Trump Visits Revered New York City Jewish Site on October 7 Anniversary

A trip to Rabbi Schneerson’s gravesite is the third high-profile visit in recent weeks, heightening security measures.

AP/Yuki Iwamura
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, center, visits the gravesite of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson at Ohel Chabad-Lubavitch, October 7, 2024, at New York. AP/Yuki Iwamura

President Trump was at Queens, New York, today to visit what is considered one of the holiest Jewish sites in North America to pay honor on the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks on Israel.

Mr. Trump commemorated the one-year anniversary of October 7 with a visit to Ohel Chabad Lubavitch, the final resting place of Rabbi Schneerson.

President Trump’s visit marked the third by a head of state in the past month. Other high-profile visitors to the religious site include Argentina’s President Javier Milei and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Trump puts on a yarmulke before visiting the gravesite of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson at Ohel Chabad-Lubavitch, October 7, 2024, at New York. AP/Yuki Iwamura

The Ohel is a significant spiritual site for the Chabad-Lubavitch movement within the Jewish faith and is visited by thousands yearly. It is the final resting place of Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, the last Lubavitcher Rebbe, and his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Y. Schneersohn.

Visitors to Ohel believe that the site has a powerful spiritual resonance and pilgrimages there to receive blessings and spiritual guidance. They recite special prayers and psalms, light memorial candles, and place kvitlach — handwritten prayer requests on torn scraps of paper — along both graves.

President Trump’s vehicle arrived just after 2pm and entered into a tent erected next to the building and entered the site away from public view. Once inside he met with members of the Chabad community and donned a black kippah and placed his own kvitlach and a stone atop Rabbi Schneerson’s headstone.

Rabbi Schneerson, who was widely known as “the Rebbe,” is credited with growing Chabad-Lubavitch from a small movement into a global community, helping to establish 1,400 centers across 35 countries. He was also known for his ability to connect with people from all walks of life and championed outreach to all Jews, regardless of their level of faith.

Mr. Trump’s previous connection to the Ohel was before the 2016 Election, when his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, made a private visit for prayer.


The New York Sun

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