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Mayor Bloomberg made an unannounced visit to the Brooklyn offices of the English-language Orthodox Jewish paper Hamodia this morning, popping in with full retinue for an hour-plus interview with the influential paper's editorial board. (Photo courtesy of Hamodia's Hillel Engel.)

Hamodia interviewed Thompson weeks ago, and though it has not made an endorsement yet, it found itself the center of anti-Bloomberg sentiment after former Mayor Rudy Giuliani made his racially-charged remarks last weekend to an Orthodox crowd.

It comes as Controller William Thompson appears to be making surprising headway in Brooklyn's often-fractious Orthodox community, with yesterday's endorsement from Assemblyman Dov Hikind merely showing to outsiders what has been simmering below the surface for months. The Brawl first heard rumblings last spring that Orthodox voters might not be as friendly to a two-term Jewish mayor as you might think, because they pay the same property taxes and water bills as everyone else.

As our blog sister Liz has noted, yesterday was also the day when Bloomberg made an unscheduled stop in Borough Park to announce he was restoring child care vouchers primarily aimed at Orthodox families. He was accompanied there, and again today, by Orthodox Councilman Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn), who seems to have patched things up with Bloomberg after their earlier falling-out over earmarks for Orthodox groups.

That's Felder, directly to the right of Bloomberg in the picture above. He told the Brawl after the meeting that concerns about Orthodox Jews not showing up to support him Nov. 3 are overblown:

"More conservative neighborhoods, whether here or in Staten Island, are more focused on security and safety -- especially after the events of Sept. 11 -- and will come out en masse for Mayor Bloomberg."



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