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This kosher-for-Passover apple vodka lets New Yorkers drink local this holiday
(New York Jewish Week) — When it comes to alcoholic beverages and Passover, the most common association is wine — consuming four cups of wine, after all, is an essential element of the Passover seder. But at Ilya Mavlyanov’s home in Forest Hills, Queens, there will be cocktails on offer, too.
That’s because Mavlyanov, 31, is the founder of Upstate Vodka — a vodka that is both certified kosher and certified kosher for Passover. Unlike most popular vodkas in the United States, which are made from grain, Upstate Vodka is made from New York apples.
“New York is the Big Apple and New York is the second largest apple growing state in the country,” Mavlyanov told the New York Jewish Week when asked how he landed on creating vodka from apples.
Just because a food or beverage uses kosher ingredients, however, doesn’t automatically mean it’s certified kosher. For Mavlyanov, who moved from Moscow to New York as a teen, the decision to seek kosher certification was integral to Upstate Vodka’s launch in June 2022. “I am Bukharian Jewish — kosher blood runs in my veins,” he said. “The first market I looked at was the kosher market. I started selling mostly to kosher liquor stores.”
Most vodkas on the market today are made from the fermentation of cereal grains like wheat or rye — ingredients considered “chametz” and not kosher for Passover. That is why some popular vodka brands, like Absolut or Smirnoff, may be certified kosher but not kosher for Passover. Kosher-for-Passover vodka can be made from potatoes, sugar or fruits, like an apple, a key ingredient in Ashkenazi recipes for that seder plate staple, haroset.
Each 750 ml bottle of Upstate Vodka is made from the fruit of 75 apples. The variety depends on the year but can include Spy Gold, Cortlands, Liberty or Kingston Black apples. “Each year we evaluate the juice so it might be a different blend,” said Upstate Vodka marketing director Susan Mooney. “Our distilling team has learned a lot about how to work with apples with different sugar content.”
“The owner is Jewish and he feels like the kosher products that were available were made from sugar or beets and were not of a high enough quality,” said Mooney, describing Mavlyanov’s decision to make a kosher-for-Passover vodka, in particular. “He felt he wanted to make a really good kosher for Passover vodka for the kosher and Jewish population.”
This year, the company will turn out 5,000 bottles of kosher for Passover Upstate Vodka. Sold in stores all over New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut, with shipping available to 30 states, Upstate Vodka’s kosher for Passover batch has a light gray label — in contrast to the black label used on the product for the rest of the year — and it clearly states that it is kosher for Passover on the front of the bottle.
Aside from the label, however, there is no difference between the Passover apple vodka and the year-round drink, said master distiller Ken Wortz. “From the first pressing of the juice from the apples, to fermentation, distillation and bottling — all are done under the supervision of a rabbi from OK Kosher,” he said, noting the rabbi even has his own room at the distillery.
Upstate Vodka is currently the only product produced by Sauvage Distillery, which is located in Charlotteville, New York, just north of the Catskill Mountains. And while Mavlyanov lives with his family in Queens, he is “very into farm products and farmers markets,” he told the New York Jewish Week. “I was always impressed with the quality of products, and wanted to contribute to what upstate has to offer.”
Mavlyanov’s efforts seem to be paying off. New York City-based mixologist Will Hadjigeorgalis, who is now a brand ambassador for the line, said he normally doesn’t get excited about vodka — until he tasted this product. “It is supposed to be flavorless, but this has a hint of apple,” he said. “It has a wonderful, creamy mouth feel.”
Food influencer and cookbook author Jake Cohen is a fan, too. “I come from a family that loves a diversified l’chaim portfolio, from weed to wine and plenty of vodka drinkers, so I always want to be stocked on the best kosher for Passover variety,” he wrote in an email to the New York Jewish Week, using the Hebrew word for the toast said over spirits. “Upstate Vodka stands up to every other bottle on my top shelf.”
There’s more to come from those upstate apples — in addition to vodka, the company is also making a local version of apple liqueur a la calvados. “We already have apple brandy in the barrels,” said master distiller Wortz. “It will also be kosher.”
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The post This kosher-for-Passover apple vodka lets New Yorkers drink local this holiday appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Giuliani Says Mamdani Has ‘Hatred’ for Jews for Declining to Attend Israel Day Parade in New York City
Former Donald Trump lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani arrives at US federal court in New York City, US, Nov. 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has lambasted the city’s current mayor, Zohran Mamdani, for the latter’s decision not to attend the annual Israel Day parade, which is set to take place later this month.
