On Monday, Oct. 16 the League of Women Voters held a forum for the candidates for trustee of the Great Neck Library.
There are four candidates running, but only three of the candidates were present: Scott Sontag, Sara Rivka Khodadadian, and Aliza Reicher. Absent from the forum was trustee candidate Chayim Mahgerefteh.
I understand that Mahgerefteh could not make it, but the election is less than a week away and to know very little about this candidate is disconcerting. Moreover, a quick Google search reveals some troubling information.
According to The Yeshiva University Observer, in his capacity as a student council member at Yeshiva University, Mahgerefteh abstained from voting on the approval of an LGBTQ club at his university.
The club needed a certain number of yes votes to proceed; by abstaining, council members (including Mahgerefteh) effectively blocked the club.
As a Great Necker very concerned about preserving inclusivity in our community, I have been upset by this piece of information. In a time when LBGTQ books are being banned across the country, and where the LGBTQ community is under attack, it’s paramount that Great Neck remain a place of tolerance and inclusivity.
We have seen local candidates in past elections in Great Neck use LBGTQ issues as campaign issues, and then subsequently lose these elections. Is this why Mahgerefteh hasn’t been engaging with the community? Is he trying to hide his stance on this issue?
Will Mahgerefteh clarify his position on not just LBGTQ books and the issue of book banning, but also how he feels about supporting the LBGTQ community in Great Neck?
Will he support meaningful initiatives like Pride Month at the library? Will he protest against the Great Neck giraffe wearing a rainbow scarf to support LBGTQ folks, as members of our community have before?
I hope Mahgerefteh will address these concerns promptly and thoroughly.
After attending the library forum this past week, I will be putting my support behind Aliza Reicher, who was the only candidate who not only took a strong stand against book banning, but who also said in no uncertain terms that she stands with the LGBTQ community.
The library election is on Oct. 30, from 10 am to 10 pm. There are three different voting sites—check the library website to find yours. Please come out to vote for Aliza Reicher for trustee, and Daniel Pitt Stoller and Joana Stolove for the nominating committee.
Carl Schweitzer
Great Neck
As an ardent supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and as one who has known Chayim Mahgerefteh for many years, I’m grateful to speak on this topic in the capacity I am able. I think the question posed in this article is a very worthy one, as all members of our community deserve to feel advocated for within a system of free literary expression and consumption. I’m grateful to reassure voters of the following answer as I personally see it, based upon my many interactions with Chayim Mahgerehteh—I have always known him to be deeply compassionate, inclusive, fair-minded, and a true proponent of good government for all members of our constituency and beyond. Knowledge is an important thing and the gatekeepers of that knowledge have a responsibility to act wisely—Chayim Mahgerefteh is someone that I absolutely trust in that capacity. The support that Chayim has enjoyed from throughout the community is, I feel, merited and truly can be seen to be representative of the egalitarian person Chayim is known to be by those within his acquaintance. I stand with our LGBTQ+ community, a lack of book banning, and, within a field of what I am sure is composed of otherwise worthy candidates, with Chayim Mahgerefteh for Great Neck Library Trustee.