President Trump Hosts Chabad Rabbis in Oval Office

By COLlive reporter
Photos: Joyce Boghosian/White House Photo

U.S. President Donald Trump hosted a delegation of Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis from across the country at the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday.

The meeting had originally been scheduled in April to mark the 11th of Nissan, the birthday of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson OBM, on which the President annually proclaims Education and Sharing Day USA.

Despite other pressing matters, including Trump’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the meeting with the Chabad leaders was kept on the calendar.

The 14 rabbis met with the President for about 20 minutes in the Oval Office, presenting him with a silver tzedakah box in honor of Education and Sharing Day.

Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, Chairman of Agudas Chassidei Chabad International and the Rebbe’s Shliach to the White House, led the delegation with his son, Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Executive Vice President of American Friends of Lubavitch-Chabad and senior Shliach in Washington, DC.

Attending were Rabbi Yossi New, Director of Chabad Lubavitch of Georgia; Rabbi Mendy Herson, Dean of the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, New Jersey; Rabbi Shea Harlig, Director of Chabad of Southern Nevada; Rabbi Aaron Lipskar, CEO, The Aleph Institute – Surfside, FL; Rabbi Mendel Feller of Chabad Lubavitch Upper Midwest in Minnesota; Rabbi Ovadia Goldman – Chabad of Oklahoma City in Oklahoma; Rabbi Mendel Lifshitz, Director of Chabad Lubavitch of Idaho; Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov of Chabad Lubavitch of Michigan; Rabbi Eitan Webb, Secretary of Chabad on Campus International – Princeton, NJ; Chaplain (Maj) Mendy Stern; Rabbi Mendel Alperowitz, Director of Chabad Lubavitch of South Dakota; Rabbi Eli Shemtov, Director of  Chabad Young Professionals in Washington, DC.

Also present were key officials, including EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf, Paula White and Jennifer Korn of the Faith Office at the White House, and Martin Marks, White House liaison to the Jewish community.

In a moving moment, they also gifted him a replica of a 1956 plaque from the Beach Haven Jewish Center in New York. The plaque honored Trump’s father, Fred Trump, for his support of the Jewish community, particularly Holocaust survivors whom he provided with free housing until they were able to support themselves.

“This shows that his love for the Jewish people goes back a generation,” one of the rabbis told COLlive.com. “The president was visibly moved to see his father’s legacy honored in this way.”

During the meeting, Trump spoke warmly about his support for the Jewish people, the State of Israel, and the work of Chabad-Lubavitch. He thanked the rabbis for their visit and expressed his appreciation for their efforts in education and Jewish life across America.

Ahead of the Oval Office meeting, while waiting in the Roosevelt Room, the rabbis also met Vice President J.D. Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

After taking a group photo with the rabbis, Trump invited senior administration officials to take another photo together. Among them were his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

The meeting took place near the anniversary of the October 7th Hamas terror massacre in Israel, which next week marks two years since the attacks. Notably, on the same date last year, Trump visited the Ohel of the Rebbe in Queens, New York, in a historic visit where he prayed for the release of the hostages.