A New Mayor, an Old Tradition: Yiddish Socialism Reawakens

First off, happy New Year. Late last night, Zohran Mamdani was sworn in deep in the bowels of a New York City subway station. Then this morning, on my reading list, was Molly Crabapple writing about the rich Jewish tradition the new mayor comes from. While many branded him an antisemite, Molly writes for the Guardian: “For all the hysteria, when I look at Mamdani, I don’t see some radical departure from the past. I see him as the heir to an old and venerable Jewish tradition — that of Yiddish socialism — which helped build New York.”