Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney met with leading rabbonim of the community in Monsey, on Monday, amongst them HaRav Chaim Shia Halberstam of the Satmar community, the Pupa Rov, HaRav Wosner of the Satmar community and the Belzer Dayan. They all expressed their upmost appreciation to Congressman Maloney for what he has done for the Orthodox Jewish community over the past decade.

The Congressman was accompanied at some of the meetings with Rabbi Moshe Margaretten of the Tzedek Association. Rabbi Margaretten passionately expressed the numerous times that Congressman Maloney lead the effort to free individuals with excessive sentences from prison. He compared him to being a “Nachson”, often times being the first in Congress and his party to sign letters, take charge and see matters of Pidyon Shvuyim to fruition. The Rabbonim were deeply moved by his successful efforts in the area of pidyon shvuyim, each Rov separately thanked the Congressman for various successful advocacy he has done for their various kehilos.

Congressman Maloney spent time at every stop discussing the issues on the minds of the great rabbonim, amongst them first and foremost the issue of chinuch in our Yeshivas. The congressman assured the rabbonim, although this is an issue on the state level he vowed that he will never allow federal funding to be cut for Yeshivas and pledged to the Rabbonim that he will continue fighting and standing up for Yeshivas, and stressed that the Yeshiva education is an extremely important issue and not one to play politics with. The Congressman also pledged he will individually work with the rabbonim in his next term in Congress and looks forward to building on his decade plus record of accomplishments of delivering meaningful actual results. The rabbonim thanked him for his forceful stand against the attacks on our Yeshivah system and our way of life. They all gave him a bracha for victory and continued success.

Several of the Askanim throughout the meetings expressed sorrow that Congressman Maloney is disingenuously being tied to the yeshiva education crisis facing New York. They acknowledged this is an Albany issue, not a federal issue. They said that Congressman Maloney has a stellar reputation working with defending chasidishe Yeshivas for 10 years and as Gedaliah Szegedin the Village Administrator from Kiryas Joel remarked “Congressman Maloney has been a leading proponent for us. From our infrastructure needs, to attacks on our way of life to taking the lead on Pidyon Shvuyim- We never had to wonder if he was there for us. He has proven this over and over. While we are sad that we will be loosing an effective Member of Congress- we are excited for our friends in Monsey to gain a proven champion for our way of life.”

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