Beyond the Booth: How Askonim are Seeking to Make Boro Park’s 50,000 Eligible Votes Count

BoroPark24’s “Memory Lane” column this week focused on the visit by President Gerald Ford, who traveled in an open motorcade down Boro Park’s Thirteenth Avenue in 1968. He was here to court the voters of Boro Park of those days, hoping they would vote for him. And whether the absence of major political candidates on the streets of Boro Park is due to changes in campaign methods or other factors, it is clear that politicians only go to those populations who tend to vote, and can potentially become their voters. Populations who tend to stay home, are a waste of politicians' limited time.

Furthermore—and of far more concern—is the fact that they will turn a deaf ear to the concerns of citizens who didn't vote last time, and aren’t likely to vote in the future.

Veteran political reporter, Rabbi Yochon Donn says: “Issue number one for us to vote, now more than ever; yeshivos. Issue number 2-100; yeshivos. They are drawing up education guidelines as we speak. The next mayor will decide whether, and how strongly to implement them. Everything we hold near and dear is at stake.”

“This past year, Governor Andrew Cuomo took a look at our community’s voting patterns and felt comfortable calling Covid an “ultra-Orthodox Jewish problem,” joking derisively that if he dangled state funding before us, we would fall in line,” he wrote in Michpacha.

One insightful political explained a major change from the past which can help explain the change in attitudes toward our community: “data. Knowing with scientific precision where the active voters are. In the past, this was not available. A politician could walk into an enormous crowd of heimishe Yidden, immediately assuming that this is a crowd of potential voters. Now they know that they don’t vote.”

According to askonim in the community who are now engaged in a blitz campaign to motivate Boro Park residents to vote—at a time when the stakes have never been higher, and voting has never been easier—this is precisely the story of our heimishe community’s relationship with their elected representatives over the last few years.

Berry Lefkowitz is an askan from the Satmar community in Boro Park, and one of the founders of Boro Park B’Achdus—seeking to unite the entire community toward positive change, and which has been at the forefront of a powerful get-out-the-vote effort.

“It began during the terrible Corona era, and the challenges that our yeshivos faced were the most dire in history— ranging from legal to financial to political. A group of Boro Park yeshiva administrators was formed, and through this incredible unity, we operated as a powerful, united entity, enabling us to emerge from this era stronger than before.

“When this election season came around, we understood that we can harness this unity to be proactive in getting politicians to take us seriously—which brings us to this current campaign which is seeing a new level of awareness about the importance of making our voice heard,” Berry says.

Barry Spitzer, District Manager for Community Board 12, which encompasses Boro Park said: “If you care about the direction of the city, its quality of life, and the basic safety and security of its residents, this election is crucial… for the next four years, and beyond that.” 

The basic premise being communicated by “Boro Park b’Achdus,” in numerous languages, and through various media vehicles, is simple: if you don’t speak up, you have no voice.

As Mr. Lefkowitz says: “If you want to know why the elected officials had no problem blatantly discriminating against us during Covid, this is why. If you want to know why the State has no hesitation to come down hard on us with regard to yeshiva education regulations, this is why. If we don’t take advantage of your right to make a difference, you cannot complain about the unfortunate results.

“If Boro Park comes out in this election—regardless of which candidate is victorious—then Boro Park has won in this election, because we will, be’ezras Hashem, emerge as a stronger community whose needs and ways of life are considered and respected.”