There is a well known prophecy in the story of Exodus of God carrying the Israelites out of Egypt on eagles’ wings. Egypt, symbolic of hardship and evil, was a place God deemed we, the Jews, needed to be saved from. It only took 400 or so years, but still, God metaphorically served as our eagle, flying us away from danger.
The win of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani echoes a familiar storyline for many Jews. New York, like Egypt, feels like a place we now need saving from.
In the post-prophetic age, though, God isn’t sending us eagles; He’s giving us El-Al planes.
Nefesh B’Nefesh, a non-profit organization that facilitates the process of Aliyah, which is immigrating to Israel from the diaspora, even joked that Mamdani is its employee of the month. But it’s not really a joke.
In 2021, when Biden was elected, beating Trump, the Jewish Agency for Israel reported a 41% increase in Aliyah from the U.S.
“For at least the past decade, North American aliyah has remained at a rate of roughly 3,200 per year,” Ben Sales, a reporter for the Jewish Insider, said. “But after barely dipping in 2020, numbers spiked to more than 4,200 [in 2021], an increase of nearly 33% over pre-pandemic numbers.”
And it didn’t seem to stop there. During Biden’s presidency, Aliyah stayed on an upward trend for Americans from 2020.
That’s certainly not to say that the only reason Jewish Americans make Aliyah is because of a Democratic nominee. It must be noted that Biden’s presidency was during an immense surge of antisemitism post Oct. 7, undoubtedly contributing to the rising Aliyah without any correlation to him. The divide, then, isn’t strictly partisan. It centers around whether a candidate remains committed to the safety of the Jewish community, despite pressure for compromise.
Perhaps, for some Zionist Jews, political alienation can fray their sense of America being home. In those moments, Israel doesn’t feel like an alternative, but rather a push for return.
Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister for diaspora affairs, urged Jewish New Yorkers to “seriously consider making their new home in the Land of Israel” following Mamdani’s win.
Personally, I see Mamdani as a Jewish-endangering candidate. Despite his marketing team’s best efforts, it’s hard to view someone who was arrested for “disorderly conduct” while protesting six days after Oct. 7, and refused to say Hamas should be disarmed, as a friend to the Jewish people.
Aside from his anti-Israel agenda, Mamdani’s policies are distasteful. He is a crime sympathizer, affirming he will keep injection sites for drug users in New York City “the same” instead of decreasing them; according to the city’s report, overdoses have still remained “disproportionately high among Black and Latino New Yorkers and increased among female New Yorkers,” begging the question if injection sites actually help. He also co-sponsored bill “Cecilia’s Law,” which would decriminalize prostitution. The National Organization for Women argues this would be a “political malpractice” that can lead to more sex trafficking and make New York City a “major sex tourism destination.” He supports democratic socialist domestic proposals, including public ownership of utilities, which is wasteful, cost ineffective and has not been proven to be greener than private power. For instance, Tennessee Valley Authority, made up of only publicly-owned electric utilities, is a leading polluter in the U.S. He also wants increased taxation of up to $9 billion for social programs.
But like with most things in life, there is a silver lining. I am curious to see how Aliyah’s rates will be impacted during his term, and certainly would not be surprised if he is our Egypt and planes are our eagles.
