From a frenzied fan’s viral TikTok to a city lawmaker greeting fans at a music festival, the cry has echoed across New York City over the last week: “My mayor Muslim, my bagels Jewish, my Christian Dior — Knicks in four!!”
On Monday, the last line was rendered obsolete after the San Antonio Spurs interrupted the New York Knicks’ hopes for an NBA Finals sweep after two wins.
But the idea behind the chant — that the Knicks’ chances at their first championship in more than half a century could bring New Yorkers together — is still resonating.
“I seen Hasidic Jews break dancing with Black kids. This is the greatest unification of the city since 9/11,” the rapper and superfan Fat Joe said on Sunday between press conferences at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks’ championship run is electrifying the city at an uneasy time for many in its Jewish communities. The election of an anti-Zionist mayor last year has intensified divisions within the Jewish community over Israel, and has left some feeling unrepresented in City Hall and alienated from their fellow New Yorkers.
But Jews have been very much represented in the city’s outpouring of Knicks support.
With the series now in New York, prominent Jewish New Yorkers are sitting courtside (and occasionally getting involved in the action), Jewish bakeries are serving up orange and blue confections, and star Jalen Brunson’s face has been photoshopped onto, of all things, the Lubavitcher Rebbe “Messiah is here” fliers that dot traffic lights across the city.
“It does feel like for the first time in so long, people are acknowledging Jewish connection to the city in a way that doesn’t feel forced. It doesn’t feel like there’s any angle to it,” said Eitan Levine, a Jewish influencer and New York sports superfan.
Levine had a theory about why: “It’s probably the only Jewish thing that Israel has not been shoved into in three years, so it is amazing.”
Jewish New York has had a soft spot for the Knicks since the team launched in 1946 with a nearly all-Jewish starting lineup. The affinity deepened when it was a Jewish head coach, Red Holzman, who returned from that early squad to steer the Knicks to their championships in 1970 and 1973. And some have noted that the current Knicks’ president, Leon Rose, who has built the team to its present power, is also Jewish.
But the Knicks are beloved across New York. Unlike in other professional sports, the city long had only one basketball team, meaning that the Knicks are starting from an advantage of a citywide fan base unstratified along neighborhood, ethnic or class lines.
And Knicks fans have hungered for this level of success, as the team had been relatively hapless over the past two decades.
Levine said he usually thinks of Passover as the time of year when “the team starts to f—ing fold” and the season ends. This year, the Knicks are playing well past Shavuot.
With just wins separating the fanbase from its first championship since 1973, New Yorkers from all walks of life are hoping for a celebration.
“It’s a powerful reminder that no matter what we believe, where we were born or what we look like, we’re all New Yorkers with shared values and goals — like that we hope that Knicks beat the Spurs,” said Phylisa Wisdom, executive director of the mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Wisdom said her office has met over the past couple of months with Jewish New Yorkers from “every background — secular, Orthodox, Ashkenazi, Bukharian and more” — and that she has consistently heard from people an appreciation for the city’s one-of-a-kind diversity.
“This Knicks’ Finals run has put that on full display,” she said.
Between the sale of Knicks-colored bagels and Jewish delis peddling cookies that are blue-and-orange instead of black-and-white, Jewish delicacies have been a visible part of Knicks fever. Broad Nosh and Utopia Bagels have gotten in on the bagel action, while businesses across the city are doling out Knicks-themed cookies including Zabar’s, William Greenberg Bakery, Orwasher’s and Zaro’s.
Meanwhile, the religion of Judaism has gotten some moments in the spotlight, too, like when a Barstool Sports host complimented former Knicks star and Orthodox Jew Amare Stoudemire’s “book collection,” visible in his Zoom background during an interview. One host asked Stoudemire if the books were encyclopedias.
“Yeah those are Torah-cyclopedias, exactly,” Stoudemire joked.
A number of Jewish leaders in New York told JTA that the Knicks’ Finals appearance has had a unifying effect.
“New York is a city with millions of opinions, but right now we can all agree on one thing: Let’s Go Knicks!” said City Council Speaker Julie Menin. As one of the city’s top Jewish officials, Menin has found herself on one side of a divide in City Hall, having gone against the mayor on “buffer zone” legislation and endorsing against some of his preferred council and congressional candidates.
Comptroller Mark Levine said the playoff run has helped people overcome “the negativity that too often dominates our national discourse,” and that “complete strangers are finding common ground with each other because of the Knicks, celebrating the grit and determination of this team.”
The Knicks’ 115-111 loss on Monday snapped their historic 13-game playoff win streak, the second-longest in NBA postseason history. They enter Wednesday’s game at MSG up 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.
