Perhaps most of all, kavod means a recognition that Mr. Mamdani is about to become a tool in the Hands of Hashem
And a man who all the pre-election polls were predicting would win the mayoralty in landside proportions.
The Moetzes deliberated for a few brief moments, and then offered their guidance: Agudah must do all in its power to generate a large voter turnout in the Orthodox Jewish community, in the hope that the candidate most favorably inclined to our interests would prevail. But if the election does not go the way we would have hoped, then of course the Agudah must build relationships with the incoming mayor of New York City, no matter how disagreeable his views may be regarding issues affecting the Jewish People. Aderaba, those relationships may prove to be even more important than relationships with political “friends.”
This position is historically consistent with longstanding shtadlanus practice. The US State Department was known to be a hotbed of anti-Jewish sentiment during World War II, yet Mike Tress and other key shtadlanim of that generation relied on Breckenridge Long, one of the most notorious State Department officials, to help save a number of distinguished roshei yeshivah and rabbanim. In more recent years, with the guidance of our gedolim, we have had to work with government officials whose positions and personal lifestyles are anathema to the Torah community, yet whose involvement in key policy matters or in cases of individual need have proven indispensable.
We deal with those in power precisely because they are in power. We do not have the luxury of sitting on the sidelines just because the playing field is occupied by hostile forces.
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