Footage from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s visit to a Brooklyn Judaica store showed a little-known Orthodox City Hall staffer blowing the shofar and explaining aspects of Hasidic garb to the the democratic socialist — as well as ushering aside a heckler — provoking questions and commentary from Jewish observers.

Uri Fraenkel, who accompanied Mamdani and faith liaison Rabbi Miriam Grossman on the pre-High Holidays trip to Borough Park, cuts an unlikely figure in a leftist City Hall: an Israel-supporting Lubavitcher from Crown Heights, whose social media features multiple photos with former Mayor Eric Adams (“a true Mayor who fights for all New Yorkers,” a caption on LinkedIn reads), in whose administration he previously served. 

Even more ironic, for a man all sources Jewish Insider spoke to described as apolitical, is the arm of the mayor’s office he now works in: the new Office of Mass Engagement, created with the explicit mission of “bringing the people-powered movement that elected Mayor Mamdani to the work of governance” — an office stocked with members of the Democratic Socialists of America all the way up to Commissioner Tascha Van Auken.

But Fraenkel, whom Mamdani’s team would not make available for an interview, followed an unorthodox route to City Hall in the first place. Rather than being a political appointee, of the type that typically resigns or gets removed when a new mayor enters office, he is a longtime civil servant. And he rose to the role of director of special projects for Adams’ Community Affairs Unit not on the strength of personal ties, but from a career in the city Department of Education.

“Usually people who come in that position, they come in because they’re loud enough and they have a lot of connections,” said Benny Polatseck, another Adams administration veteran. “Uri’s a quiet guy.”

Fraenkel oversaw student transportation, including for yeshivas, under both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Mayor Bill de Blasio. Meanwhile, at home in Crown Heights, he was “just a member of the community,” according to Rabbi Yaacov Behrman, who handles public relations for Chabad headquarters.

“Community Affairs would get a call from somebody about buses, for Jewish schools or not Jewish: ‘The routes don’t make sense,’” Behrman remembered. “They would go to Uri and ask him, ‘Does this person have a point?’”

He transitioned to City Hall in 2024 at a moment of strained municipal finances. Because he was already a public employee, the move did not require a new salary or the standard hiring process. Inside Adams’ office, according to Behrman and others, he continued to work in a purely technical capacity, helping people from diverse communities with issues involving city agencies and permitting processes.

However, sources — who requested anonymity to speak freely — told JI that Fraenkel long wanted to work more specifically on Jewish issues, and to increase his personal visibility. But this was difficult in the Adams administration, where multiple Orthodox Jews held high-profile roles, including Fred Kreizman, then-head of the Community Affairs Unit.

Behrman, however, disputed that Fraenkel held any such ambitions.

“He’s a very humble guy. He likes helping, he likes doing stuff, he likes being involved,” he said. “He’s a very genuine guy.”

Either way, Mamdani’s election represented an odd sort of opportunity. Because of his civil service designation, the new administration could not quickly fire Fraenkel as it did other Adams staffers; at most, it could demote him back into the Department of Education. But the new Office of Mass Engagement, staffed largely with activists and political professionals, lacked personnel who understood city government, insiders said.

Despite the new office’s political tenor, Behrman and others who know Fraenkel emphasized he continues to handle strictly bureaucratic matters in his new role of director of constituent services at Mass Engagement.

“I’ll reach out to Uri for the Parks Department, or issues with city agencies,” said Behrman. “An organizational need, a community need. But never for political things.”

In the job, Fraenkel continues to engage with New Yorkers from across various backgrounds, though he has also featured in a number of Jewish events to date. He handed the mayor a mishloach manot gift at Purim, and sat with Mamdani and an array of Orthodox leaders at a roundtable later in March.

“Uri Fraenkel represents the very best of public service. Every day, he helps New Yorkers navigate our city’s complex network of services and resources and connects people across the five boroughs with the support they deserve,” Van Auken, the Office of Mass Engagement commissioner, said in a statement to JI. “We are incredibly lucky to have Uri on our team.”

However, his prominent appearance alongside Mamdani at Eichler’s Judaica, and on-camera encounter with frequent Mamdani protester Stephanie Ben Shimol at the store, sparked a heated online reaction.

“I feel bad for him. I’ve had so many calls in the last 24 hours: ‘Why was he there, and why was he legitimizing them?’” Polatseck said. “He is there to represent the mayor and the community. What do you want him to do? Somebody screams at your boss and you’re standing right next to him, what are you going to do?”

Behrman agreed.

“If the mayor didn’t hire an Orthodox Jew, we would scream he doesn’t have an Orthodox Jew in the administration,” the rabbi said. “What if a person in a yeshiva needs to work with somebody in the city? Do you want them not to have anybody they’re comfortable with in the administration?”