Daily Podcasts Video Research

The immigrant New Yorkers beloved by Zohran Mamdani all feel warmth for their homelands. Why can’t Jews?

JL;DR SUMMARY Rabbi Joe Schwartz reflects on the multicultural identity of New York City and the emotional bonds immigrants maintain with their countries of origin, using Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's recent speech as a catalyst for discussion. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

JL;DR members get full summaries of all articles in the archive, including this one. Donate & start reading »

Tags

Jewish HistoryJewish IdentityNew York CityDiversityHomelandImmigrantsZohran MamdaniPolitical DynamicsCultural Pluralism

Places mentioned

New York City, New York, United States
"Until the age of 46, Id lived in New York City almost all my life."
Harlem, New York, United States
"they moved to Harlem and to the Bronx and there they raised my grandparents."
Great Neck, New York, United States
"My grandparents married and moved to Great Neck, which was not yet a Jewish suburb, where my father was born and raised."
Yemen
"Ibrahim, a young handsome Yemeni who ran his family bodega around the corner from my former home in Brooklyn."
Pakistan
"I thought of all the Pakistani and Bangladeshi cab drivers Ive had over the years, and how every last one of them told me about the house theyd always dreamt of building in the countryside."
Bangladesh
"I thought of all the Pakistani and Bangladeshi cab drivers Ive had over the years, and how every last one of them told me about the house theyd always dreamt of building in the countryside."
Trinidad and Tobago
"her family Trinidadian Indians, and the apartment heavy with plants and oversized rattan furniture"
Montego Bay, Saint James, Jamaica
"And I think always of Delsie, the Jamaican woman who cared for me when my mother went back to work, who scolded and spoiled me and regaled me with stories about Montego Bay."
Israel
"Yet, once the wolf is driven from the door and the Jewish immigrant takes his place in our society a free man and an American, he tends to become all the more a Jew."
Poland
"They come with no political aspirations against the peace of other states such as move the Irish, the Poles, the Bohemians."
Ireland
"They come with no political aspirations against the peace of other states such as move the Irish, the Poles, the Bohemians."
Czechia
"They come with no political aspirations against the peace of other states such as move the Irish, the Poles, the Bohemians."
Armenia
"then the Jews like the Irish, and the Poles, and the Czechs regained a homeland. And fitfully, not without controversy and dissension,"

Support this source

This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 66362
Cairo Source ID 42
Retrieved 2025-11-11 05:30:53 UTC
Curated 2025-11-11 08:30:58 UTC