BROOKLYN (VINnews) — Radio host Sid Rosenberg sharply criticized Satmar community figures Thursday after Mayor Zohran Mamdani was presented with a mezuzah during a Chol Hamoed Sukkos gathering in Williamsburg.
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You are all a Expletive embarrassment to any decent Jew. Did you give him a Mezuzah for his wife too? .. How much money is a Jewish life worth in your unholy relationship… https://t.co/XoJ11FPK2D
— Sid Rosenberg (@sidrosenberg19) October 1, 2026
The backlash followed a social media post by Satmar askan Rabbi Moishe Indig, executive vice president of the Jewish Community Council of Williamsburg and publisher of Der Blatt. Indig wrote that Mamdani joined community leaders, federal, state and city elected officials, and law enforcement leaders at the sukkah of Rabbi Shalom Landau “to celebrate the festive holiday of Sukkos.” He said a mezuzah was presented to the mayor “as a blessing for divine protection for all New Yorkers.”
Rosenberg, host of “Sid & Friends in the Morning” on 77 WABC, replied on X that those involved were “an embarrassment to any decent Jew.” He asked whether a mezuzah had also been given for Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, used profanity, and alleged that Duwaji had liked images tied to the murder and rape of Jews. He called the community’s dealings with the mayor an “unholy relationship” and referred to Mamdani as a “terrorist.”
The Indig post drew heavy engagement, including more than 200 replies, with many users condemning the mezuzah presentation and questioning Satmar outreach to the mayor. Others argued that community leaders have little choice but to maintain a working relationship with City Hall on policing, housing and religious accommodations.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined community leaders, federal, state, and city elected officials, and law enforcement leaders at @RabbiLandau‘s sukkah to celebrate the festive holiday of Sukkos
A mezuzah was presented to the Mayor as a blessing for divine protection for all New Yorkers pic.twitter.com/ZbpE2jM70g
— Rabbi Moishe Indig (@MoishIndig) September 30, 2026
Published reports in March said Duwaji, a Syrian American artist, liked Instagram posts that celebrated or defended the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, including material that treated accounts of sexual violence that day as a hoax. Mamdani has described his wife as a private person. Rosenberg’s post went further than those reports, asserting that she liked graphic images of Jewish victims.
Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor, has been a persistent target of Rosenberg, who earlier this year called him an “America-hating, Jew-hating, Radical Islam cockroach,” later said the wording was over the top, and has continued to attack the mayor’s record on Israel and antisemitism. Jewish groups have criticized Mamdani for his past reluctance to condemn the slogan “globalize the intifada.”
The Williamsburg stop was part of a broader Sukkos schedule. The Williamsburg JCC welcomed the mayor the same day and said he took part in a kinyan with a gartel connected to public sukkahs on city property. Separately, Mamdani visited sukkahs in Crown Heights, where reception was mixed.
Satmar leaders, who are non-Zionist and have long prioritized local government relations over Israel policy, hosted Mamdani in Williamsburg during the 2025 campaign as well. Indig and Landau had not publicly responded to Rosenberg as of Thursday afternoon. City Hall also had not commented on the mezuzah presentation.
The exchange has widened an online argument over how far Satmar askanim should go in engaging a mayor many Jews regard as hostile to Israel and to Jewish security.
For me this is the last straw. Bli neder, i will try to avoid supporting any satmar entities from here on in. Be it food, schnorrers, anything. You spit in the faces of jews all over the world by licking this anti semites tuches. All for the benjamins.
Maybe the mezuzah will protect us from Mandami?
While I don’t like what they’re doing I’m definitely not going to drop hundreds of thousands of Jews in the toilet that contribute a lot of Torah to the world, the biggest bikur cholim operation there is, and satmar fleish is served on many tables. Not to mention all their flourishing schools of kids learning and very tznius standards on their daughters. Don’t let indig and a few clowns taint the reputation of everyone else that isn’t fair
Take your shtrimels and burn them ,,
Can someone tell me, was Satmer always this close and stuck up to the mayors of the past, or specifically Mamdani?
This article calls Indig a rabbi. What has he done to be accorded that title? What can he oasken: if Madmani’s halal meat is indeed halal?
Min b’minoi, indig and mamdani.
Does anybody know if Mamdani is going to place the Mezuzah on a doorpost at City Hall?
A SHANDA.Bernhard Rosenberg
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we need an active shomrim in this area. Jews need to learn self-defense and synagogues must have security guards Antisemitism is rampant. I KEEP WARNING YOU. RABBI DR. BERNHARD
ROSENBERG COURAGE IS A CURRENCY. USE YOUR COURAGE TO SPEAK UP FOR JEWS AND FOR ISRAEL. KNOW YOUR HISTORY. BE PROUD
You know the exact machinery of your week. You have the routine down cold, the community standing, the calendar full from morning until late night. Yet you sit quietly in your car before walking into your own house because the silence inside feels heavier than the day you just carried. That numbness is not a failure. It is the cost of protecting a life built entirely on what other people can see.
The Torah tells us to stay on good terms with the local rulers, and that is what he is doing, as have all generations before him since the destruction of the Temple. If some here have a problem with the Torah, that’s not a reason to blame him for following the Torah.