Israeli President Herzog Begins U.S. Diplomatic Visit With Prayer at Rebbe’s Resting Place

Moment evokes memory of a childhood visit with father 48 years ago

By: Chabad.org Staff

Israeli President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog began their diplomatic visit to the United States on Sunday morning by visiting the Ohel, the resting place of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—in Queens, N.Y.

Like the millions of people who send their written prayers via email and post to the Ohel, and the approximately 1 million who make pilgrimages there each year, the Herzogs sought counsel and spiritual guidance at the holy site. Located at the Old Montefiore Cemetery, the Ohel is open 24/7 and has long been a place for reflection for private citizens and world leaders alike who come to the holy site to pray, seek inspiration and find solace.

The president left a traditional pan, or prayer note, at the site that read: “For the speedy and complete recovery and return of all hostages, for the victory and safety of IDF soldiers and security forces wherever they are, for the healing of all the wounded, and for the return of evacuees. Amen.”

As a 15-year-old on Simchat Torah in 1976, Herzog accompanied his father, Chaim Herzog—then Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations—to visit the Rebbe at 770 Eastern Parkway, the world headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. During that encounter, the Rebbe welcomed the father and son, encouraging the elder Herzog to affirm at the United Nations the Jewish people’s Biblical connection to Hebron and the entire Land of Israel. The Rebbe told the elder Herzog, who later became president of Israel, that his personal claim to Hebron was further bolstered by the fact that he was Levite, with Hebron being one of the cities designated for members of that tribe.

Indeed, at the Rebbe’s urging, in the winter of 1976, Chaim Herzog submitted the contract between Abraham and Ephron to the UN. “For the first time in history,” the JTA reported at the time, “an agreement made almost 4,000 years ago and recorded in the Bible, has been issued as a United Nations document … .”

Days later, on Jan. 27, the younger President Herzog followed in his father’s footsteps when he addressed the UN General Assembly. Speaking on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Herzog told the gathered: “Today we find ourselves yet again at a dangerous crossroads in the history of this institution. Rather than fulfilling its purpose, and fighting courageously against a global epidemic of jihadist, murderous, and abhorrent terror, time and again this assembly has exhibited moral bankruptcy.”

Herzog was welcomed at the Ohel by Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, director of Merkos Suite 302, which provides resources for Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries and organizations worldwide; Rabbi Sholom Duchman, director of Colel Chabad; and Rabbi Shmuel Kaplan, director of Chabad of Maryland and a member of the board of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, educational arm of the Chabad movement.

Kotlarsky briefed the president on the expanding activities of Chabad emissaries worldwide, highlighting the movement’s ever-growing impact on Jewish communities across the globe. Herzog, who has maintained close connections with Chabad throughout his career, including his tenure as chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel and now as Israel’s 11th president, has been a frequent participant and supporter of Chabad activities. Over the years, he has made numerous visits to the Ohel, attended the annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries (Kinus Hashluchim) in New York City, and last year joined Chabad in inscribing a letter in a Torah scroll together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Herzog’s visit continues a tradition of world leaders seeking inspiration at the Ohel. In recent months, U.S. President Donald Trump, Argentine President Javier Milei and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama have all made pilgrimages to the sacred site.

          (Chabad.org)