“Mamdani’s decision to snub the Israel Day Parade demonstrates his deep disdain and hatred of the Jewish community,” Giuliani, a Republican, told the New York Post on Wednesday. “When you combine this with his failure to attend the investiture of the new Catholic Archbishop [Ronald Hicks], a pattern emerges, revealing a man on a mission to tear down the foundations of Western civilization.”
Mamdani, a far-left democratic socialist, has made fierce anti-Israel activism a cornerstone of his political career, leading many Jewish leaders and other critics to accuse him of antisemitism.
“Have New Yorkers awakened to the fact that they made a disastrous decision in November 2025 by electing this man?” added Giuliani, who served as New York City’s mayor from 1994 through 2001.
Mamdani confirmed earlier this month that he will skip this year’s Israel Day Parade. However, the avowed anti-Zionist first indicated that he would not attend the event in October 2025, the month before his election. At the time, he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he looked forward “to joining — and hosting — many community events celebrating Jewish life in New York and the rich Jewish history and culture of our city,” but not including the parade.
“While I will not be attending the Israel Day Parade, my lack of attendance should not be mistaken for a refusal to provide security or the necessary permits for its safety,” Mamdani said last year. “I’ve been very clear: I believe in equal rights for all people — everywhere. That principle guides me consistently.”
Mamdani is reportedly the first mayor of New York City to skip the Israel Day Parade, which has been held annually since 1964. The parade takes place along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue and is set this year for May 31 under the theme, “Proud Americans, Proud Zionists.”
For what is believed to be the first time in history, a Muslim group will march in the parade. Supporters of the nonprofit American Muslim & Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council will participate and be led by Anila Ali, the organization’s board chair and president.
As a supporter of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, Mamdani has been highly critical of the country and has refused to recognize it as a Jewish state. New York City is home to the world’s largest population of Jews outside of Israel.
“Since the very first Israel Parade in 1964, every single sitting mayor of New York City has joined in the festive celebrations. New York has historically been proud of its deep relationship with Israel. Not joining the parade is an affront to the history of New York City,” Moshe Davis – former executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism, a body formed by Mamdani’s predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams – told Fox News Digital.
Adams told the news outlet that the Israel Day Parade “is a testament to one of New York City’s most important relationships.”
“From health care to technology to innovation, Israel and New York City are partners in building a better future,” he explained. “I want every New Yorker to join the Parade on Fifth Avenue because celebrating this bond isn’t just for the Jewish community; it’s for our entire city.”
Last week, Mamdani posted a video on social media in honor of “Nakba Day.” The word “nakba” is Arabic for “catastrophe” and used by Palestinians to describe Israel’s founding and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Arabs during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence.
Many Arabs left for varied reasons, including that they were encouraged by Arab leaders to flee their homes to make way for the invading armies to destroy the nascent Jewish state. At the same time, about 850,000 Jews were forced to flee or expelled from Middle Eastern and North African countries in the 20th century, primarily in the aftermath of Israel’s declaring independence.
Several pro-Israel Jewish groups found the video posted by Mamdani offensive, and as a result, some Jewish leaders decided not to attend a pre-Shavuot event Mamdani hosted at Gracie Mansion in honor of Jewish Heritage Month.
The UJA Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, both of which are organizing the Israel Day Parade, declined to attend the gathering. They told the New York Post they made the decision because the event’s host is a mayor who “denies the core pillar of our heritage, the State of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.” At the event, Mamdani announced that his administration will allocate $26 million annually to expand efforts made by the city’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes.
Since Mamdani assumed office, Jews have been targeted in the majority of all hate crimes committed in New York City, continuing a troubling trend of rising antisemitism following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel.
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Vermont Police Investigate Anti-Israel Vandalism of Jewish-Owned Store as Possible Hate Crime
Graffiti is seen on the windows of DG Bodyworks in Cavendish on Wednesday, May 20, 2026. The Vermont State Police has partially redacted profanity that appears on the window to the right. Photo: Vermont State Police
A Jewish woman’s store in Vermont was vandalized early Wednesday morning with anti-Israel graffiti in an incident that police are investigating as a possible hate crime.
