Passover TV Shoot Shows Lower East Side Has Lost Its Clout
Sheldon Silver Image by getty images
By Josh Nathan-Kazis April 5, 2018
This never would have happened when Shelly was in charge.
The Bialystoker Shul, a well-connected Lower East Side synagogue, is up in arms this morning over a TV shoot scheduled to take place on its block on Friday, a major holiday marking the second-to-last day of Passover.
Among the members of the synagogue is Sheldon Silver, the former speaker of the State Assembly, once the most powerful man in state politics. Silver was convicted of corruption in 2015 and lost his seat, though his conviction has since been overturned.
Now, members of the congregation, including former Met Council chief William Rapfogel, another onetime power player felled by criminal conviction, have taken to social media to complain about the TV shoot.
It’s hard to imagine that they would be in this situation, and that the TV permit would ever have been granted in the first place, if Silver was still in office. Silver’s power extended across the state, but was based on the Lower East Side, where he lived.
Power on the Lower East Side is in the midst of a generational shift. The influential triumvirate of Silver, Rapfogel, and community activist Heshy Jacob, who collectively dominated Lower East Side politics for decades, finally crumbled in 2016.
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
