BROOKLYN (Max Coen) — As we all know by now, the result of the gubernatorial election was not one that the majority of the New York Orthodox community wanted.
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Many people are feeling despondent, disappointed, and disillusioned, with the state of the political situation.
We all made such a big deal about going to vote for Zeldin, that it’s easy to feel like it didn’t even matter.
Let me tell you something however. It did matter. It mattered in a way that it never did before.
The Narrative
We have long been complaining about the state of crime and anti semitism in NYC, but now we actually did something about it.
For a long time our leaders have been lobbying the ruling democrat side to assist us, however to no avail.
And after the recent attack on our yeshiva system, which is an integral part of our lives, we had reached a breaking point.
So doing what most intelligent people would do, our leaders decided we need to show everyone we mean business.
So, we endorsed Zeldin, and we had the biggest “go out to vote” push that the orthodox community has had in a while.
And the turnout! How impressed was everyone when we saw the videos of Borough Park and Williamsburg. All the ads. All the videos. All the social media posts. But nonetheless, Lee Zeldin lost the election.
So why shouldn’t we be disappointed?
Here’s something that some people don’t realize. For the first time in a long time, a huge majority of orthodox communities were unified, working together, and in constant contact, to advance the goal of getting Zeldin elected. Personally, I was in constant dealings with people from Queens, Five Towns, Flatbush, Borough Park, Williamsburg, and Crown Heights. As Dov Hikind mentioned to me at Zeldin’s Election party in Midtown, “It’s magnificent. Hashem is Proud. I’ve been in this forever and It has been a long time since I saw such unity”.
And it wasn’t just us who noticed it. Already There have been multiple articles in the mainstream media about how Orthodox Jewish Voters flipped sides for Zeldin and showed their power. People are talking. People are noticing. People are finally listening.
As another silver lining, the strength of Zeldin’s campaign cause for multiple republicans to flip house seats, notably Mike Lawler in NY-17. Additionally many local state senators were propelled to victory, causing the democrats to lose the supermajority in Albany, making it more difficult for them to pass legislation.
All in all, I can now comfortably say that instead of being: “The Orthodox communities in NYC”, we are now: “The Orthodox community in NYC”. We switched from a plurality to a singularity. We backed someone who shares our values. We help cause a shift in the power dynamic in New York. We helped Congress flip to Republican. we helped Albany lose the democratic supermajority. And finally, we made people listen to us.
There is a lot we should be proud of.
Max Coen is a financial consultant based in NYC who focuses on non-for-profits and Jewish advocacy efforts. He has had involvement in the Zeldin Campaign in an unofficial capacity since March 2021. All the views in the article above are his own.
This election taught everyone one thing; Regardless of our huge voter turn-out, we are still a small minority in NYC.
Who made Max a shaim davar?
These “We lost but let me tell you why we really won” letters never read well. Accept for the comedic entertainment.
except for sell outs Skver and bigger Satmar the frum were united against Mrs. Antiyochus notwithstanding Aguda chair giving her $50,000.
A very nice spin on it but bottom line is hochul is laughing all the way to the bank. We accomplished nothing in terms of the crime and yeshiva situations. If anything we empowered her against us. We proved to everyone that as hard as we can try we can’t beat her. She now has even less reason to support us
but don’t forget the most important toeles-we were mekadesh Shem Shamayim by voting in droves to support our heilger yeshivos and against all the other liberal garbage- this must be done irrespective of whether our candidate wins as HaRav Miller taught us- also the anti chasid org, yaffed always duplicitously claimed that there was a silent majority that supported their nefarious aims- they have been disgraced and discredited to the utmost degree
Being disappointed is fine. From what I see, he agrees it was a loss and that he is disappointed. Not tying to put a spin on it. He’s just showing us that we should be proud as well besides only being disappointed.
I would have saved a few bucks if my wife’s old washing machine still had such a good spin cycle.
Reminds me of the Egyptian army winning the YK war by their 3rd Army having TzaHa”L completely surrounded.
From the inside.
I can’t get over how hard headed and stubborn these fruma pundits are. You won borough park, yea for us…you didn’t even come close to winning Brooklyn. The only honest takeaway is that now you realize that you’re a tiny minority vote that doesn’t matter anywhere north of shomer shabbos.
many satmer and skver jews did not vote for Zelden .They listen to the Rebbi who said not to. The unity was not as complete as you suggest and this is known in all the papers and reports on the elections.
(1) Yasher koach חברה who chose the side of pursuing tzedek l’shem Shomayim.
(2) Maybe some should “think twice” before demeaning tzadikim among us B”HK, whose chochmah ensures “all bases are covered”?
(3) Something to keep in mind after four thousand years of learning, something worth reiterating: “POLITICS changes hands, but IT never changes.”
People want to forget that Zeldin was a election denier in 2020.
He voted against confirmation of President Biden.
Its a pity the yiden became so hypnotized with Trump and his extreme base of anti-semites.
In golus its never good for us to be soooo vocal for one party or candidate.
The Satmar Rebbe was correct in his analysis. Its a pity he didn’t talk about this in 2020 or earlier.