Mayor Mamdani Appoints "Progressive Leader" Phylisa Wisdom to Head NYC Antisemitism Office
Mayor Zohran Mamdani names Phylisa Wisdom, a progressive Zionist and critic of Hasidic yeshivas, as the new head of NYC's Office to Combat Antisemitism.
Mayor Mamdani announced on Wednesday the appointment of Phylisa Wisdom as the new executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism. The move comes as the city grapples with a sharp rise in hate crimes and intense internal debates over how the city defines and confronts anti-Jewish bias.
Wisdom, 39, will step down from her role as executive director of the New York Jewish Agenda (NYJA), a progressive Zionist organization, to lead the office. She succeeds Rabbi Moshe Davis, a holdover from the Eric Adams administration.
Wisdom’s background reflects the complex political landscape of the Mamdani administration. A Reform Jew with Sephardic roots, she has built a career advocating for social justice while maintaining a "liberal Zionist" stance that supports Israel’s right to exist but criticizes its current government.
Anti-Hate Record: At NYJA, Wisdom condemned antisemitism from both the far right and the far left, famously labeling 2025 protests outside a Manhattan synagogue as "unambiguous and unacceptable antisemitism."
Yeshiva Reform Advocate: Before joining NYJA, she worked for YAFFED, an organization that pushed for increased secular education standards in Hasidic and Haredi yeshivas. This work made her a well-known, and often polarizing, figure within the city’s Orthodox communities.
The IHRA Debate: Wisdom has publicly aligned with Mayor Mamdani’s decision to move away from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. She argues that the IHRA definition can be used to stifle legitimate criticism of Israeli policy.
Surging Tensions in the Five Boroughs
The appointment follows a turbulent January 2026, during which the NYPD reported an average of roughly one antisemitic incident per day. While the 31 reported incidents in January marked a slight decrease from December 2025, they represented a 182% increase compared to January of the previous year.
Mayor Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor and a self-described anti-Zionist, has faced persistent scrutiny over his ability to protect a Jewish community that remains the largest in the world outside of Israel. His first-day repeal of the city's IHRA adoption and anti-BDS orders remains a major point of contention.
Reactions: A Community Divided
The response to Wisdom's appointment has highlighted the deep fissures within New York’s Jewish leadership:
The appointment of Phylisa Wisdom marks a definitive shift in New York City’s approach to combating antisemitism. However, with the Orthodox community feeling increasingly alienated and a parallel City Council task force already forming to check the Mayor’s power, Wisdom faces a daunting task in her first 100 days.