Rabbi Moshe Indig represents Satmar kehillos in Williamsburg and Borough Park aligned with Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum of Kiryas Joel. As executive vice president of the Jewish Community Council of Williamsburg and publisher of Der Blatt, he works where individual requests, communal institutions, and city government meet.
His account of askanus begins with service. The council receives requests involving government programs and immigration, while its civic relationships address housing, education, public safety, and access to government. Political influence, in this telling, is a tool for keeping that door open rather than an end in itself.
The relationships are built through meetings, voting, endorsements, gratitude for past help, and a willingness to work with officeholders across political differences. Indig's choices have sometimes produced disagreement, including within his own branch. That disagreement is part of the civic picture: he speaks from one Satmar leadership center, while other Satmar representatives may weigh the same election differently.