The Time Chuck Schumer Called Crown Heights

By Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin

Two presidential candidates presented starkly different outlooks on the delicate U.S.-Israel relationship. One candidate held a pragmatic yet ultimately firm stance in support of Israel. The other candidate also supported Israel’s right to exist but took a more critical approach.

In Israel, failed leadership had led to an early October surprise assault on its borders, resulting in high Jewish casualties. After the attack, Israel regrouped and embarked on a protective and defensive battle against its Arab enemies on multiple fronts.

Does that sound familiar?

If it does, it might be because you know the history of the 1972 and you were alive to remember that incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon faced Democratic Senator George McGovern in that year’s General Election. Not long after Americans re-elected Nixon, Israel was attacked by its enemies during the Yom Kippur War, on October 6, 1973. (We all know today that what is happening in Israel is not our first rodeo!)

As troops amassed and rhetoric escalated in the run-up to that war in 1973, the Rebbe called on Jewish children worldwide to gather and pray, invoking Tehillim 8:3, “lehashbis oyev – to neutralize the enemy.” The Rebbe wrote to Jewish people worldwide that spiritual strength is gained by following Hashem’s commandments.

Behind the scenes, the Rebbe urged Israel’s leaders to take preemptive military action. Despite their not heeding his call, when the war broke out, the Rebbe didn’t say, “I told you so.” Instead, he instilled hope, encouraged the IDF, and comforted the families of fallen soldiers.

One more obvious step—as the rumblings of war increased in the summer and fall of 1972 before the war—would presumably have been for the Rebbe to endorse the presidential candidate who would be most supportive of Israel.

But the Rebbe didn’t do that. He did not endorse a candidate in that election, or in any election before or after, even when crucial issues were at stake.

Why?

In the Rebbe’s own words, “It is well known that neither I personally, nor the Lubavitch movement, take a public stance in any election to any office, which is a policy of long standing.”

That comment was written a few years later, on the 19th of Tammuz, 5740 (July 3, 1980), to Susan Devora Alter, a New York City Councilwoman representing Borough Park. “It, therefore, surprises me how you could have received any impression contrary to this established policy,” the Rebbe added to her.

Councilwoman Alter—a frum, sheitel-wearing woman who was married to a Five Towns rabbi—was in a Democratic primary against a young politician named Chuck Schumer for the vacated Congressional seat of Elizabeth Holtzman.

In that race, Schumer enjoyed the support of the Jewish community of Crown Heights. My wife’s late grandfather, R’ Mendel Shemtov, a founding member of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, was in regular contact with him throughout.

Schumer’s supporters had stopped the “reapportionment” to divide Crown Heights into neighboring voting districts—a plan the Rebbe strongly opposed, as it would diminish the community’s local voting power. Crown Heights was now returning the favor.

The day after winning the race, Schumer called the Shemtov residence. R’ Mendel’s wife, the outspoken Sara Shemtov, answered the call. She congratulated him on his win and then cynically commented, “Now that you’ve won, you’ll forget us.”

Schumer, who today serves as the U.S. Senate Majority Leader, promised her that that wouldn’t happen—spoken as a real politician. We’ll let history judge whether that was true.

But the greater lesson here is that the Rebbe drew a clear distinction.

The Rebbe went to vote and encouraged Chassidim to do the same as part of our civic duty.

Crown Heights—as a neighborhood—supported a candidate.

Chabad-Lubavitch—as a movement, representing the Rebbe—did not.

As a movement, we have never shied away from engaging with public officials—from presidents on down—of all parties. We have never shied away from advocating for policies we feel strongly about; things like a Moment of Silence in schools or criminal justice reform. We have never shied away from engaging in our civic duty—indeed, we take pride in voting and encouraging others to do so.

But we never, ever endorse a candidate because that isn’t Chabad’s task.

It feels like these long-impenetrable lines have been blurred, if not crossed, in the 2024 election cycle. I am thankful it is about to be behind us, regardless of whom you were rooting for. Let’s continue participating in politics, but let’s maintain the “policy of long-standing” that, as a movement, Chabad does not take sides.

– Rabbi Yehuda Ceitlin, Editor of COLlive.com and COLlive Magazine, is the outreach director of Chabad Tucson, and Associate Rabbi of Cong. Young Israel of Tucson, Arizona. He coordinates the annual Yarchei Kallah gathering of Chabad Rabbonim and Roshei Yeshiva