New York Times complains too many Orthodox Jews are on NYC Jewish Advisory Council
Jack Elbaum
The New York Times never misses an opportunity to complain about Jews — especially Orthodox Jews. In recent memory, the paper of record whitewashed the 1991 pogrom in Crown Heights and even suggested it is reasonable to think Orthodox Jews are going to inadvertently poison water wells, giving neighbors polio.
The latest example comes from a piece titled “Orthodox Men Dominate Mayor Adams’s New Jewish Advisory Council.”
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You can probably already tell where this is going.
The New York Times laments the representation of Orthodox Jews on the council, writing that “A majority of the advisers are Orthodox and only a quarter are women, drawing criticism from Jewish leaders including Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York.”
According to the reporter Dana Rubenstein, there is a shortage of what she considers to be the “archetypical Jewish New Yorker” on the council. In her mind, that is a Jew who “might be found on the Upper West Side, somewhere between Zabar’s and Barney Greengrass.” The stereotyping here is almost unbelievable.
But the most recent numbers show that upwards of 40% of Jewish New Yorkers are Orthodox. And Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin rightly points out that maybe, just maybe, the reason there are so many Orthodox Jews on the council — even to the point of overrepresentation — is that they are disproportionately the victims of violent antisemitism in New York City.
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After all, combating antisemitism is one of the reasons the council was created. During his speech announcing its creation, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said, “With antisemitic crimes up across the nation, our newly-formed Jewish Advisory Council will ensure that Jewish New Yorkers in every community have a seat at the table and have access to the support and resources the city offers.”
It is not those “archetypical Jewish New Yorker[s]” who are getting beat up on the streets, hit by cars, and regularly harassed just for being Jewish. It is impossible to deny that it is Orthodox Jews — particularly Haredi Jews — who are bearing the brunt of violent antisemitism right now.
Yet this doesn’t seem to matter to the New York Times, which does not mention the word “antisemitism” a single time in its piece. Moreover, it does not mention anybody who supports the composition of the council until the second to last paragraph. The contempt for Orthodox Jews is palpable in nearly every news story the Times writes about them.
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As such, this latest example should not be surprising.
Jack Elbaum is a summer 2023 Washington Examiner fellow.