for Racial and Economic Justice. Mamdani participated in the candle lighting that included an extra prayer for the Israeli hostages held by Hamas and for a ceasefire in Gaza. “He came to really genuinely listen and have a deep conversation with everyone who was there,” she said.
Paster, who canvassed for Mamdani in the election, believes he succeeded by connecting with voters and focusing on affordability issues, not because of his views on Israel. For her, it’s refreshing that a candidate vocally supports Palestinian rights, but she doesn’t believe people with other opinions should feel threatened.
“He seems to understand that he is running for the position of mayor for everyone,” she said. “He’s really a humanist.”
The Jewish trust deficit
Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg, whose start-up congregation Malkhut serves Western Queens, is concerned with rising antisemitism – her grandparents fled Nazi Germany, settling in Flushing Queens. “That personal story makes it even more heartbreaking for me to experience rising antisemitism here and now,” she said in an email.
While Malkhut defines itself as “a progressive Jewish spiritual community,” members have a wide range of feelings about the war in Gaza, and Mamdani, the rabbi said. She believes that the endorsement of Brad Lander, the city’s highest-ranking elected Jewish official, went a long way with some members. “It’s a real statement of trust in his solidarity with the Jewish community in New York,” she said, “that he cares about us and is not going to be working against our safety or our interests.”
Mamdani’s plan to fight antisemitism includes the creation of a department of community safety and an increase in funding for anti-hate crime programming by 800 percent.
Goldenberg agrees with this broad approach. “When all of us are safe,” she said, “Jews are safe.”
Rabbi Rabin needs greater assurances. If “someone throws a brick with the term ‘Free Palestine’ through the window of a Kosher restaurant,” how would Mamdani as mayor respond? Rabin wants all candidates to explain how they will protect the Jewish community while guaranteeing free speech. “To me, it’s show, don’t tell.”
Lauren Baker, a 45-year-old psychologist who lives in neighboring Sunnyside and is a member of Astoria Center of Israel with two children in local schools, does not trust Mamdani to make the right decisions.
She could support a Muslim or pro-Palestinian mayor, but is troubled by the candidate’s past statements. “I certainly don’t think that somebody who has a hard time condemning terrorism against Jews,” the registered Democrat said, “should be mayor of any city in our country.”
Rabbi Goldenberg’s belief in Mamdani, however, like Paster’s and Goldman’s, is informed by personal interactions. Goldenberg met him at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day interfaith event at the Jamaica Muslim Center. “I had a really positive interaction,” she said.
But so far Mamdani has not been able to build the same rapport with Jewish leaders across the city. “There’s definitely a trust deficit with that particular candidate,” Rabbi Rabin said. “And the question is, how is he going to respond?”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify a quote.
