Yeshivat Nesher Hagadol

  | Magazine Feature |   By  Yitzchok Landa   | November 25, 2025 Email Print “How could you endorse Mamdani?” Tough questions for Satmar  askan  Rabbi Moishe Indig 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” F or 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...

  (YWN World Headquarters – NYC) All credit goes to YWN November 21, 2025 Rabbi Saul J. Kassin, a prominent Rov in the Syrian community, released a forceful letter on Wednesday to the U.S. Helsinki Commission, stating unequivocally that Rabbi Yosef Hamra has no authority to speak for — or represent — the American Syrian Jewish community in any capacity. The letter comes amid elevated attention surrounding Rabbi Hamra, following a Mishpacha Magazine cover story profiling his recent travels to Syria and his visits to historic shuls there. Mishpacha called him “Rabbi Hamra, leader of New York’s Syrian Jewish community”. In recent months, YWN has also published videos showing Rabbi Hamra offering a blessing to the Syrian President during a visit to the United States — an appearance that sparked significant alarm across the community’s leadership. In his official communication, addressed directly to the U.S. Helsinki Commission, Rabbi Kassin wrote: “Rabbi Hamra is not a representative o...

  | Magazine Feature | ALL CREDIT GOES TO jAKE tURX AND THE MISHPACHA MAGAZINE By  Jake Turx   | November 18, 2025 Email Print Old wounds, new world: For Rabbi Yosef Hamra’s   unscripted blessing, even Al-Sharaa said Amen Photos: Naftoli Goldgrab, Charles Cerrone When Rabbi Yosef Hamra fled Damascus over three decades ago, he never dreamed he’d one day face a Syrian president in the US capital and bestow upon him the blessing of kings. But for the first time in decades, doors that were once sealed shut are cracking open, and whether or not a former ISIS commander can be trusted, circumstances no one thought possible have become an unimagined reality T he Grand Ballroom at the Salamander Hotel in DC was packed, hundreds of attendees filling every seat as Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa delivered remarks during his historic visit to the United States. It was the day before he was scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump, and the atmosphere carried the unmist...