The Kushners, Avi Berkowitz attend Chabad Purim event at White House
'Jared led off the reading of The Megillah [in Hebrew], and actually did so perfectly, without any mistakes'
By OMRI NAHMIASJared Kushner reads the Megillah at the White House, 2020(photo credit: Courtesy)
WASHINGTON – A few dozen people attended the traditional Purim event at the White House on Tuesday. The attendees, including senior advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump and special representative for international negotiations Avi Berkowitz, joined other White House staff for over half an hour to listen to the reading of the megillah (Book of Esther).“Jared led off the reading of the megillah [in Hebrew] and actually did so perfectly without any mistakes,” Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) in Washington, told The Jerusalem Post.“It is the second time that Mr. Kushner attended the White House Purim event,” he said. “Ivanka was there as well and this time even brought some hamantashen [traditional Purim cookies]. It is always special to celebrate Jewish holidays at the White House, especially now in a time that people feel a certain vulnerability.”The previous night, Chabad hosted the megillah reading and Purim celebration at TheSHUL, the Chabad synagogue Shemtov leads, and some 350 people attended the event despite the spread of coronavirus across the US, he told the Post.Many people avoided shaking hands and touched elbows instead, Shemtov said, adding: “Someone even won a trip to Israel in the raffle. But now, given the mandatory quarantine in Israel, we need to wait and see when he could use that ticket.”
