How Central Synagogue Found Its Moral Voice—Then Lost It

Condemning ICE was easy. Confronting an anti-Israel mayoral candidate was not.

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl’s October letter defending Central Synagogue’s so-called policy of political neutrality reads as if it were written for another institution entirely. In her message to congregants, she warned that “the separation of church and state has been a bedrock principle of American democracy,” insisting that turning synagogues into “partisan campaign stops” would be “dangerous for our democracy and for the state of our Judaism.” She framed Central as “a sacred space for prayer, learning, and connection among Jews of all backgrounds.” But the record of her own clergy, and of Buchdahl herself, tells a different story—one of sustained political engagement thinly veiled as moral guidance.

As documented in my earlier piece, Central Synagogue Rabbi Accuses Trump Admin of ‘A Cruel and Pervasive Disregard for Human Life’, Central’s Director of Social Justice Organizing, Rabbi Hilly Haber, used the pulpit to condemn the previous administration in language that could have been lifted from a campaign speech. She described standing “in a federal immigration court as ‘armed and masked ICE agents quietly began to line the hallways.’ One by one,” she said, “immigrants were handcuffed and whisked away in seconds.” Rabbi Haber called the Trump administration’s immigration policies “an assault on the very principles on which our country was founded,” condemning what she described as “a cruel and pervasive disregard for human life.” She then “urged congregants to support progressive legislation such as the New York for All Act and the Access to Representation Act.”

At most Reform synagogues, such remarks would barely raise an eyebrow. At Central, they expose a double standard. When Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani—now running for mayor—accused Israel of “genocide,” labeled it an “apartheid state,” and refused to condemn the slogan “Globalize the Intifada,” Senior Rabbi Angela Buchdahl said nothing. Mamdani also declared that if elected mayor, he would have Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested upon entering New York. Only after mounting backlash, she reminded congregants that Central “does not endorse or oppose political candidates.” It was a rule conveniently applied when the target stood on the political left.

That rule does not appear to have applied when Buchdahl herself signed political petitions. She is listed among hundreds of signatories on T’ruah and J Street’s Jewish Clergy Letter Against Anti-BDS Legislation, which urges lawmakers to “defend the free speech of all Americans by opposing any efforts to pass legislation penalizing supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.” The letter declares that such laws “undermine a core principle of American democracy” and “do nothing to protect the State of Israel.” Its signatories include “Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, New York, NY.”

She also joined T’ruah’s 2022 letter to the Israeli ambassador, 250+ Rabbis and Cantors to the Israeli Ambassador: Stop Settler Violence, which opened with the statement, “We have seen an alarming increase in frequent and violent attacks on Palestinians by settlers,” and called on the Israeli government to “swiftly arrest and charge the perpetrators of these attacks” and “dismantle outposts that are illegal even according to Israeli law.” The letter described certain incidents as “a pogrom” and again listed “Rabbi Angela Buchdahl – New York, NY.”

Meanwhile, Central’s own Policy on Institutional Voice, adopted August 20, 2025, states unequivocally: “We do not endorse candidates or parties. Our role is not to enter political campaigns or to endorse or speak out against candidates, but to provide moral and spiritual clarity on important public issues.” It adds that the synagogue “will generally refrain from issuing public statements unless the matter directly implicates our core values or mission,” and warns that “too many exceptions potentially undermine our commitment to those values inherent in this policy and may alienate members across the political spectrum.”

That principle has never been applied evenly. Central’s clergy have repeatedly used their pulpits to advance causes aligned with the political left—denouncing “white supremacy” in policing, promoting Black Lives Matter, and treating gender ideology as a sacred moral truth—yet invoke neutrality only when progressive politicians attack Israel or the Jewish people. The congregation that once called immigration enforcement “a cruel and pervasive disregard for human life” now insists that even acknowledging an anti-Israel mayoral candidate would breach the synagogue’s mission.

This is not integrity; it is a revolving-door morality. Rabbi Buchdahl has written to Congress about American free-speech law, signed letters to the Israeli government about settlement policy, and presided over sermons that equate partisan activism with Jewish faith. To claim, after all that, that Central cannot “endorse or oppose” a political candidate is to mistake cowardice for principle.

Angela Buchdahl is entitled to her opinions, but not to pretend she has none. A synagogue that has condemned ICE, praised Black Lives Matter, and accused a sitting president of “a cruel and pervasive disregard for human life” cannot hide behind the language of neutrality when progressive allies cross the line. What Central practices is not political restraint but selective outrage—moral courage that speaks only when it is safe to do so.