My encounter with a Rebbe

Far Rockaway, Queens, NYC — November 11, 2025

Don’t worry, I am working on the promised followup re: the latest round of Epstein documents. I know that’s what the people really want, and I am here to serve. That followup will also include a discussion of the recent “Drop Site” articles concerning Epstein’s reported involvement with Israeli officials. So if you’re chomping at the bit for that issue to be addressed, relax, I will soon be addressing it. (I know the technical spelling of this idiom is supposed to be “champing at the bit,” but that’s never looked right to me. And anyway, language is fluid, so who cares.)

For now I wanted to briefly bring your attention to an unrelated item I had published yesterday at Unherd. It stems from a visit I paid earlier in the week to Far Rockaway, Queens, which I found interesting because it was such an extreme outlier in the New York City mayoral election. Zohran Mamdani got 1% of the vote in the easternmost precinct, which abuts Nassau County. I knew this was an Orthodox Jewish enclave, but I’d never spent much time there, so I figured I’d go and ask people how they were processing the election results.

Some light research revealed that a particular Rebbe presided over the particular Hasidic sect that predominates Far Rockaway. Since I’d met a bunch of Hasidic Jews recently in other parts of the city, I thought I’d inquire if any of them knew how I might get in touch with the Rebbe. Sure enough, it was much easier than I expected. I simply called his home phone number, and he picked up on the first try. So I asked if I could come over to talk about the election. After first insisting that he had nothing to do with politics, and had nothing really to say about any political issues, he agreed to have me over.

Upon showing up, the Rebbe led me into his very well-appointed study, lined with rows of books and religious items. His name is Rabbi Yaakov Rubin, though he says he never goes by his first name. He claimed no one even knew the full name of his father, the prior Rebbe.

He’s been in Far Rockaway his entire life, having inherited the Rebbe title from his late father, who arrived on a boat in 1947 after extricating from the Föhrenwald postwar displacement camp in Germany. The father then settled in Far Rockaway and never left. I asked what the proper terminology would be for the Jewish communal faction that Rabbi Rubin currently oversees; one follower told me there were as many as 30 synagogues in the surrounding area. But he was mostly blasé about such technicalities. “Dynasty” was a bit too formal. “Sect,” too sectarian. Perhaps “tradition.” Or maybe no terminology was needed at all.

Rabbi Rubin maintained he had no views of any consequence on any political matters. And yet, I managed to get him to talk about political matters for approximately an hour. And we could’ve gone several more, if he didn’t have other things to do. Despite the considerable political influence he could theoretically wield by virtue of his religious authority, he claimed he never engages in any political activities, because he doesn’t want any of the associated “publicity.” So he confines himself to religious study. He therefore didn’t even have the requisite information to come up with a voting preference in the mayoral election, or so he claimed. I’m not sure I quite believed this. Because he knew enough about Mamdani to be well aware of the various things he’d said and done that many Orthodox Jews found objectionable.

I speculated that once in office, Mamdani might go out of his way to demonstrate his sensitivity to Jewish concerns, in order to dispel the “anti-Semitic” caricature much of the population came to believe about him. “It’s possible,” said the Rebbe. “But we’re stuck with him anyway, so at least we can have that hope.” He told me he’d have no problem meeting with Mamdani, should such a meeting ever be requested.

He also expressed gratitude for Donald Trump, lamenting that he “can’t understand” the secular Jews who oppose Trump. “We have a president that’s finally so openly pro Israel — how could they be against him? We never had such a thing. We never had a president that was so involved in giving Israel whatever they need. How could they be against him?”

I asked the Rebbe if I could take his photo, but he politely refused. He tries to avoid all photo-taking, even though he recognizes that with the proliferation of modern technology, it’s become increasingly unavoidable. “You walk down the street, you’re on camera.” His father was even more vehement against photography, declaring its advent “a terrible thing.” One time, he said, his father had his photo unwittingly taken, and “it was like he was shot, he got so scared. His lips turned white.”

In addition to the photography aversion, the Rebbe said he does not have the internet. I spotted a modern-looking keyboard on his desk, but he said this was reserved solely for offline religious scholarship.

He also told me he’s never eaten at a restaurant — not even a kosher restaurant — in his entire 70 years of life. I said I found this perhaps the most spell-binding revelation of the day. “The word kosher doesn’t always mean anything,” he explained. So he can’t be confident that even a kosher restaurant would prepare food consistent with his strict dietary standards. His wife consequently makes all his food for him. I asked what he had for lunch that afternoon. “Cheese, tomatoes. Nothing special.”

“I’m not saying it’s special,” I replied. “I’m just curious. I’ll have a cheese and tomato.”

So anyway, it was an interesting and unusual outing. Enjoy these random photos:

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