NEW YORK (RNS) — Over the past few weeks, virtually every poll predicted Zohran Mamdani would become New York City’s next mayor. Even so, some Jewish New Yorkers who voted for Andrew Cuomo said they felt shell-shocked when Mamdani won Tuesday (Nov. 4).

According to a CNN exit poll, 64% of Jews surveyed said they voted for Cuomo, 32% for Mamdani and 3% for Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa. The results expose a deepening divide in the Jewish community pitting Jews who support Israeli policies against those who are critical of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and actions in Gaza.

Mamdani, who will become New York’s first Muslim mayor, made affordability a cornerstone of his campaign but did not shy away from his anti-Zionist, pro-Palestinian views. He accused Israel of genocide and has said he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a warrant from the International Criminal Court should he visit New York, where the United Nations is located.

While Mamdani has rejected accusations of antisemitism and in his victory speech said he would build an administration that “does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism,” some Jews — particularly those who consider support for Israel core to their Jewish identity — believe his worldview could pose a threat to their already vulnerable communities at a time when antisemitic incidents have risen after Oct. 7, 2023.

“We woke up today with a whole new degree of uncertainty,” said Rabbi Mayer Waxman, executive director of the Queens Jewish Community Council, on Wednesday.

Leading up to the election, more than 1,100 rabbis and Jewish leaders from a range of denominations signed a letter against Mamdani’s candidacy, arguing anti-Zionism should not be normalized. They referred to his refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” a pro-Palestinian slogan that many believe calls for inciting violence against Jews, though he later said he would “discourage” its usage. The letter-signers also accused Mamdani of denying “Israel’s legitimacy,” as he’s refused to say whether he supported Israel’s existence as a Jewish state, saying that all Israeli citizens should have equal rights. Mamdani has also said he supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions, or BDS, movement against Israel.

Other rabbis, most of them religiously and politically left-wing, endorsed Mamdani, as did Rabbi Moishe Indig from the anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox Satmar community.

“Heartiest congratulations and Mazel Tov to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani,” Indig wrote on X shortly after the race was called in Mamdani’s favor. “We are proud to endorse you and look forward to your leadership, vision, and collaboration for the betterment of our community and all New Yorkers.”

Younger Jews associated with left-leaning groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and Bend the Arc were among those working tirelessly for Mamdani, fielding thousands of volunteers to knock on doors and make calls on behalf of his campaign. 

“New York Jews were proud to be part of the multiracial, multiethnic, interfaith coalition that turned out in record numbers to vote for Zohran Mamdani,” said a statement from IfNotNow congratulating Mamdani.

Mamdani received a cross-endorsement from Comptroller Brad Lander, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the city, ahead of the June Democratic primary. And Mamdani also was endorsed by U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, the longest-serving Jewish member of Congress, as well as State Assemblyman Micah Lasher, who is also Jewish.

But older Jews and mainstream Jewish groups largely opposed Mamdani. After his election, the Anti-Defamation League, a leading Jewish organization that monitors antisemitism, announced it is developing a “Mamdani Monitor” to track major policy issues, appointments and government actions that could affect Jews’ security in New York City.

“We’re deeply concerned about what the next four years could augur for Jewish New Yorkers, the antisemitic language that he has promoted, antisemitic policies that he’s championed, the antisemitic extremists who he’s known to affiliate with,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the ADL, at a virtual meeting Wednesday. “All of this contributes to our concern because it enables an environment where hate is tolerated and hostility has a kind of permission structure.”

J Street, a left-leaning Jewish group that considers itself “pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy,” released a statement calling the ADL tracker “alarming,” arguing that the same scrutiny has not been given to President Donald Trump “despite his long track record of using antisemitism and bigotry for political gain.”

“The fearmongering we have seen from some Jewish institutions and leaders surrounding Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is harmful, overblown, and risks needlessly deepening divisions in the city and in our community,” J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami said in the statement. 

Among the more fevered responses, Rabbi Marc Schneier of The Hampton Synagogue in Westhampton Beach, outside the city, announced plans to build the first Jewish day school in the Hamptons. “This is in anticipation of the thousands of Jewish families that will flock to the Hamptons and greater Suffolk County to escape the antisemitic climate of Mamdani’s New York City,” Schneier said in a statement Wednesday.

Melanie Gall, a Brooklyn resident who said she experienced antisemitism in her native Canada before moving to New York for college in 2002, said living in the city has given her a sense of belonging. “When I mentioned Hanukkah, I didn’t get a blank look,” she said of living in New York. “Menorahs were shining in shop windows alongside the Christmas displays. I could use Yiddish words and people understand them.”

Even after the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, when people tore down posters drawing attention to the hostages held by Hamas and scrawled antisemitic graffiti on the walls, she said she joined Jewish groups and resisted “a few vocal hatemongers” taking away her sense of home. Mamdani’s victory changed things, though, she said.

“Tonight, that sense of home is gone. The city no longer feels safe. As a queer woman, I always thought it would be the far right who would be a threat to me,” she said. “But it was the left — the very community who should be supporting and protecting me as a minority — who actively campaigned for a mayor who has made it clear that Jewish safety is not his problem. I feel like I’ve lost my home.”

Elizabeth Rand, a Manhattan resident and founder of Mothers Against College Antisemitism, said via WhatsApp she is “absolutely devastated” that Mamdani won. “The idea that a radical, antisemitic, socialist will dominate NYC politics for the next four years is inconceivable. Whatever vigilance we had as a community needs to be put into overdrive.”

Doug Chandler, a self-described progressive Zionist who lives in Forest Hills, Queens, said he could not vote for Mamdani despite being a Democrat.

“The reason I opposed him is the animosity he’s had for Israel and Zionism since his youth,” he said. “He seemed to make everything about Israel when he had the chance.”

Meanwhile, rabbis and New York Jewish leaders who planned to vote for Mamdani told RNS last week they were excited about the potential of Muslim-Jewish cooperation in politics.

Many Jews have also said they agree with Mamdani about Gaza. And another letter, signed by over 1,300 rabbis, cantors and rabbinical students last week, did not endorse Mamdani but wrote that his “support for Palestinian self-determination stems not from hate, but from his deep moral convictions” and rejected that Jews would be unsafe in the city if he was elected.

Suzanne Reisman of Manhattan said she voted for Mamdani because he was a better choice than Cuomo, saying the latter harmed the city with his feuds with former Mayor Bill de Blasio and citing the multiple sexual harassment allegations against the former governor. “He ran a race to stoke fear and hatred that is vile,” she said of Cuomo. 

“Mamdani I can at least hope has the ability to listen, change and grow,” Reisman said. “I think he genuinely loves the city. I also believe he is smart enough to know that Jews are an important part of city life, and he will understand we can be amazing allies. This whole election was hard. In the end, I put my faith in my fellow New Yorkers.”

In Kew Garden Hills, a mostly Orthodox Jewish enclave in Queens, 70% of voters chose Cuomo, and some Jews said they were urged to do so by their rabbis. Shopping in a Jewish bookstore, Waxman said that “as an observant Jew who has a love for Israel and family members in Israel, the fact that Israel was a key issue in a successful campaign for mayor of New York is disconcerting.” However, his family has no plans to move elsewhere.

Nor does Joseph Yaak, the manager of the Bravo Kosher Pizza restaurant in Kew Garden Hills.

“Of course there are concerns about Mamdani,” Yaak said, “but we have to believe that he isn’t the one who runs the world. God runs the world.”

Fiona Murphy contributed to this report.