Gov Wins Endorsement By Promising To Leave Yeshivas Alone: Report

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Governor Andrew Cuomo earned the endorsement of a powerful Hasidic community leader last week after he promised not to interfere with Yeshiva schools that are currently at the center of a controversial city investigation, according to multiple reports.

Gov. Cuomo assured Satmar grand rebbe Zalman Teitelbaum that "he would not interfere in Yeshiva education" when the pair met in Brooklyn on Thursday night, Yeshiva World and Hebrew-language blog BeChadrei Chareidim first reported.

The governor's reported promise came about two weeks after the New York City schools chancellor said city investigators had failed to gain entry into 15 of 30 Orthodox schools to look into accusations, levied by the Young Advocates For A Fair Education, that secular subjects such as English and math were not being taught.

The meeting with Tietelbaum, leader of two large Hasidic congregations in Williamsburg and Queens, also came two weeks before the gubernatorial primary, in which Cuomo is slated to face off against challenger Cynthia Nixon.

Gothamist noted that the endorsement was a win for Cuomo, as Brooklyn's Hasidic communities tend to vote as a bloc and wield strong political power in New York.

Cuomo's press office did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment on the reported pledge to the Satmar Rabbi of Williamsburg, but spokesman Rich Azzopardi told Gothamist, "the governor has no role in this matter as schools are regulated by the state Education Department."

The governor does, however, have authority over that department.

For three years, the Yeshiva investigation has been a point of contention between local education advocates and Orthodox leaders such as Simcha Felder, a state Senator whom the New York Times reported held the New York's $168 billion budget "hostage" until the state agreed not to interfere with Yeshiva curricula in April

The nonprofit Yaffed has continued to pressure city and state officials to investigate the schools, more recently filing suit against the "Felder amendment" and accusing Cuomo and the State Education Department of violating the U. S. Constitution.

Photo courtesy of Spencer Platt/Getty Images