By COLlive reporter
Jack Lew, White House Chief of Staff, met with Jewish leaders in New York Friday making the case that the Obama Administration is a friend of Israel.
Lew, an Orthodox Jew who has a home in New York, met the group convened by the New York Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) on his way home for Shabbos.
Among the attendees were R’ Chanina Sperlin, the intergovernmental liaison for the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council and Devorah Halberstam, an activist with the Jewish Children’s Museum in Crown Heights.
According to JTA, Lew was asked about reports of tensions between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and particularly over Iran.
Lew said differences existed, but were blown out of proportion by the media, according to JTA. He claimed sanctions were effectively squeezing Iran, and said Israel was sovereign in making decisions about its defense.
Sperlin told COLlive.com that in a chat following the meeting, he invited Lew to visit the chassidic community of Crown Heights, which is also the headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
“We might have our difference over some important issues, yet he is a proud Jew who is making a kiddush Hashem by being a shomer shabbos and holding high office,” Sperlin said.
Lew, former Deputy Secretary of State and Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton, is in fact very familiar with Lubavitch.
This past Chanukah he was the one to light the National Menorah in front of the White House with senior Chabad Rabbi Abraham Shemtov and Rabbi Levi Shemtov.
Sources told COLlive that Lew is in close contact with Rabbi Levi Shemtov and was seen in the past praying at The Shul of American Friends of Lubavitch in Washington, DC.
At the meeting in New York, Lew also told the group that the White House kitchen as of two weeks ago offers kosher options.
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