At a "postmodern" Passover seder held at City Winery in Manhattan this week, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani managed a feat of historical and theological gymnastics: he told the story of the Exodus while systematically excising its conclusion. In Mamdani’s version of the Seder, the Israelites left Egypt not for the Land of Israel, but for a secularized, universalist vision of neighborly solidarity and American civil rights activism.
By stripping the Passover story of its ultimate destination—the Holy Land—Mamdani didn’t just offer a "modern" interpretation; he engaged in a calculated act of political co-option. In doing so, he exposed a staggering hypocrisy: using a religious tradition to bolster his platform while simultaneously attacking the very core of that tradition’s national identity.
Passover: The Original Zionist Narrative
To understand the depth of Mamdani’s revisionism, one must understand that Passover is, at its heart, the foundational Zionist holiday. The narrative of the Exodus is not merely a story of "breaking chains" or a generic struggle against "affordability crises." It is a specific, covenantal journey. The Torah makes it clear: God did not take the Israelites out of Egypt simply to wander the desert as "neighbors helping neighbors." He took them out to bring them to the Land He promised to their ancestors.
The Seder concludes with the most famous declaration in Jewish liturgy: L’Shana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim—"Next Year in Jerusalem." This is not a metaphor for a vague sense of "liberation." It is a literal, 3,000-year-old yearning for Zion. To tell the story of Passover without the Holy Land is like telling the story of the American Revolution without mentioning the concept of independence. It is a hollowed-out shell, repurposed to serve a modern political agenda that is often hostile to Jewish self-determination.
The Politics of Omission
During his remarks, Mamdani claimed that "liberation was attained when the Jewish people came together to escape their enslavement... neighbor helping neighbor." While the sentiment of solidarity is noble, it is a deliberate misreading of the text to serve a "post-nationalist" worldview.
By focusing exclusively on the "brokenness" of the middle matzah and pivoting immediately to the NAACP and Dr. Heschel, Mamdani attempted to transform a Jewish national liberation movement into a domestic social justice seminar. The Jewish contribution to the Civil Rights movement is not the summation of the Exodus.
Mamdani’s rhetoric suggests that Jewish "liberation" is only acceptable when it is directed toward universalist causes in the Diaspora, and becomes problematic the moment it manifests as sovereignty in the Jewish ancestral homeland.
A Height of Hypocrisy
The hypocrisy of the Mayor’s appearance is made even more stark by his administration's record. Mamdani, a frequent and harsh critic of the Jewish state, has presided over an environment where his own office suggests that Jewish houses of worship violate "international law" simply for hosting pro-Israel events.
At the Seder, Mamdani lamented that "synagogues that once felt like sanctuaries now require armed protection." Yet, he failed to acknowledge that the atmosphere of hostility toward these "sanctuaries" is often fueled by the very anti-Zionist rhetoric he champions—rhetoric that seeks to decouple Judaism from its intrinsic connection to Israel.
How can a leader claim to honor the "legacy of Jewish New Yorkers" while his administration treats the central tenet of their religious and ethnic identity—the return to Zion—as a violation of international law?
The Danger of the "Postmodern" Seder
The gathering at City Winery, attended by other vocal critics of Israel like Brad Lander, represents a growing trend of "reclaiming" Jewish holidays by stripping them of their particularism. When Mamdani uses the Seder plate to pivot to discussions of ICE and the "affordability crisis," he isn't honoring the holiday; he is using it as a prop.
Passover is a celebration of the Jewish people’s journey from being a group of slaves to becoming a nation in their own land. It is a story of indigenous return. By cropping out the destination, Mamdani didn’t just tell a different version of the story—he told a story that isn't Passover at all.
If we allow the "Next Year in Jerusalem" to be replaced by "Next Year at City Hall," we lose the essence of the holiday. New Yorkers should see this for what it is: an attempt to rewrite the Jewish past to justify a political future that has no room for a Jewish state.