“At a time when JCRC-NY is working every day to strengthen relationships across communities and push back against division, the Knicks have become a powerful force for bringing people together,” said Mark Treyger, the Jewish Community Relations Council’s CEO. “Turns out one of the best bridge-builders in New York right now wears a Knicks jersey.”
He added, “Now let’s finish the job.”
As far as “finishing the job” goes, the Spurs’ win on Monday threw a wrench in the rhyme delivered by Knicks fan MD Ahnaf Hossain — whose favorite bagel is the everything — that has come to dominate social media. But thankfully, New Yorkers know how to adapt.
“My mayor Muslim, My bagel Jewish,” an X user wrote, before making a slight adjustment: “My cream cheese chive, Knicks in five.”
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https://x.com/FarroYossi/status/2064150882464518388
The Knicks’ Finals run has, indeed, united the city in a way that the Yankees or Giants — who share much of the spotlight with a second local team — can’t. (Meaning no disrespect to the Brooklyn Nets: Their fanbase is simply dwarfed by the Knicks’.)
So perhaps it is to be expected that the Knicks fever taking over New York — a city with 1 million Jews — has, itself, been fairly Jewish. Millions have watched the clip of a young Orthodox Jew in a dance circle in his Knicks jersey. Jalen Brunson’s face has been photoshopped onto, of all things, the Lubavitcher Rebbe “Messiah is here” fliers that dot traffic lights across the city. A number of the celebrity superfans traveling with the team, including Timothee Chalamet and Ben Stiller, are themselves Jewish.
All of this comes as many Jews in the city have felt uneasy as
But what is particularly notable for Jewish comedian and Knicks fan Eitan Levine, is that the mentions of Jewishness have not been overtaken by political debates.
“It does feel like for the first time in so long, people are acknowledging Jewish connection to the city in a way that doesn’t feel forced, it doesn’t feel like there’s any angle to it,” Levine said in an interview. “It’s probably the only Jewish thing that Israel has not been shoved into in three years, so it is amazing.”
Jewish businesses around the city are leaning into it.
Zabar’s is selling six-
Phylisa: “Over the past couple months, my office has met with Jewish New Yorkers from every background — secular, Orthodox, Ashkenazi, Bukharian, and more. One thing we’ve heard consistently is a deep appreciation for the diversity that makes New York City unlike anywhere else in the world. This Knicks’ Finals run has put that on full display. Across the five boroughs, New Yorkers of every religion, race, and background are coming together to cheer for the same team and celebrate the same moment. It’s a powerful reminder that no matter what we believe, where we were born or what we look like, we’re all New Yorkers with shared values and goals — like that we hope that Knicks beat the Spurs.”
[Yossie Farro, the man who tries to wrap everyone he can in tefillin, wrote that the Knicks have an “All-Star lineup” of famous Jewish fans which may be “the best roster of potential Tefillin wraps.”
MD Hossain, the New Yorker who screamed the now-iconic four-line poem, spoke to Kalshi, the prediction market company, in an interview about the episode.
“I really wanted to bring people together with what I was saying, and that’s what came to my head,” Hossain said.
He added, “It’s so awesome to bring unity into one of the most diverse cities in the world.”
Barstool blown away by Amare “bookshelf”
My mayor Muslim, my bagels Jewish…
Sneako showed up to the game
https://x.com/DragonflyJonez/status/2063755278227546272?s=20
Quote tweets the video Fat Joe is likely tlaking about (the kids aren’t actually break dancing, they’re doing the sturdy)
Zabar’s is selling Knicks colors black-and-white cookies
https://x.com/GusSaltonstall/status/2062938573632946255?s=20
Eli’s across town https://x.com/rwxoxo/status/2062978217149857933?s=20
William Greenberg also selling Knicks shortbread cookies and blue-and-orange cookies
https://wmgreenbergdesserts.com/products/knicks-playoff-cookies
Kossar’s
Bagels: (see Jackie’s thread)
Mark Treyger quote “”As a lifelong Knicks fan, I’ve spent decades waiting for this moment. What I love most isn’t just the basketball, but it’s seeing New Yorkers of every background united by a shared hope and excitement. At a time when JCRC-NY is working every day to strengthen relationships across communities and push back against division, the Knicks have become a powerful force for bringing people together. Turns out one of the best bridge-builders in New York right now wears a Knicks jersey. Now let’s finish the job. Knicks in four.”
Eitan Levine said he usually associates sports teams with the Jewish time of year that they usually get eliminated from the playoffs. “[TK QUOTE For the Knicks, they usually fold around Passover.”]
But this year, for just the second time this century 1999, they’ve made it past Shavuot.
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