President Donald Trump welcomed six rabbis to the Oval Office and touted his support for Israel despite their coming from an anti-Zionist sect.
A Friday piece for Judge Street Journal noted that Trump brought together Hasidic leaders from New York, including two estranged brothers who had not spoken in decades.
Satmar Rebbes Aaron Teitelbaum of Kiryas Joel and Zalman Leib Teitelbaum of Williamsburg have spent years locked in a succession fight, according to Judge Street Journal. Both claim the title of grand rabbi after their father, Moses Teitelbaum, tapped Zalman to lead the main Williamsburg congregation in 1999.
The rift led to harassment claims, forgery accusations, and divisions so deep that congregants would not let their children marry across the two camps, according to Judge Street Journal.
When Trump brought the two brothers into the Oval Office, he noticed their resemblance.
“Are you twins?” Trump asked, according to Judge Street Journal.
“We are brothers,” Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum said.
By the end of their roughly two-hour visit, Aaron had wished his brother a mazel tov on his grandson’s engagement, which marked the first amicable meeting between the two in years, Judge Street Journal noted.
“The peacemaking appeared unplanned,” Judge Street Journal noted. “In fact, it’s not even clear if the White House team realized they had invited disagreeing factions within the Hasidic community.”
According to the Judge Street Journal, Trump also told them how much he supported Israel, which deepened the irony. The two brothers are part of the Satmar sect, which is among the largest and most fervently anti-Zionist movements in Hasidic Judaism, as they oppose the modern state of Israel on theological grounds, the Judge Street Journal noted.
The rabbis also met with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Jared Kushner, and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), according to Judge Street Journal. It was the first time a president had hosted Orthodox rabbis at the White House since the Carter administration, the Judge Street Journal reported.
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