New York Republicans selected Mazi Melesa Pilip, an Ethiopian-born, Orthodox Jew and Israel Defense Forces veteran, on Thursday to run for New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
A current Nassau County legislator, Pilip is running for the seat that Republican Rep. George Santos held before being expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives, on Dec. 1, following federal criminal indictments for fraud. It was also revealed that Santos had fabricated his backstory, including his supposed Jewish heritage.
Santos’s inventions stand in dramatic contrast with Pilip’s real-life biography. Born in Ethiopia, she emigrated to Israel as a refugee in 1991 as part of an Israeli operation to airlift Ethiopian Jews. She served in the IDF as a paratrooper before moving to the United States with her husband and becoming a U.S. citizen. A mother of seven, Pilip was first elected to the Nassau County legislature in 2021.
The New York 3rd district special election holds national significance, given how narrowly Republicans control the House. Following the expulsion of Santos, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wields an eight-seat, fractious majority.
“Winning this battleground seat is critical to maintaining the GOP majority in the House of Representatives,” Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said in a statement. He endorsed Pilip, whom he called “a remarkable candidate whose strength of character and firm principles are clear to anyone who looks at her life story and her work.”
NY-03 was one of several Republican pickups in New York in the 2022 midterms, though Pilip will face a difficult challenger in the Democratic nominee, Tom Souzzi, who previously held the seat and has been a figure in Long Island politics for decades.
The special election will be held on Feb. 13. JNS
Eh, one minute. What makes her “Orthodox”? Did she convert al pe halacha? All the major poskim held that the Ethiopians must be migayer.
Thank you Rabbi for doing all the research and giving us your Psak halacha.
Eh, one minute.
What makes YOU “Orthodox”?
Do you know what the Torah says about disparaging a ger?
Do you know what halachos of motzi shem ra say about disparaging people based on assumptions, rather than evidence?
All the major poskim hold that someone like you is rasha.
Not just not Orthodox, but a rasha.
@ Not so fast. That’s an ironic name as there are quite a few poskim that hold that they don’t need to be megayer at all (if I remember correctly Reb Obadiah Yosef included). And many of the other poskim say that they only need gayrus lechumra but that even prior to that they are to be considered and treated as yidden for all dinim. Furthermore many Ethiopians in Israel have gone through giyur lechumra so why is your first reaction to this article negative and false.
How does one keep Shabbos in such a political position?
just to let you know that many great Poskim (among them Rav Ovadia) did pasken that many (not all) Ethiopians are indeed Jewish, without geirus.
I believe that Rav Ovadia Yosef held they are Jews.
Incorrect.
I believe the comment above is really disturbing.
After the terrible tragedy on Oct.7 we all felt that we were more united as Jews and felt more solidarity with Jews of all kinds.
To ask that question in private if someone suggests a shidduch is obviously appropriate and necessary, but to make this your 1st response in today’s reality has me questioning your “Not so fast” jewishness.