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As the crowd gathered at City Winery in Manhattan on Monday night for the 33rd annual Downtown Seder hosted by entrepreneur Michael Dorf, one performer was notably absent.
Comedian Modi Rosenfeld, an Israeli-American observant Jew, announced just ahead of the event that he would not be attending or performing after learning that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani would be in attendance. In a message on his social media, Rosenfeld’s team said the comedian was not aware that Mamdani would be at the event until Monday.
“We were not told Mamdani was participating in this event until today,” the message read. “Modi will no longer be attending.”
Mamdani ultimately attended the event and delivered remarks that Dorf later described as “a heartfelt message.”
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Israeli musician David Broza was also invited to the event. He attended and sang “If I Had a Hammer.”
Broza and Modi’s planned participation raised eyebrows once news of Mamdani’s attendance broke. Another Jewish comedian, Elon Gold, called on both artists to cancel.
“I don’t even like being on the same island as Mamdani when I’m in Manhattan. I assume they will cancel after the backlash. This isn’t showing solidarity. It’s a betrayal of what we as a people are fighting and dying for. I personally know both of them and they are great artists who should realize what they’re endorsing and cancel now,” Gold wrote in response to a social media post about the event.
Leo Veiga, Rosenfeld’s manager and husband, responded to Gold, saying that they were previously unaware of Mamdani’s plan to be at the event.
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In response to a request for comment, Dorf, who owns City Winery, referred Fox News Digital to his Substack, where he wrote about Rosenfeld’s decision to pull out of the event and the controversy over inviting Mamdani. Dorf said in the post that after the news of Mamdani’s attendance broke, he “sensed something was coming.”
“For 33 years, the purpose of this pre-Passover Seder has been to bring people together, not tear them apart. The hardest part of diplomacy—in a world full of conflict, division, and pain—is the willingness to sit down and truly listen to the other side,” Dorf wrote.
“While I respect Modi’s decision not to share the stage with Mayor Mamdani, I truly wish he had been there. I wish his audience hadn’t pressured him with calls to ‘boycott or else.’ I wish the people who emailed and told me I’m not Jewish, that I should go to hell, or that I must be clueless about when Passover starts would take a breath,” he added later in the post.
Dorf concluded his Substack post with a call for unity and making attempts to find common ground, saying, “Don’t boycott. Don’t shut down. Stay. Listen. And maybe—just maybe—let a little light in.”
Jews across the world will mark the beginning of Passover on the evening of April 1 with a dinner known as a “Seder,” which translates to “order,” referring to the ritualistic nature of the evening.
During the Seder, Jews tell the story of the exodus from Egypt and eat symbolic foods including unleavened bread, which is called “matzah.” Each Seder ends with the words “next year in Jerusalem.” Some on social media pointed out the irony of Mamdani, an outspoken critic of Israel, saying the phrase at the event.
Mamdani, who leads the city with the largest Jewish population in the U.S., has a strained relationship with some parts of the Jewish community. The mayor has faced condemnation for his past refusal to reject the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which many view as a call for violence against Jews, although he later said he would discourage supporters from using the term.
Mamdani also recently stirred controversy when he accused Israel of committing a “genocide” in Gaza during his St. Patrick’s Day remarks.
“Mayor Mamdani’s repeated use of the ‘genocide’ accusation against Israel is not just wrong – it’s dangerous,” the American Jewish Committee said in a statement after Mamdani made the remarks. “It distorts reality and fuels antisemitism at a moment when Jews are already under threat. Leaders who claim to stand for human rights should not use rhetoric that puts Jewish communities at risk.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Rosenfeld’s team and Mamdani’s office for comment.
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