Elections Advice

Last week at the Flushing Family Residence

Dear friends,

Monday morning I got off the train at W 4th Street and walked up onto Sixth Avenue. The first thing my eyes landed on was a homeless person sleeping on a piece of cardboard next to his belongings. Tuesday afternoon I got on the train in Park Slope with Ezzy. There was a slightly aggressive homeless woman talking to herself, who sat down on the floor when the train started moving. When we reached the next stop, I took Ezzy and switched to the next car. As soon as we walked in, we were hit with the overpowering odor of the homeless old man asleep in one of the seats. We had to move on to the next car. Wednesday evening I was walking down Smith Street in Carroll Gardens toward the train, enjoying my old neighborhood, which the NY Times called the Sesame Street of New York a few years ago. Now I had to watch out not to step on several homeless people asking for money or passed out on the sidewalk.  

These everyday New York experiences rang in my head like a raging bell as the city, and its Jews in particular obsess over the loudest issue of this coming election: the candidates’ opinions about Israel/Palestine. Both New Yorkers and Jews have long been self-obsessed. And we certainly have real problems here with hatred of Jews and scary shifting political landscapes that will play into that never-ending problem. And yet, I see these people on the streets and can’t help but cry out: They are what this election should be about.  

If Isaiah or Ezekiel or Micah or Miriam or any of our prophets of old were around, they wouldn’t give a damn about one candidate’s anti-Zionism or the other’s support of a genocidal government. They would want to know what these candidates are doing to support those in great need. Which of them will feed the hungry? Who will better support immigrants? Who will do something, anything, to help the people I saw this week find food and shelter. The pride of our city is that we are the only city in the country that has a legal right to shelter for all. Who, we must ask, is less likely to heed the selfish winds of the times and allow that right to be eroded?

Last week around 25 members of our community gathered at our newly adopted homeless shelter in Bushwick, the Flushing Family Residence. Led by Daphna, we organized a Halloween party for the 98 families that currently reside there, especially the kids. Two years ago, the Adams administration ended the long-standing delivery of dairy products to shelters around the city. The thousands of dollars we raised for the shelter on Yom Kippur will offset that by a small fraction. But what our amazing B Mitzvah candidates did is at least as significant. Each of them created a station for the kids to play or create something: lego, bracelets, graffiti art, Halloween decorations, candy-collecting bags. The room was packed. We played music and the staff started dancing. There were snacks and costumes and good vibes.  We sang happy birthday to Isaac who was turning 5 the next day, and before he left, Isaac turned to two of our kids and said: "You made me happy." 

Watching all these kids from different backgrounds play together was an incredibly centering experience. For a few hours the families felt cared for, the staff at the shelter felt appreciated, and all of us volunteers felt that sense of hope you get when you actually help people in need. 

Tomorrow the federal government is set to stop the food stamps program, which keeps 14 million children and millions of adults from going hungry. We know where the feds’ priorities lie, and it's not with the poor.  

But ours should be.  

Last week at Shabbat four people asked me about Mamdani before I even sat down. I’m not going to tell you who I think you should vote for. But I will say this – we should be thinking about who will help the homeless, the hungry, the mentally ill, the sick, the destitute, the poor, the soon-to-be-poor, the might-become-poor, the-on-the-verge. Israel/Palestine and antisemitism  are on our minds for good reason. But the real Jewish question before Tuesday is not about either of those issues, but which of the candidates cares about and might manage to protect those in our city who are in need, and maybe even ease their burden.  

My advice? Dim the noise. Look in front of you. Vote from there. 

shabbat shalom, 
Rabbi Misha