Anew reality greeted the 60-something Orthodox leaders and professionals on their annual trek to Albany last Wednesday. The longstanding Republican majority, with whom the group had warm relationships, had been replaced by Democrats for the first time in a decade.

Still, an unusually long parade of lawmakers stopped in at the lunch, some to greet and partake of the food during a frigid day in the state’s capital, others to deliver a short speech.

“We usually have about ten or twelve assemblymen coming in,” one participant said. “But here they just kept coming. There must have been close to 25 legislators there.”

Most Agudah mission-goers were representing yeshivos or organizations, along with a sprinkling of accountants or lawyers.

This year’s trip was clouded by the crisis confronting yeshivos, which are threatened with closure unless they conform to a long list of guidelines, including four and a half hours of daily secular studies.

Most of the lawmakers expressed support for the yeshivah system, such as Assemblyman Joe Lentol, a Williamsburg Democrat. The veteran legislator referred to a small group of Yaffed members protesting outside the room, saying, “And to those standing outside, I hope you hear me, but I stand with you, because you are right!” pointing at the Agudah pilgrimage.

The highlight of the day — aside from the group photograph on the Million Dollar Staircase, of course — was the 15-minute meeting the group had with Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the new senate majority leader. Mrs. Tsivia Yanofsky, the principal of Manhattan High School for Girls, told Stewart-Cousins that she had come both as a representative of a school that would be affected by the guidelines and as the mother of six boys learning in yeshivah.

“There was no crisis to justify these sweeping actions,” she said. “We see this as an existential threat to independent school education, a hallowed tradition, and a hallmark of democracy and educational creativity.”

Stewart-Cousins appeared receptive to the message, saying she hoped to meet Agudah members again. “We’re giving full attention to this issue,” she assured the group.

The final hurrah came when the group was ushered into the Red Room to meet the governor’s staff. Gov. Andrew Cuomo just hired a new Jewish liaison, Michael Snow, and he put together an A-list of agency reps to talk to the group on issues that matter to the community.

Dr. Howard Zucker, the health commissioner, was flanked by his deputies as he fielded questions on end-of-life issues, on a program that allows relatives to take care of seniors as home health aides that may get shuttered under Cuomo’s budget proposals, and on how to sensitively report on the measles outbreak in the Orthodox community.

The meeting with the deputy education commissioner was filled with questions about the yeshivah guidelines, as well as a request that the state retire an old $12 million debt related to the yeshivos’ performing various mandates on the state’s behalf, such as monitoring attendance and ensuring students are vaccinated.

The final meeting was with members of the public safety agency.

Members peppered the deputy secretary with questions about rising anti-Semitism and a hike in institutionalized discrimination, such as villages seeking to keep Jews out through zoning laws.

The recent horrific shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue also figured in the conversation. Agudah asked lawmakers to match the level of security funding offered by neighboring New Jersey and give schools $150 per child. Currently, the state gives about $37 a child.

Will Agudah’s asks get the desired answers? Time will tell. But the Albany mission’s goal was accomplished simply by showing the locals that the community stands behind the organization.

“We were fighting for elbow room with a few other groups who were in Albany for the day,” said the participant. “There were groups lobbying for more money for local villages or for better care for roads. It’s easy to be forgotten when Albany is in session.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 752)