http://www.forward.com/articles/112467/ It’s not the easiest divide to bridge, but Brad Lander — widely considered the frontrunner in the race for the vacant council seat — has certainly tried.
Lander is a longtime community activist and a devoted member of Park Slope’s left-leaning congregation Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives, which is headed by a lesbian rabbi who is a leading local voice in the fight for gay marriage. Yet Lander has the support of Orthodox powerbroker and Democratic New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, an outspoken right-winger whose Boro Park district overlaps with parts of the 39th council district.
So on August 13, the City Council hopeful, who had marched only two months before with his synagogue in a local Gay Pride parade, walked through the streets of Boro Park with a yarmulke on his head and Hikind — a fierce opponent of gay marriage — by his side.
Political observers say that pleasing potentially clashing constituencies is part of being a New York City politician.
“It’s a very tough tightrope to walk,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran New York political consultant. Referring to the 39th council district race, Sheinkopf said, “The perfect candidate probably talks about social services on one side and social issues on the other side. So effectively that’s the tightrope you walk. But, really, it only works if each side just decides to turn a blind eye to the other.”
Sure enough, the alliance between Hikind and Lander has hit its share of bumps — and required turning the occasional blind eye.
Hikind — who was reached on the phone in Jerusalem while touring with former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee — acknowledged having had a difficult discussion with the City Council hopeful regarding remarks about Israel that Lander had made at his son’s bris.
At the circumcision ceremony, Lander reportedly renounced his child’s right to move to Israel under its Law of Return. “We are thrilled to pronounce you a Jew without the right of return,” Lander was quoted as saying. “Your name contains our deep hope that you will explore and celebrate your Jewish identity without confusing it with nationalism.” The ceremony was cited in a 2004 American Jewish Committee report, “‘Progressive’ Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism.”
Hikind, a onetime member of the militant Jewish Defense League, said he found the account of the circumcision ceremony “extremely upsetting.” He and Lander had what Hikind characterized as “a very serious conversation, heart to heart.”
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