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Other than a smaller group of VIPs, the vast majority of guests were not allowed to interact with the president, Vice President Mike Pence or the Kushner family, nor was there an opportunity for photographs to be taken with any of them. We did not say the traditional blessings because it was not yet Hanukkah. Guests joined in singing “Maoz Tsur” (Rock of Ages). President Trump’s Jewish grandchildren kindled a single candle on a silver menorah.
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Rabbi Meir Soloveichik of New York’s Congregation Shearith Israel offered the Orthodox version of the prayer for the government - with its awkward references to God who grants “dominion to rulers” - and the more fitting Shehecheyanu blessing. A Holocaust survivor spoke of her experiences. The president told a version of the Hanukkah story and boasted about his announcement a day earlier to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The Marine Band played in the grand entryway and the girls’ choir sang “Mi Yemalel” (Who Can Retell?) at the beginning of the formal program. On the whole it was a relatively normal Hanukkah party. Of those who are outspoken supporters of social causes usually found on the political left, I may well have been the lone person invited. I did not know that I would be the only Reform rabbi in attendance, maybe the only Reform or Conservative rabbi, and certainly one of a very small number of invitees who are not registered Republicans. I reached out to numerous friends who I figured would be far higher up on the priority list than I. A majority of the guests seemed to be Orthodox Jews, with many affiliated with Chabad.Īt the time my wife and I accepted the invitation, I had no idea just how exclusive the guest list was. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and a handful of national Jewish community leaders were there, too. Lee Zeldin of New York and David Kustoff of Tennessee. Two Republican members of Congress attended, Reps. I’m sure many guests fell into all three categories.Ī group of girls from a local yeshiva choir and their chaperones came to sing. This year, a significant percentage of those invited were Jewish friends and relatives of the Trump and Kushner families, with a large percentage of the rest seemingly connected to the Zionist Organization of America or the Republican Jewish Coalition. President Obama held nine Hanukkah parties and I wasn’t invited to any of them. But it isn’t every day that one is invited to a party at the White House. I was already going to be away that day at a conference. I knew it would be a simple matter to decline the invitation. The position was officially retained, though as of yet no one has been nominated to fill it and that may not happen for a while longer.Ī few months after I sent the email, out of the blue I received a call from someone at the White House inviting me to the Hanukkah party. I made a case for why that position was and is needed, and asked that my note be forwarded to whomever would be able to impact the decision. Earlier this year there were discussions that the position would be eliminated, and I and many others were urging the White House to reconsider. I got on the list because I reached out to someone I knew in the administration while advocating for the State Department to maintain the position of special envoy to combat anti-Semitism. How in the world did I get an invitation? Whereas the Obama administration invited 1,700 people to two Hanukkah parties last year, the Trump administration invited a mere 300 to one such party.Īmong them was one politically independent Reform rabbi from Des Moines, Iowa - me. Most reports about the White House Hanukkah party noted that leaders of the Reform movement and congressional Democrats were not invited. Yes, we are so polarized, both religiously and politically. The Jewish woman responds, “Oy! Are we so polarized? Some Orthodox, some Conservative and some Reform.” The person behind the counter asks, “What denominations?”