Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Mosque Debate Focuses Attention on Bloomberg’s Judaism

Leave it to a debate over a mosque to refocus attention on Michael Bloomberg’s Judaism.

New York City’s mayor has returned to the national spotlight in recent weeks, as controversy has escalated over the so-called “Ground Zero mosque,” the proposed Islamic cultural center that would be built two blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center. Bloomberg, raised in a kosher home in Medford, Mass., has prominently defended the project, declaring in an August 24 speech that “[t]here is nowhere in the five boroughs of New York City that is off limits to any religion.”

While Bloomberg’s religious background isn’t exactly a secret, his outspoken support for the center has renewed interest in his beliefs. An August 28 article in the Wall Street Journal examined the mayor’s upbringing and observance in adult life, noting his childhood Hebrew school attendance but reporting that Bloomberg is now “more likely to show up in church” for a political event “than be spotted at Temple Emanu-El, the Upper East Side reform synagogue to which he belongs.”

That said, the mayor still makes a point of attending High Holiday services each fall, and risks “trouble with his sister, Marjorie, if he doesn’t arrive on time for Passover seder.” In addition to a personal trip to Israel before his political career, Bloomberg has repeatedly traveled to the country as mayor, and paid for a new wing at a Jerusalem hospital, among other donations.

Attitudes toward Bloomberg’s Judaism appear to be correlated with views about his leadership, both on the mosque debate and on other issues. M. Taufiqurrahman, a staff writer for Indonesia’s Jakarta Post, pointed to Bloomberg and other Jewish defenders of the mosque as evidence against anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, while New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a fomer ally who opposed Bloomberg’s 2009 re-election bid, told the Wall Street Journal, “Would I call him a proud Jew? I don’t know. Is there anything he’s said, done that has especially shown that he has a real connection with the Jewish community?”

Judging Bloomberg on his level of religious identification isn’t a task for politicians or writers, former New York City Council member Simcha Felder told the Journal. “The only one that should judge people’s religiosity or level of observance,” Felder said, “is God.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.