Report: Mamdani Considering Anti-Orthodox Activist to Lead Office for Combating Antisemitsm

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is considering appointing Phylisa Wisdom – an activist who accused Charedi leaders of being “self interested” and who worked at the virulently anti-yeshiva group YAFFED (Young Advocates for Fair Education) – to lead the city’s efforts in combatting antisemitism.

The potential move, first reported by Jewish Insider on Wednesday, citing anonymous sources, has triggered immediate alarm among community leaders who warn that her history of antagonism toward the Charedi community – the population most frequently targeted in antisemitic hate crimes – makes her unfit for the role.

Wisdom, in her current role as head of the leftist New York Jewish Agenda group, has made sweeping public accusations against the Charedi lifestyle and political advocacy. In statements, she has accused the entire Charedi world of actively seeking to harm broader society, playing into age old antisemitic tropes.

“In New York, Ultra-Orthodox leaders deliver votes as a block, convincing elected officials that their will is the Jewish will, whether on issues like funding yeshivas, defunding public education, policing, criminal justice… Israel,” Wisdom has stated.

She further claimed that the community defines the “Jewish agenda as right-wing and only self-interested.”

YAFFED, an organization dedicated to imposing strict secular equivalency standards on yeshivos  which would effectively force them to close, was created by Jewish people who left Torah observance. They have filed multiple lawsuits against yeshivos, in legal battles that have rocked the Jewish community and made Orthodox Jews fear for their ability to remain in the state for over a decade.

The prospect of Wisdom leading the Office for Combating Antisemitism was met with disbelief.

Critics note that the vast majority of violent antisemitic hate crimes in New York City are perpetrated against visibly Orthodox, Chassidish, and Yeshivish Jews; the very demographic Wisdom has spent her career criticizing.

Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, a prominent Jewish activist in Crown Heights, took to X  to voice strong opposition to the potential appointment.

“The leader of the Office of Antisemitism cannot have a contentious relationship with the Chassidic yeshiva community,” Behrman wrote. “When the office was created, I was part of the early conversations about its purpose: ensuring that Jewish New Yorkers feel protected and free to live openly and proudly.”

Behrman emphasized that the role requires deep trust and cooperation with victims of hate crimes.

“It is difficult to understand how someone who has spent years publicly antagonizing yeshivas could build the relationships or provide the reassurance needed for the community most often targeted by antisemitic attacks. This is not politics. It is common sense.”

Community leaders are contrasting Wisdom’s record with that of Moshe Davis, current executive director of the office. Davis told Jewish Insider on Monday that he was attending work as usual.

“We trusted and worked with Moshe Davis precisely because he maintained constructive relationships across all segments of the Jewish community,” Behrman noted.

The fear among activists is not just that Wisdom would be ineffective, but that the position could be weaponized. Behrman warned that given her “outspoken attacks on yeshivas and her support for cutting their funding,” she might “use the position to advance anti-yeshiva goals, undermining the mission of the office and making the community feel less safe, not more.”

The mayor, a democratic socialist and vocal opponent of Israel who has praised convicted supporters of Hamas, came under fire from prominent Jewish organizations last week after overturning several executive orders enacted by former Mayor Eric Adams, including measures that embraced the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism and prohibited city agencies from participating in boycotts aimed at Israel.

Mamdani’s office has not yet confirmed the appointment, but the mere suggestion has already strained relations with the city’s Orthodox leadership.