NYC’s Mayoral Candidates Should Learn This Valuable Lesson From King Solomon

New York City, the place where 9/11 happened less than twenty-five years ago, the home of one of the largest populations of Jews in the world, is on its way to electing a pro-terror, Jew-hating mayor. Not only does Zohran Mamdani refuse to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada” – a chant that explicitly means to physically attack Jews all over the world – not only does he not believe that Israel should not exist as a Jewish state, his Columbia University professor father writes about how suicide bombers should be normalized and seen as soldiers and he hangs out with folks like Mahmoud Khalil, an antisemitic activist who failed to condemn Hamas during a CNN interview this week.

Mamdani’s path to victory does not come because the majority of New Yorkers want this kind of mayor. He is leading in the polls because the anti-Mamdani vote is split three ways between Cuomo, Sliwa and Adams. Cuomo has vowed to drop out of the race if he’s not the frontrunner before the election, but Sliwa and Adams have not. Cuomo is currently the frontrunner, and if his lead holds and he stays in, a Mamdani win might be unpreventable.

One would hope that people run for office because they care about the place they hope to lead, but politics usually does not attract the purest of heart. How much do these candidates care about the great city of New York and how much do they care about their egos? King Solomon gave a test thousands that would be very effective in this moment.

In I Kings 3:16-28 there’s a well-known story about Shlomo Hamelech (King Solomon) and two women who had recently given birth and appear before him. Tragically, one of their babies had died and one remained alive. The mothers come to Shlomo arguing about who had the living baby. They asked him to settle their dispute.

Shlomo had a brilliant idea. He suggested that they cut the baby in half and give half to each woman. Upon hearing this gruesome idea, the first woman exclaimed, “Please, my lord, give her the live child; only don’t kill it!” The second woman responded, “It shall be neither yours nor mine; cut it in two!”

Shlomo immediately knew who the actual mother was, and the story concludes with Shlomo giving the baby to the first mother, since she’d rather have her child taken away and live than have half of a dead baby. So too – our mayoral candidates – the ones who actually care about New York City – should rather have the leadership go to someone else than split the vote and kill the city.

Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa – King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live – gave us an insight in this moment about pure intentions. Save the city, don’t split the vote.

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