“Free Palestine” and “F–k Israel” were spray-painted on the windows of DG Bodyworks, where Israeli flags were on display.
Vermont State Police said they are investigating the vandalism in the Windsor County town of Cavendish as a possible hate crime and will inform the Attorney General’s Office of the incident. Officers who responded to the crime scene reviewed security footage and saw an individual vandalizing the store with purple spray paint during the early hours of Wednesday morning. Police released a photo of the suspect, a white male who wore a cap and covered his face while spray-painting the messages.
Shop owner Denise Gebroe said that her store was targeted because she is Jewish and that while she was “shaken” to discover the graffiti, “I am OK and will not be broken.”
“This was an act of intimidation directed at me because I am Jewish,” she added, in a statement shared with The Algemeiner by Vermont Friends of Israel. “I made Vermont my home because I love it here, but it does not feel the same as it once did. Incidents like this are happening more than many people realize, and most go unreported. I fear for the future of the Jewish community here, and Jewish friends of mine have already left.”
In a statement given to The Algemeiner, Mark Treinkman, president of Vermont Friends of Israel, also called the vandalism an anti-Jewish hate crime and said such an incident “is the predictable consequence of a political campaign in Vermont that demonizes Israel and pressures local communities to treat Jews and Zionists as equivalent to Nazis.” He referenced an Apartheid Free Community campaign active in Vermont, promoted by the Palestine Solidarity Coalition, that is marketed locally as “grassroots activism.”
“When anti-Zionist activists tell people that Jews with deep spiritual, cultural, and familial ties to Israel are ‘baby killers’ and ‘genocide supporters,’ it sends a dangerous signal that intimidation against them is understandable, deserved, or even justified,” Treinkman noted. “History teaches us where this goes. First come campaigns of dehumanization, slogans, pledges, and public shaming. Now a Jewish woman’s storefront has been vandalized in rural Vermont.”
“Synagogues in Vermont have been sent death threats. Swastikas are found on Vermont school walls,” he added, referring to threatening letters sent to several local synagogues and antisemitism graffiti discovered at an elementary school last year. “Jewish students are bullied. What comes next if this is not confronted?”
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Turkey Court Ousts Opposition Leader in Latest Blow to Erdogan’s Challengers
Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), speaks to the media at party headquarters after a Turkish court dismissed a case seeking to remove him and annul the party’s 2023 congress, in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Efekan Akyuz
A Turkish court effectively ousted the main opposition leader Ozgur Ozel on Thursday, annulling the 2023 party congress that elected him chairman in a ruling that dealt a blow to President Tayyip Erdogan’s challengers and hit financial markets.
The appeals court annulled the congress over irregularities and ruled that former Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu – a divisive figure within the party who lost to Erdogan in an election earlier in 2023 – should replace his successor Ozel.
The case was seen as a test of Turkey‘s shaky balance between democracy and autocracy, and the ruling may throw the opposition into further disarray and possible infighting. It could also boost Erdogan’s chances of extending his more than two-decade rule of the big NATO member country and major emerging market economy.
OPPOSITION HIT BY JUDICIAL CRACKDOWN
The CHP, running roughly even with Erdogan’s ruling AK Party in polls, has separately faced an unprecedented judicial crackdown since 2024 in which hundreds of members and elected officials have been detained as part of corruption charges that the party denies.
Among those imprisoned for more than a year is Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is seen as the main rival of Erdogan and remains the CHP’s official candidate for a presidential election set for 2028 but that could come next year.
After the court ruling, Ozel convened party leaders to discuss possible steps and members were called to the CHP headquarters building in Ankara to protest against it.
Ali Mahir Basarir, CHP deputy parliamentary group chair, told Reuters the ruling “is an attempted coup carried out through the judiciary [and] a blow against the will of 86 million people.”
The party rejected the ruling, he said, adding that those who signed off on it were “complicit in this coup attempt and will be held accountable before the courts.”
Turkey‘s main Borsa Istanbul .XU100 dropped 6% in response, triggering a market-wide circuit breaker, while Turkish government bonds slid. Sovereign bonds sold off as much as 1.2 cents, which for many was the biggest fall since late March.
The ruling by the Ankara court overturned a decision last year by a court of first instance that said the case surrounding the CHP’s 2023 congress had no substance.