FOZ head Mike Evans prays with Poway rabbi at White House
The rabbi was shot and wounded last Saturday, after a gunman barged into his synagogue and started shooting, killing Lori Gilbert-Kaye and wounding an eight-year-old girl and her uncle.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFFriends of Zion chairman Mike Evans meets with Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein at the White House, May 2, 2019(photo credit: Courtesy)
Friends of Zion chairman Mike Evans met with Chabad of Poway synagogue’s Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein at the National Day of Prayer in the White House’s Rose Garden on Thursday.The rabbi was shot and wounded on Saturday after a gunman barged into his synagogue and started shooting, killing Lori Gilbert-Kaye and wounding the rabbi, an eight-year-old girl and her uncle.The event was hosted by President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump.The rabbi took the initiative to call on the president to reinstate the “moment of silence” in public schools, which was generally used for meditation or voluntary prayer, to bring something positive after the tragic shooting.“My life has changed forever, but it changed so I can make change,” the rabbi said.The rabbi also thanked the president for being, “as they say in Yiddish, a ‘mensch’ par excellence.”“What we are seeing today is an invisible war against the Jewish people. It can be seen ideologically, as in opposing the existence of the Jewish state, economically by those who want to BDS or boycott the State of Israel, and most prominently in the media, where we see the vile, disgusting propaganda against President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu. It is with the help of Israel’s friends all over the world, that this war can ultimately be defeated,” Evans said.At that event, the president signed an executive memo designed to protect religious groups, which also established a White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative to serve as a liaison between the Trump administration and faith-based programs.Evans serves on the Trump Faith Initiative, which in 2017 awarded US President Donald Trump with the “Friend of Zion” award in the Oval Office for his decision to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.The Friends of Zion Museum, located in central Jerusalem, tells the heroic stories of Gentiles who have assisted the Jewish people throughout the Zionist movement, as well as in critical times like the Holocaust.
