“How could you endorse Mamdani?” Tough questions for Satmar askan Rabbi Moishe Indig

Rabbi Moishe Indig never wanted to be a communal askan, yet this reluctant leader has been able to sway elections and accrue political friends with his valuable endorsements — even the virulent anti-Semite Zohran Mamdani. But Rabbi Indig says he has nothing to apologize for. “I’ve been working with unabashed anti-Semites for years,” he says. “My approach is always that you catch more flies with honey”

For 25 years, Rabbi Moishe Indig’s door has been a mandatory destination for anyone seeking public office in New York. The legendary political strategist and leader of the Satmar kehillos of Williamsburg and Boro Park leverages a bloc of thousands of votes, and candidates on every level learn early that they would be wise to win him over to their side.

Indig insists he never wanted anything to do with askanus — he was drafted into the role by legendary Satmar rosh hakahal Rabbi Yitzchok Rosenberg and tried numerous times to get out of it.

“This isn’t for me,” he would complain to Rabbi Rosenberg. “Choose someone else. I want out.”

“You can’t,” Rabbi Rosenberg often answered, “Not in this gilgul. It’s in your blood. Even if you had a transfusion, it won’t leave.”

Indig is the founder and leader of the Williamsburg Jewish Community Council, which responds to about 80 requests per day for help with various complex issues, from political flexing to government services and even immigration.

The reluctant leader has frequently played the role of political kingmaker, swaying more votes in an election than the margin of difference between winners and losers. His valuable endorsement can be the easiest thing to gain for some, but impossibly difficult for others. It has also proved surprising again and again, as he has stood loyally and unflinchingly by some candidates unpopular within the community — and without.

Perhaps his most shocking endorsement came several weeks ago, when he backed socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani for mayor despite his widespread reputation for virulent anti-Semitism — to the shock, consternation, and condemnation of layers of leaders, laymen, and powerbrokers.

Why did he do it? What did he get in exchange? And what’s next on his list of political alliances? We sat down with Rabbi Indig to get a sense of how he operates.

What are your general principles in askanus?

My number-one rule is never to tell someone, “It’s not my problem.” When I was young and newly married, I had trouble with an insurance technicality. I asked a person in a position of power for help, and he said, “This is your problem, not mine. I don’t have time to help you, what do you want from me?”

Since that moment — as I tell all my staff, paid and volunteer, at the JCC or other places — I made it a rule never to tell a caller “We don’t deal with this.” We may not deal with it directly, but there is always some way we can help. There are connections, people, someone in the Rolodex, chavrach chavra isa lei — we know a guy who knows a guy — there some way we can guide them, no matter what it is. That’s the definition of askanus and that is what it’s all about.