Former President Donald Trump visited the Ohel in Queens, NY, to mark the anniversary of the terrorist attack on Israel.
The influential Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson rests there, which attracts almost 400,000 pilgrims as “the most visited Jewish holy site in North America.”
Trump was welcomed by Rabbi Abba Refson, director of the visitor’s center at the Ohel, and Rabbi Motti Seligson, a spokesman for Chabad-Lubavitch. Also present were families of hostages still being held by terrorists in the Gaza Strip; Jerry Wartski, a survivor of the Auschwitz death camp; Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement; and Rabbi Levi Shemtov, director of American Friends of Lubavitch in Washington, D.C., among others.On his way into the Ohel, Trump placed a few coins into the large tzedakah box near the entrance in keeping with Jewish tradition to increase charitable giving at this time of year.
Joel Pollak explains the significance of the site:
The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, was one of the leading Jewish figures of the 20th century. He fled Europe before the Second World War, and worked in a U.S. Navy shipyard before rising to lead the Lubavitch Chabad movement after the death of his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the “Previous Rebbe,” beside whom he is buried at the Ohel. The Rebbe is credited with a worldwide revival of Judaism after the Holocaust.While the Rebbe was alive, many world leaders sought his counsel. After his death in 1994, many people continued to visit the Ohel, including world leaders — most recently, Argentinian President Javier Milei, who visited last month. It was the second visit of his presidency.
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