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By World Israel News Staff
Former President and President-elect Donald Trump has formally invited two prominent Hasidic leaders to the White House after inauguration day, Kikar Hashabbat reported Sunday.
Sources close to Rabbi Shaul Alter, rebbe of the Kehilas Pnei Menachem Hasidic movement – which split from the larger Gerrer (Gur) dynasty over a succession dispute – confirm he has received an invitation to visit the White House shortly after Trump’s January 20th inauguration.
The Israeli rabbi received his invitation via Yehuda Kaploun, a Jewish businessman from the Chabad movement living in Miami with close ties to Trump.
According to the report, Trump issued the invitation as a gesture of gratitude for the Israeli rabbi’s staunch support within the Hasidic world for the former president in the 2024 election.
In addition, Trump has invited Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, one of the leaders of the Satmar Hasidic dynasty in New York.
Rabbi Teitelbaum met with Eric Trump, the president’s son, at Trump Tower in Manhattan before the November election.
Trump won an ‘overwhelming’ majority of votes from heavily-Jewish NYC precincts
The meeting at Trump Tower was initiated after the Satmar Rebbe and other rabbis identified Jewish communities as key electoral regions for Trump’s campaign. Following discussions among leading rabbinic figures, it was decided to advocate for Trump’s intervention, hoping he would back legislation to protect the autonomy of ultra-Orthodox schools.
This is not the first time Trump has reached out to Rabbi Alter.
Earlier this year, Trump penned a letter to the rabbi offering his condolences following the passing of his mother.
Last month, Trump received 43.1% of the vote in New York State, compared to 55.6% for Kamala Harris, marking the best performance for a Republican presidential candidate since George H. W. Bush received 47.5% of the vote in New York in 1988.
Trump cut the Democratic margin of victory in the state in half, from roughly two million votes to one million, thanks in part to a major shift in the Jewish vote, which makes up close to 10% of the vote in a typical presidential election.
While Biden received 63% of the Jewish vote in New York in 2020 compared to 37% for Trump, Harris won just 55% of the Jewish vote in 2024, while Trump’s percentage rose to 45%, according to exit polling by Fox News.
In some predominantly Orthodox districts, including predominantly Hasidic enclaves, Trump received well over 90% of the vote, and in some precincts, as much as 99%.
