The Kingmaker from Williamsburg  

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.”