Washington – Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, the prominent modern Orthodox rabbi who oversaw Ivanka Trump’s conversion to Judaism, said he is not the rabbi who gave the first daughter and her husband, Jared Kushner a dispensation to fly on Air Force One on Shabbat.
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Lookstein told Isaac Herzog, leader of the opposition Zionist Union party, that it was “fake news” that he had given them permission to travel by plane on Shabbat for President Donald Trump’s first international trip, the daily Yediot Acharonot newspaper reported on Sunday. The report was picked up by several Israeli newspapers in advance of Trump’s arrival on Monday afternoon.
Lookstein also told Herzog, according to Yediot, that he had not been in contact with Ivanka Trump for several weeks. The couple moved to Washington DC shortly after Donald Trump was elected, and both serve as official advisers to the president.
The couple also was seen traveling to meetings by car in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
A White House official, reported by Politico on Friday, said the couple, who are Orthodox Jews, received a rabbinical dispensation to join the president aboard Air Force One when he off on his first overseas trip on Friday, according to the report. The article named neither the official nor the rabbi, nor did it say who obtained the dispensation or when.
Orthodox Jews observe a Sabbath prohibition on work, motorized travel and the switching on or off of any appliance that uses heat, electricity or fire. As a matter of consensus, the prohibitions do not apply to life-or-death situations or when violating the Shabbat has the potential of saving human lives (and according to some decisors, the lives of certain animals under specific circumstances).
Ivanka Trump converted to Judaism in 2008 before her marriage to Kushner.
The couple reportedly also received rabbinic permission to travel in a car in January during the Trump inaugural festivities.
Perhaps we should worry about our own shortcomings and stop being such yentas
The article claims “… and according to some decisors, the lives of certain animals under specific circumstances”
Huh????
Therefore…is she actually a Yid?
That’s half of a sigh of relief. The other half depends upon whether he denounced or condemned the action.
There are many young frum Jews in junior positions with the US government who’s lives / careers stand to be made difficult by Kushners’ actions, and the anonymous claim that it was done with orthodox rabbinic approval.
They need authoritative orthodox rabbinical organizations to back them up, to denounce or condemn the Kushners’ chillul Shabbos.
Perhaps they sought permission from another rabbi. This sounds like another attempt by the media to discredit the President and the First Family in some way. Don’t think I’m not annoyed that the Kushners are being put on a pedestal as representatives of Orthodox Judaism by the media; but we shouldn’t take the resistance media’s bait.
If Lookstein says he did not give the “dispensation”, maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt and believe him. However the urge to do that would be greater if he had condemned the obvious chillul Shabbos his convert engaged in.
The Kushners are not the only Orthodox people on the trip. At least one other person (who has even been described as “Hareidi”, which means American Hareid which is somewhat different than the Israeli version) received Rabbinic permission for the same voyage.
Makes a mockery of shabbos.& they call themselves religious
It looks like we have to study the laws of what constitutes ‘lashon horah’ and to practice it ‘Do not judge a person untill you’re faced with the same situation’ is a well known adage.
The idea of getting a “dispensation” to violate the holy Shabbos is ridiculous and anathema to real orthodoxy.The only time one may violate shabbos is if there is an imminent and immediate threat to life.
With all due respect to the young Kushners flying to Saudi Arabia during shabbos and parading around there does not meet that qualification by any stretch of the imagination.
There is also the inaugral ball on Friday eve 20 Janury in which they violated shabbos.
They have become public figures and should not claim to be M.O while committing chilul shabbos. Their behavior is confusing.Also perhaps Kushner should wear a kippah once in a while and his wife dress in modest attire.
The real shame is on Kushner. If he proudly prides himself as an Orthodox Jew it comes with a price. Ivanka is not in question. What does she know about Judaism anyway? They cldve made headlines by sticking to (their ?) beliefs and travel on Shabos. Wldve been a tremendous kidush hashem but they wernt zoche to it cuz guess theyre so far off. Its called Mechalel shabos beferhesia. Every inch of it. Its beyond shameful.
Can anyone detect the slightest Orthodoxy on her?
this is ‘mumer l’challel shabbos, mumur l’chol hatora’ and penalty much more severe because of the huge chillil hashem!
And this is one of the primary reasons that the Israeli Rabbanut often does not accept American “conversions”.Rabbi Lookstein has to speak to them
The Kushners are sending out a wrong message
.
All the article says is that THIS PARTICULAR Rabbi denies being asked. That doesn’t rule out any of the following options:
(1) They might have asked another Rabbi.
(2) This Rabbi, who converted her, might not be their Rav now.
(3) If he was their Rav until recently, he might not be now.
(4) Nervous that the press called him about a controversial issue, Rabbi Lookstein might not have told the entire truth.
Etc., etc., etc.
I don’t know why everyone is surprised. We can debate the validity of her geirrus. What is not subject to debate however is that he dated and proposed to a shiksa. Not exactly a thing that anyone with a modicum of orthodoxy would condone.
Even David Ben Gurion sr”y understood that a Jew doesn’t ride in a car on shabbos when the cameras are clicking.
“Mum shebcha al tomar lchavercha” we all have shortcomings. perhaps our’s is not chilul shabbos/ but i think most of us have made a chilul hashem in the past — and regret it.
this thread is frankly wrong.
here’s a thought, don’t try to make a shidduch with them
Apparently, the heter came from Rav Fruendel, a local rav and posek who is best known for his for his lamdus on the halachos of mikvah which have resulted in his leaving his shul in D.C. for a position in a federal facility. This obsession with the Kushners being “frum” is a joke. They are NOT frum, they are NOT MO as 99 percent of readers here on VIN understand that term. She was converted by a respected MO Rav but thereafter, selectively decides themselves which halachos they will follow or not and they don’t consult a local rav or posek every time
For me, a bigger chillul Hashem is when frum Jewish slumlords appear in court wearing yarmulkes and kaftans because of their treatment of their non-Jewish tenants. And there have been many of them. Just read the crime section of the New York tabloids. This is what our Gentile neighbors see frum Jews do. Leave the Kushners alone. They don’t create a chillul Hashem.