Documentary “Scenes from the Divide” shows the painful fractures inside NYC’s Jewish community
A Documentary That Started With a Synagogue Conversation
Filmmaker Alison Klayman knew she had the right subject for a documentary when her father came home from synagogue with an unsettling story. He had told someone there that he was not worried about Zohran Mamdani, the incoming New York City mayor whose pro-Palestinian activism had upended the city’s political establishment. The response from his fellow congregant was blunt and revealing: “Oh, so you’re one of those self-hating Jews, huh?” The exchange captured in miniature the fracture that Klayman set out to document in her 32-minute film “Scenes from the Divide,” which is currently playing at the IFC Center in Manhattan. The film is a candid portrait of a community divided not only over a mayoral candidate but over the most fundamental questions about Jewish identity, Israel, and what it means to be politically progressive in 2025 and 2026.
What the Film Shows
Klayman shot the documentary on a shoestring budget during the lead-up to Mamdani’s November election victory. The film weaves together speeches, canvassing footage, and intimate dinner-table conversations that lay bare the generational and ideological rifts within New York’s Jewish community, which at roughly one million people is the largest outside Israel. The central figure is Nicole Krishtul, a Jewish millennial who enthusiastically supported Mamdani. Her Ukrainian-born parents are deeply skeptical of socialism and fiercely protective of Israel. In one scene that became central to the film’s reception, Krishtul and her parents debate who bore responsibility for the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and the subsequent war in Gaza. Before going to canvas in Brighton Beach, Krishtul and fellow volunteers practice saying in Russian, “Zohran is not an antisemite.” The film also gives voice to Ramon Maislen, who chose to protest Mamdani’s appearance at a synagogue. Maislen articulates what many older and more centrist Jewish New Yorkers felt: a sense of being politically homeless as the city’s Democratic coalition shifted left.
Access and Its Limits
Klayman said she sought a wide range of subjects. Not all of them were ultimately comfortable appearing in the film, and the reason was instructive. Several potential participants pulled back when they learned the project had received support from Jewish Currents, a progressive publication critical of Zionism and the organized Jewish establishment. One prominent Manhattan rabbi told her he had a rule against platforming anti-Zionists. Klayman’s wry response was that she thought the dynamic ran in the opposite direction. The difficulty in securing participation reflects a broader pattern: conversations about Mamdani within the Jewish community have often been conducted in private, behind the closed doors of synagogues, living rooms and WhatsApp groups, while public statements have been filtered through the calculus of political consequence.
How City Hall Responded
Mamdani himself has not attended a screening, though members of his office came to the premiere in February. Phylisa Wisdom, who heads the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, praised the film in a statement, describing it as a reflection of a simple truth: the Jewish community is not and has never been a single monolith. That sentiment, while genuine, points to a political reality that Mamdani has navigated with varying degrees of success. Exit polls showed that only about one-third of Jewish New Yorkers voted for him in November, a figure far below his overall coalition. That gap has remained a source of tension and scrutiny throughout his first months in office. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs has been among the organizations trying to create space for dialogue between the mayor’s office and Jewish communities that remain wary.
The Larger Conversation the Film Opens
Klayman said she views the film’s reception as evidence that people are hungry to engage with these fraught questions beyond the compressed and often inflammatory format of social media. Audience members at recent screenings have included people from across the political spectrum, some of whom have said the film gave them language for divisions they had felt but not been able to articulate. One viewer, Robert Taichman, attended a screening with his Ukrainian parents and found that they closely mirrored the family portrayed in the film. His 77-year-old father had strong views about Mamdani that came pouring out as the audience filed out of the theater. That kind of reaction is precisely what Klayman hoped for. The Pew Research Center has documented the deep internal diversity of American Jewish political opinion, showing that younger Jews are substantially more likely to hold progressive views on Israel than their parents and grandparents. Klayman’s film makes that data human. It does not resolve the disagreements it surfaces, but it treats them as worthy of serious attention rather than reduction to talking points. In a city where Mamdani’s mayoralty will remain a live political and cultural story for years, “Scenes from the Divide” offers an early, unflinching record of the rupture his election created and the conversations it has forced. The Anti-Defamation League has tracked record levels of antisemitic incidents in New York City, adding urgency to the questions the film raises about community safety and political representation.
