By COLlive reporter
Jewish residents in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood recently received postcards asking them to support the candidacy of Michael Hollingsworth for New York City Council and were left a bit confused.
Hollingsworth is running in the Democratic primary to represent District 35 which includes Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy, Prospect Heights, and Crown Heights.
His bio describes him as a “tenant organizer” who has “taken on some of the worst landlords to win repairs for his neighbors, stopped racist rezonings, and helped secure protections for tenants across the state.”
He is facing community organizer Crystal Hudson who received the endorsement of “Crown Heights United” formed by a group of local Jewish activists and residents. Hollingsworth has been endorsed by Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), radical-left and supporters of BDS.
One postcard read: “Dear Yitzchok, I’m so excited to support Michael Hollingsworth who will support working families in Crown Heights. Hope we have your vote.”
It was signed in Yiddish with Hebrew letters “זייט געזונט,” a grammatically mistaken way of writing זיי געזונט which means “be well.”
Some residents who forwarded their postcards to COLlive.com pointed out how it appeared that it was signed by a person named Mendy, a common Lubavitch nickname.
“I don’t know of a Mendy who is working for their campaign,” one resident wrote, adding: “I also don’t know of a Mendy who would work for a candidate who is anti-Israel.”
COLlive.com reached Nathan Pensler, campaign manager of Michael Hollingsworth, asking for comment. In response, he sent a similar postcard where the signature clearly spells out Molly.
“We are proud to have reached out to voters across the district including our Lubavitch neighbors,” Pensler said. “The postcards in question were written by Molly, a Jewish volunteer who recently took a Yiddish course at Yivo and was excited to practice with fellow New Yorkers.”
Yaakov Rosenthal, a certified graphologist and resident of Crown Heights, says he understands the confusion. “It’s a confusing signature,” he told COLlive.com. “It could be read as Molly and could be read as Mendy. The first signature doesn’t appear to be written by the same person as the second one.”
Yaacov Behrman, a community activist in Crown Heights who is backing Hudson, said he found the Hollingsworth postcards disrespectful.
“It doesn’t make a difference whether Molly or Mendy exists,” he told COLlive.com. “It is insulting that Hollingsworth thinks that one postcard with a few Yiddish words is going to fool us. He has made no effort to reach out to the Orthodox Jewish community and, in fact, has shown hostility and malice by his incendiary tweets and rhetoric.”
Behrman added that Hollingsworth “overlooks our 80-year history in Crown Heights and doesn’t believe in Israel’s right to continue as a Jewish state — we can do the math!”
As a Mendy, I sign similarly so I get the confusion
I fully understand the issue with voting for Crystal Hudson, and NOT for the other guy.
Please explain why Crown Heights should support Eric Adams, considering his dubious past, and his flip-flopping depending on the group he addresses.
You may be correct that Eric Adams is not the ideal candidate, but the people he is running against are absolutely terrible! We must ensure that his opponents are not on the ticket. You can vote for Adams in the primary and still vote for another candidate in the general election.
It actually is not incorrect
When speaking respectfully, you say
וואס מאכט איר
And
זייט געזונט
איך האב אייך געזאגט
Good article, but this inaccuracy can weaken your point
I was going to make the same point. The postcard must have been written by someone who knows how to correctly use Yiddish grammar.
This is not a grammatical mistake it is זיי געזונט in plural. Anyway, this campaign doesn’t seem געזונט……..
Or is his work credentials solely political?
It’s so disturbing to see this campaign putting together a list of people with Jewish names to target. What’s next? Protests against us? Calls for boycotts against us? This is really scary.
Easy to get Community directory “phone books” – no need for Jewish sounding names.
Many communities have lists of members. Easy to locate!
BTW – Some shuls and organizations even sell member lists to businesses, charity fundraising, etc…haven’t you gotten any robo-calls?!
However they’re getting their lists of Jews it’s very concerning. And judging by his words and actions I don’t think it’s just for voting purposes.
Hollingsworth would be an absolute danger for our community. Crystal Hudson would be a far wiser and much better choice.
As for mayor, Curtis Sliwa a true proven friend of frum Jews is running unopposed on the Republican line. So come November, in the General Election, we must vote for him, come what may.
Fernando Matteo. Google him. Sounds worth considering if you are a republican voting in the primary.
There are signs apparently directed to Jewish voters that has a picture of one of Hollinsworth’s flyers (says about “the chickens coming home to roost” — from a famous saying from Malcolm X) as well as anti Israel tweets and telling us to take his word for it. This sign should move any Yid to action, to vote against him. But why are these on street poles? Jews are not the only ones who walk on the streets. It also tells other people who they should vote for, namely Hollingsworth. Anyway the main thing is that all of… Read more »
If you want to know who Hollinsworth really is, check out Malcolm X speech “Chickens coming home to roost” and there is a link to see the ton of virulent anti Israel cartoons. Hollingsworth is obviously influenced by this mentality.