By COLlive reporter
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. paid a private visit to the Rebbe‘s Ohel gravesite in the Old Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, New York on Monday.
Kennedy, nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, is running a longshot campaign against President Joe Biden in the Democratic primaries. According to polling, he is more popular among Republicans than Democrats.
Wearing a gray kippah on his head, Kennedy prayed at the Rebbe’s gravesite, a holy pilgrimage site for tens of thousands around the year. Recent politicians visiting were New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams and Israeli government ministers.
No rabbis or official representatives of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement were present at the visit. But Kennedy did interact and pose for photographs with people who were at the Ohel at the time.
Accompanying him was former New York state Assemblyman Dov Hikind who interviewed Kennedy about some of his controversial opinions such as that “Ashkenazi Jews” were “most immune” to Covid-19. “I have never uttered a single antisemitic word in my life,” Kennedy responded.
“He’s no antisemite,” Hikind said after the visit.
Kennedy also expressed his support for Israel, adding, “Progressive Democrats have become outspoken opponents of Israel. That’s the worst outcome of woke culture. The criticism of Israel is a false narrative. Israel is a shining star on human rights in the Middle East.”
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, is the son of former U.S. senator and attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, who himself ran for the presidency before being assassinated on June 1968.
The senior Kennedy famously visited the Rebbe at Lubavitch World Headquarters – 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights. The Rebbe expressed concern about an uptick in urban crime and the alarming delinquency of American youth, particularly the spike in drug abuse. He also spoke of the need for a values-based education to stem the tide.
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Did he retract or apologize for his abhorrent statement about Jews and Covid?? “I have never uttered a single antisemitic word in my life,” doesn’t do it! Shame on Hilkind for taking the bait. Much respect to the official chabad representatives for NOT joining for the photo op!
Like every person, he deserves to be evaluated by his whole record and not just a sliver of a quote in which the intention can be understand in various ways.
If you follow him as a person, you will see that he does not remotely seem anti Jewish. On the contrary.
Those who are criticizing him are not supportive of the Jewish people.
We all know his views now
An antisemite is someone who hates Jews. Someone who is ANTI, i.e. against Jews.
This person said a stupid and unfounded fact that happened to be about Asians and Jews.
That does not make him an antisemite.
You’re getting there but not quite
So touched that this gentle, kind soul davened at our Rebbe’s Ohel. As a recovering addict, RJK has spent years working on his middos and on his spiritual wellbeing, and it shows!
I don’t care for politics, but I do value people who are genuine and kind.
What a missed opportunity for Chabad leadership (or at least a Shliach or Rabbi Abba Reftzon) to have welcomed and embrace him the way the do other politicians.
May God bring us Moshiach today.
This should not be posted.
This man is crazy and antisemitic, do not vote for him!
and LISTEN to more than cherrypicked soundbites.
You’ll be very pleasantly surprised.
We’ve been attention long enough to notice that whenever the great “Chachomim” in the Legacy Media work overtime to convince you that someone (anyone) is a kook and should therefore not be listen to and not even given a fair chance to explain themselves and instead by sen
I have followed this gentleman for years. If you watch any of his lengthy interviews on Youtube, or even better, read one of his books, you will learn much. He is not anti-semitic, this is a common political smear. ( He was warning the world of the dangerous experimentation that is going on in biolabs around the world. How long before those manufacturing viruses will make them ethnicity specific? Who will inevitably be the target of such “weapons manufacturers”? If Covid taught us anything, it is that this type of research must stop, and RFK jr is pushing for that.… Read more »
Those who are suspicious of him, just don’t have a clue who he is.
These days we are told what to believe by the press. People are canceled every day.
Fact is, he is outspokenly pro-Israel. He is not in any way even remotely, a biggoted person. This man truly cares and share in many of the values that we care about.
…about the Rebbe’s strong, broad approval for vaccines, including maanos to shluchim in the nuns to get MMR vaccine.
It’s nice that he went to the Ohel for some personal spiritual introspection, but an apology this does not make.
You can say this about any politician.
Wait till he finds out what the Rebbe thinks about Christianity, about limmudei chol, about reform Judaism, etc.
Why do you think that someone who is antivax can’t respect a holy man who happened to support some vaccines?
When someone says something, and clarifies exactly what he meant, going with the worst characterization of what he possibly could have meant is mean and shows your brainwashed by the wall-to-wall propaganda.
