Trump meets with Hasidic leaders at the White House
US President Donald Trump met with a delegation of Hasidic leaders at the White House in Washington on September 4. As The Jerusalem Post writes, this was the first meeting of a US president with such a delegation at the White House since 1979.
Community issues
Before speaking with Trump, the delegation’s representatives spent an hour discussing the needs of their communities with senior officials. The meeting with the president lasted about half an hour. Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio also joined it.
The delegation included spiritual leaders of the Satmar, Bobov and Vizhnitz Hasidic communities, a representative of the Skver community, as well as the head of the Beth Midrash Govoha yeshiva in Lakewood, New Jersey. The participants raised issues concerning conditions in federal prisons, the future Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, and housing assistance for large families.
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According to the publication, Rabbi Teitelbaum led the blessing for rulers, a prayer that Jews traditionally recite for emperors and presidents. He also left Trump a leather-bound copy of the prayer.
A meeting of brothers
The Jerusalem Post column notes that the meeting was discussed online because of the Satmar community’s position: its teachings hold that a Jewish state should arise only with the coming of the Messiah. At the same time, the author stressed that the delegation came to Washington to discuss practical issues related to prisons, housing and the hospital.
During the visit, brothers Rebbe Aaron Teitelbaum and Rebbe Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, who lead rival Satmar factions, shook hands and spoke with each other. According to the publication, they had been estranged for about two decades following their father’s death in 2006. One of the brothers congratulated the other on his grandson’s engagement.
