Trump's personal guests of honor

Donald Trump invites Ultra-Orthodox Rabbis to the White House

This wouldn't be the first time Orthodox Jewish leaders have met with U.S. presidents. Similar meetings took place during the administrations of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. In fact, Clinton actually met the Skverer Rebbe during Hanukkah to discuss cases of imprisoned Jews.

Gila Isaacson

DEC 15, 2024 11:03

2 min read

Major Jewish religious leaders have been invited to the White House as personal guests of Donald Trump following his planned inauguration as the 47th U.S. President, according to confirmed reports from within the Orthodox Jewish community.

The meeting will bring together two prominent Orthodox Jewish leaders: Rabbi Shaul Alter, a leading Torah scholar and head of a major yeshiva, and the Satmar Rebbe, one of the most influential Hasidic leaders in America. The invitation was personally delivered by Yehuda Kaplan, a Miami-based Chabad businessman who serves as one of Trump's close advisors.

Sources close to Rabbi Alter's community told Kikar HaShabbat (a popular Hebrew-language Haredi news site for), that the invitation comes as a gesture of appreciation for the leaders' support during the recent presidential election campaign.

The planned meeting follows earlier engagement between the Trump family and Orthodox Jewish leadership. Prior to the election, the Satmar Rebbe met with Eric Trump at Trump Tower in Manhattan to discuss concerns about proposed educational regulations affecting religious schools in New York. The meeting focused on seeking assurances about protecting the autonomy of religious educational institutions.

The connection between Trump and these religious leaders has been building over time. When Rabbi Alter was mourning the passing of his mother, the former president sent a personal letter of condolence through Kaplan, highlighting the developing relationship between the political and religious figures.