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After Defense Of Yeshivas, Andrew Yang Zooms Into Contention For Ultra-Orthodox Bloc Endorsement
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Feb 19, 2021
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By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Feb 19, 2021
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Mayoral hopeful Andrew Yang has rocketed into contention for the city's coveted ultra-Orthodox bloc vote, multiple Hasidic leaders told Gothamist, one day after signaling his plan not to enforce basic education standards within the community's yeshivas.
At a virtual forum hosted by the New York Jewish Agenda (NYJA) on Thursday, candidates were asked how they would ensure that children enrolled in yeshivas and other religious schools received a secular education required by state law.
As other candidates danced around the subject, Yang offered a blunt defense of the embattled Jewish private schools. “I do not think we should be prescribing a curriculum unless that curriculum can be demonstrated to have improved impact on people’s career trajectories and prospects," Yang said.
He added, pointing to his own month-long Bible course at a Westchester prep school: "I do not see why we somehow are prioritizing secular over faith-based learning."
The stance rankled some education advocates, who pointed to a 2019 report that found just a fraction of yeshivas were providing students with adequate secular instruction. Other observers described the comments, which echoed a similar answer recently given to The Forward by Yang, as a transparent attempt to curry favor with the Hasidic voting bloc.
For the moment, that bid seems to be working.
"It's like a horse race where one horse comes from last to near the top," one leader in the Orthodox community, who asked for anonymity in order to speak candidly, told Gothamist. While Eric Adams and Scott Stringer were previously seen as the front-runner candidates, "nobody expected we’d even look at this guy," the source added of Yang. "All of a sudden it's 'Whew!' He's certainly in that first tier pool of candidates."
On Twitter, both the Satmar and Bobov, two of Brooklyn's most influential Hasidic dynasties, have referred to Yang's comments as "refreshing." The head of New York government relations for Agudath Israel, an umbrella organization for Haredi Orthodox synagogues, also commended the candidate on Thursday.
The recent comments mark a shift from an answer Yang gave to Politico last month, in which he suggested that schools not meeting baseline standards should be investigated. In the time since, the outlet noted, the campaign has hired the Borough Park District Leader David Schwartz as director of Jewish Community Outreach.
“The things he's saying echo with great precision what the pro-yeshiva groups are saying,” another source in the Orthodox community told Gothamist. “He's very carefully putting these talking points out there."
Brooklyn Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein, a strong yeshiva supporter, told Gothamist that he met with Yang last Friday to discuss the issue of yeshivas, and came away impressed with his "firsthand past knowledge" of the issue. He stressed that a candidate would have to earn the community's vote, and that he still wasn't ready to make an endorsement.
Meanwhile, the introduction of Ranked-Choice Voting this year may play a complicating factor in the mechanics of the ultra-Orthodox bloc vote. The system is likely to reward candidates who can build strong coalitions, according to Common Cause executive director Susan Lerner, and may ultimately reduce the influence of the Orthodox voting bloc.
“One of its goals is to build a consensus majority, and you don’t do that by taking extreme positions,” Lerner told Gothamist. “If you’re pandering to an extremist bloc, you’re perhaps not being strategic.”
While the Ranked Choice ballot measure was passed by New Yorkers overwhelmingly in 2019, it was opposed by voters in Orthodox Brooklyn.
But Eichenstein told Gothamist that he saw the new voting system as an opportunity to get to know a larger number of candidates, and to ensure they were well-versed in issues important to his Jewish constituents. "I want to know that the next mayor will be willing to take a bullet for our community," he said.
Inquiries to Yang's campaign were not returned.
Tagged
yeshivas
orthodox community
election 2021
andrew yang
Jake Offenhartz
Jake Offenhartz is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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