Is Yang ready for prime time? His gaffes certainly are
With the sensation comes the attention, though. Twice in the past few weeks he’s been forced to issue clarifications to policies he announced that alarmed the Orthodox community.
Is the 46-year-old entrepreneur against bris milah, as he said last year in a little-seen policy? In a city where a recent mayor tried regulating the practice, askanim’s antennae went full sonar.
No, no, no, no, he hastened to correct in a series of tweets to reporters who asked that question. He’s against general circumcision for medical reasons but would not infringe on religious beliefs.
The next gaffe came last week, when he suggested removing the property tax exemptions of universities. This could dig deeply into the budgets of yeshivah gedolahs. Yang hurried to set the record straight after a brief outcry, saying he was only referring to large institutions — such as his alma mater, Columbia University — that own vast amounts of real estate in prime areas.
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