Ahead of mayoral election, Brooklyn synagogue demands voter registration to attend High Holiday services
Leaders of the Syrian Jewish community have framed the rise of Zohran Mamdani’s rise as an existential threat
Congregation Shaare Zion in Gravesend, Brooklyn, is requiring proof of voter registration for High Holiday attendance ahead of New York City’s 2025 mayoral election. Screenshot of Google Maps
(JTA) — Congregation Shaare Zion, a large Orthodox synagogue serving the Syrian-Jewish community in Brooklyn, is taking an unprecedented step in the run-up to New York City’s mayoral election: Members and their spouses must show proof of voter registration before they can secure seats for the High Holidays.
One of the largest Sephardic synagogues in the country, Shaare Zion announced the requirement in a letter to congregants last week that framed the election as a moment of acute risk for Jews in New York.
“In approximately two months, New York City will be electing its next Mayor,” the synagogue’s executive committee wrote, according to a copy obtained by Yeshiva World News. “The outcome of this election could result in very serious problems throughout the city and, in particular, the Jewish communities across the city including our own. The safety and quality of life for our community and our institutions may be at serious risk.”
The letter continued: “As a result, we have no choice but to require that all of our members and their spouses provide proof of voter registration prior to securing their High Holiday seats.”
This year, Rosh Hashanah will begin at sundown on September 22, and Yom Kippur at sundown on Oct. 1. The election is on Nov. 4.
The new policy comes just two weeks after Magen David Yeshivah, a flagship Sephardic day school nearby, also in the Gravesend neighborhood, issued a similar directive for parents, sparking debate about whether religious institutions should pressure members to register to vote.
Both moves are seen as responses to the frontrunner status of Zohran Mamdani, the Muslim democratic socialist lawmaker whose criticism of Israel and support for the boycott movement have unsettled many Jewish leaders.
The congregation did not immediately respond to a request comment.
Shaare Zion, located on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, draws thousands of worshippers for the High Holidays and serves as the hub of the city’s Syrian Jewish community. By tying holiday seating to voter registration, it is in effect launching one of the more sweeping Jewish voter-registration campaigns ever attempted by any religious institution in New York.
The synagogue’s announcement follows a sweeping new declaration signed by more than 50 Syrian-Jewish rabbis from New York and New Jersey, which described registering to vote as a mitzvah — a religious obligation on par with prayer, charity and Jewish education. Together, the initiatives reflect a community treating the upcoming election as a turning point.
