Yshar Koach to Joe Biden

By COLlive reporter

“My heart is in the east, and I in the uttermost west.”

Vice President Joe Biden toured parts of the New Jersey coastline hit hard by Superstorm Sandy on Sunday, but was drawn to the Israel-Gaza conflict.

While visiting Hoboken, where many residents were stranded as floodwaters submerged the city, he encountered the local Chabad Shliach Rabbi Moshe Schapiro.

“I would like to thank your administration for supporting Israel’s right to defend itself,” the rabbi told Biden who is acting President Sunday while Barack Obama visits the Far East.

Biden, apparently identidying Rabbi Schapiro’s affiliation, replied that he knows the Chabad movement well and is friendly with Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, the Rebbe’s Shliach to the White House.

Biden was briefed last week by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Israel’s efforts to stop continued rocket attacks on Israel, which claimed the lives of 2 Lubavitchers.

On Sunday, President Barack Obama once again defended Israel’s airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

HOMELAND SUPPORT

Another government official who met Rabbi Schapiro was Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano who toured the devastated city 2 weeks ago.

According to NJ.com, nearly 2,300 buildings in Hoboken were damaged by Sandy with about 1,000 sustaining major damage.

Rabbi Schapiro told Secretary Napolitano of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s message to fill the world with light and kindness to dispel darkness and tragedy.

He also told her that he will be joined by some 3,000 rabbis that week attending the annual Kinus Hashluchim convention in Brooklyn, NY.

“She expressed admiration for this and said, ‘that’s great! We need more of what you’re doing. Thank you for being here and good luck with the convention this week’,” Schapiro told COLlive.com.