Leading Rebbes and communal activists from the frum community traveled to Washington on Thursday for an extraordinary White House gathering with President Donald Trump, following a day of private flights, unexpected delays and intensive preparations for the high-level meeting.
The gathering generated considerable excitement throughout the Torah and Chassidic communities in the United States, as prominent rabbinic leaders departed from New York and New Jersey for the nation’s capital to participate in the unprecedented meeting.
The Satmar Rebbe began his day with Shacharis at 7:15 a.m. in the beis medrash adjacent to his home in Williamsburg. Immediately afterward, his motorcade traveled to Teterboro Airport, where he boarded a private plane bound for Washington.
Joining the Satmar Rebbe on the flight were his sons, the Sigeter Rov and the Satmar Williamsburg Rov, along with members of his personal staff, the Bobover Rebbe, and communal activists Reb Moshe Dovid Niederman and Reb Gedalya Segedin of Kiryas Yoel.
The previous evening, during the Satmar Rebbe’s kabbolas kahal in Boro Park, the Serdahely Rov visited him and offered a bracha for hatzlacha and chein ahead of the White House meeting.
According to the schedule arranged by White House officials, the Rebbes and rabbinic leaders arrived at the White House complex in secured motorcades and underwent security screening before gathering in the Roosevelt Room for a special meeting with senior members of the president’s staff.
Following the Roosevelt Room session, the group proceeded to the Oval Office for their meeting with President Trump. During the gathering, the rabbonim expressed the Orthodox community’s deep hakaras hatov for the president’s support and actions on its behalf and discussed a range of issues and communal needs.
The day’s schedule was complicated by several flight delays. Private aircraft carrying the Satmar, Bobov and Vizhnitz-Monsey delegations from Teterboro Airport were briefly held up, while the Satmar Rebbe’s aircraft also encountered a delay at Stewart Airport.
Concerned that the delays could prevent the Rebbe from arriving on schedule, Reb Gedalya Segedin contacted Rep. Pat Ryan, whose congressional district includes Kiryas Yoel. Ryan then contacted Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and arrangements were made to expedite the aircraft’s departure.
Rav Malkiel Kotler, Rosh Yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, had already arrived at the White House while other members of the delegation were still making their way to Washington.
Because of the delays, the meeting with President Trump was pushed back to after 2 p.m.
Another notable development took place earlier in the day at the home of the Skverer Rebbe. As his son, Rav Aharon Mendel Twersky, prepared to leave for Washington, the Rebbe entrusted him with a detailed letter to President Trump on behalf of the Skverer community. The letter expressed the community’s appreciation for the numerous actions taken by the Trump administration on behalf of Jews in the United States. In an unusual gesture, the Skverer Rebbe personally added a handwritten brocha in English for the new year.
Rav Aharon Mendel was tasked with personally presenting the letter to President Trump during the meeting on behalf of his father, who was unable to attend the White House gathering himself.
Among others seen entering the White House were Rabbi Moshe Margareten of the Tzedek Association and journalist Aryeh Erlich, who traveled from Eretz Yisroel on a special flight to cover the historic gathering firsthand.
