Menachem Wecker

“It becomes comfort, continuity and a way to feel connected to tradition and to one another at home,” Talia Sabag, of the Manischewitz parent company Kayko, told JNS.

The Jews famously invented matzah when they couldn't wait for their dough to rise as they were chased out of Egypt. Passover this year, which comes amid ongoing war with the Iranian regime and other factors that have disrupted global trade and product availability in the United States, has also required resourcefulness.

“He wants to flex his authority as mayor of New York City, so he brings the desk outside to show he should be taken seriously,” Beverly Hallberg, president of District Media Group, told JNS.

The New York City mayor said that he was allowing a bill about houses of worship, which passed the City Council with a veto-proof majority, to go through.

Menachem Wecker Apr 24, 2026 Posted 1 hr ago at 10: 30 AM Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, vetoed a bill that would have created "security perimeters" around educational institutions that prevent "physical obstruction, physical injury, intimidation and interference" while "preserving and protecting the rights to free speech, assembly and protest." The bill, Int. 175-B, passed the New York City Council 30 to 19 and was thus subject to mayoral veto. Another bill, Int. 1-B, that creates a buffer zone around houses of worship, passed the council with a veto-proof majority of 44 out of 51 members. Mamdani said on Friday that he allowed the latter to go through. "New York City will always uphold both the right to prayer and the right to protest. These two fundamental freedoms help define this city and the people who call it home," stated the mayor, whose spokeswoman has said that synagogues violate international law when they host pro-Israel events. "Last month, the City Council passed two bills related to these rights, known as buffer zone bills. Today, I am letting one of them go into effect and vetoing the other," Mamdani stated. He added that Int. 1-B "initially raised constitutional concerns," but "the final version of the bill that passed is narrower in scope and effect." "It requires the NYPD to document its existing practices related to protests near houses of worship," the mayor said. "Following a thorough legal review, I do not believe it poses the same risks it once did, and that is why I will allow it to become law. That said, I disagree with its framing of all protest as a security concern." The bill states that it would require the New York City Police Department commissioner to "establish a plan to address and contain the risk of physical obstruction, physical injury, intimidation and interference at places of religious worship while preserving and protecting the rights to free speech, assembly and protest." The plan would consider "whether, when and the extent to which security perimeters may be used to protect entry to and egress from places of religious worship, and for communication with stakeholders, including the public, persons seeking to assemble or protest and affected religious leaders," the bill states. It would also require the NYPD commissioner to file a proposed and a final plan to the mayor and the council speaker within 45 and 90 days respectively after the bill goes into effect and directs the NYPD to post the final plan online. Though the text of the two bills is near identical, Mamdani stated that Int. 175-B is "meaningfully different." "The problem is how widely this bill defines an educational institution and the constitutional concerns it raises regarding New Yorkers' fundamental right to protest.," the mayor stated. "As the bill is written, everywhere from universities to museums to teaching hospitals could face restrictions." The bill could apply to workers protesting federal immigration officers or "college students demanding their school divest from fossil fuels or demonstrating in support of Palestinian rights," the mayor said. "It is a piece of legislation that has alarmed much of the labor movement, reproductive rights groups and immigration advocates, among others, across this city." "Nearly a dozen unions have raised the alarm about its impact on their ability to organize," he said. "That is why I am vetoing this legislation." The bill that Mamdani vetoed states that "preserving and protecting the rights to free speech and assembly, and protest, at educational facilities" would be preserved. "Nothing in this section shall be construed or interpreted to infringe upon rights granted under the national labor relations act or the labor law," states the bill, which Mamdani vetoed. Julie Menin, the first Jewish speaker of the New York City Council, who has been outspoken about antisemitism, stated that “ensuring students can enter and exit their schools without fear of harassment or intimidation should not be controversial." "This bill simply requires the NYPD to clearly outline how it will ensure safe access when there are threats of obstruction or physical injury, while fully protecting First Amendment rights," she stated. Sam Markstein, national political director and spokesman at the Republican Jewish Coalition, told JNS "that Mayor Mamdani's first veto as mayor of the city of New York serves to accommodate vile antisemitic protests comes as no surprise." "Jewish New Yorkers are under siege and facing real threats. Where are the so-called Democrat leaders? Where is Chuck Schumer? Where is Hakeem Jeffries?" Markstein told JNS. "They're nowhere to be found, because they are petrified of Mamdani's radical Islamo-leftist base. They are cowards, plain and simple.” Major Jewish groups said in an unusual joint statement that they were "deeply disappointed" by Mamdani's decision, which they called a "profound failure of City Hall to demonstrate to all New Yorkers that our safety is a priority." How do you feel about this article? Choose from the options below. (0 Ratings)

“It's both a Jewish story and an American story at the same time,” a curator at the Washington, D.C., museum told JNS of a series by Mitch Epstein.

“This week, Jews across the world are reading the opening portion of the book of Numbers, which describes the organization of the tribes of Israel in the desert before the nation moves forward to the land of Israel,” said Roth, who is administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, a U.S. executive branch agency that advises the president on communications and internet policy.

National Scrollathon, an exhibition by Steven and William Ladd at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, represents 10,000 Americans of “every age, background, political affiliation, orientation, race”

(JNS) — Barney Frank, a former House Financial Services Committee chair and Democrat who represented Massachusetts’s 4th Congressional District from 1981 to 2013, died on Tuesday night. He was 86 years old.