[COMMUNICATED] By: Nachman Mostofsky

Much has been written about the recent closings by Governor Cuomo. And how antisemitic they are. What has not been written is what needs to be done from here on out. After all, lawsuits have been filed.

So far without results we need.

But that is not all that has happened.

As many people know, there are voice messages going around of recordings of a now second phone call between Cuomo and some “leaders”. Once again, a few on the call were pre-picked to get the “high honor” of asking the self-appointed King of Albany some questions.

But it didn’t end there. The amount of groveling that was done was absurd. The idea that it was said multiple times that our community supports this megalomaniac is laughable, and Cuomo knows it. That we have the deepest respect for him is just not true. We vote in greater numbers for his challenger, time and time again. And rightfully so. All this much to the chagrin of many of our “leaders”.

The fact that these leaders don’t understand that it takes about 15 seconds for Cuomo’s advisors to bring up the data, block by block, on the voting patterns of our community shows how failed our leadership is. Do we think that the governor is a fool? That he can’t look at voting patterns?

And in this lies the problem. Because we grovel to him, he knows something that we cannot admit to ourselves, but is the heart of the issue. We have zero leadership that is willing to go toe to toe with the governor. When we tell him nonsense about our community that he can verifiably check up to be untrue, it sends him a message that he can continue with these useless and extremely harmful lockdowns.

But… what if…

Our communities got together, and sent hundreds of coach busses filled with orthodox Jews of all ages and types to Albany. Tens and hundreds of thousands. And we march on Albany. And publicly showed the world how you peacefully protest against blatant and actual systemic bigotry.

Our communities got together and called the governors bluff. He wants to shut our Yeshivos, Bais Yaakov, and Day Schools: fine. We mass enrolled ALL our children into public schools. Every. Single. Child. The city and state would go bankrupt. Almost overnight. Because state law demands every child to have a seat. The public-school system doesn’t have the teachers, therapists, remote devices, or structure for this huge influx of our children. I’m pretty sure that instead of our Yeshivos, Bais Yaakov, and Day Schools getting closed, you may actually see vouchers in NY! Because the credit rating for the state would crater. And Cuomo’s wish of being seen as a potential presidential candidate will go up in smoke.

Our communities said in once voice we will not take this abuse anymore. And start really looking into alternative states to live in. I know in American history there has never been large population’s shifts of Jewish communities. Most communities that created and disappeared happened over time. But I am talking of moving everything, lock stock and barrel, to states like Texas, Florida, Arizona, or even Wyoming. States that will leave us alone to practice our religion as we see fit. The Mormons did it the 1830’s when they were persecuted in NY. Maybe it is time we followed, and left NY. Left its high taxes. Left its over-regulation. Left its anti-religious bigotry. And left its leftist agenda.

I know many of these proposals are hard to fathom as real. But they are.

All they need is new leadership. Because what we have now has, and is, failing us.

Nachman Mostofsky is the Executive Director of Chovevei Zion & Chovevei Zion Policy Fund. He can be found at twitter.com/mostofsky, while the organizations are at twitter.com/choveveizion and twitter.com/czpolicy.