He said that it seemed impact certain ethnicities (he mentioned 4, directly quoting the study) more than others based on a real study published in big journal, and his POINT WAS that viruses in general can target certain ethnicities, and that all *current* biological weapons studies should be shut down.
he also said wearing masks was worse than what ann frank went through in the holocast cause at least she could hide, dont work so hard to defend am am haaretz and somone who’s own grandfather was ready to support the germans before the US finally entered the war cause he thought he could make more money there. There is a reason they say the kennedys were cursed.
He never said that! Did the pandemic not teach you to question the mainstream media narrative?
Once a antisemite always a antisemite.
Says who? Why should we judge him based on what his father or grandfather did or said? He is an individual. His comments have been blown out of context and proportion. Saying a group of people are more or less vulnerable to something does not make it a racist or genocidal statement “Jews are susceptible to Tay-Sachs”, or “ most Ashkenazi Jews are whites” are not antisemitic nor racist statements, whether they are true or not. Kennedy is not stirring up hatred or violence against Jews or Israel. We have much bigger issues to worry about than what he said,… Read more »
He is not an antisemite
And what about his Zaide, J Kennedy. He despised Yidden, made a fortune from bootlegging and some say had links to the Mem Fay Yud Alef. Feh Feh.
Which goy doesn’t have a zaidy who hated Jews???
this zayde wanted the U.S. to not get into WW2 and told us we should learn to live with a hitler controlled eurupe.
His grandfather is not running for president. He is. Would you want everyone to judge you only by what your grandfather did or said?
By far!!!
on any ticket, actually
It’s sad and disappointing to see the Ohel being (mis)used for political purposes and to support certain people’s agendas. What happened – was RFK Jr suddenly overcome with an urge to daven at the Ohel?? Had he ever visited the Ohel before this whole episode blew up?? Are we all so stupid that we would believe that just because he visited the Ohel, that what he previously said should just be dismissed and forgotten? It’s time for people on both sides of the political divide to stop bringing political candidates to the Ohel in order to support a particular agenda.
Politicians always went to the Maha”m shlit”a in 770 including his father RFK
Why judge his motivations so negatively? I think he would be a good and positive replacement for the real antisemite in the WH now , who is funding terrorism against Israel by hundreds of millions every year.
Politicians always went to the Rebbe (dollars, yechidus) while running.
Dinkins went to the Rebbe during elections and after Crown Heights riots.
As matter of fact, if you watch the videos, you’ll see that they were usually extremely disrespectful, trying to promote their stupid politics, and convince the Rebbe to endorse them.
Don’t complain about people coming to the Rebbe.
He was proven right on the issues of covid and other vaccines. He’s even won lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies. Watch his town hall meeting to get a sense of his brilliance on all issues including foreign and domestic.
H should go to the kevarim of the Jews who died from covid-19 next.
The vaccines caused the covid deaths for people. Healthy people did not die from covid.
yes, the vaccines are so deadly that they were able to kill hundreds of thousands before they were even available!
Because of those vaccines they suppressed the effective medicine.. so yes what u wrote is true
Lol 🫢
Why are you mixing your political views into someone meeting the Rebbe?
I strongly urge people to watch this video, you can learn all about RFK’s grandfather and his position on telling the U.S. to stay out of WW2 cause England will lose, and we need to just learn how to live with a Hitler dictatorship.
https://youtu.be/Qqr_V_9m8NQ?t=1753
this is not a family you want to give blessings and congrats to going to the ohel. None of our grandparents would be alive today had the U.S. listened to Joseph’s advice.
He is much better than the man in the WH right now. Judge him on his own merits, not by his grandfather.
You judge him by his dead grandfather’s views, and not his own?
You should watch videos of him articulating his own positions, he does so brilliantly and respectfully.
I think most goyim have some bad people in their family history
He’s everything you would ever want in a political leader. Honest, sincere, does not budge from pressure, highly intelligent.
The recent slander against him is because he’s a genuine threat to the powers that be
Please make him go away. Stop kissing up to every putz that you think is friendly.
Please remove this vulgar post
If you want to listen to the propaganda of the leftist media,then you’ll believe this man is an antisemite. Listen to what he originally said in context and then this apology for his failing to understand how this comment would be received.
Does anyone know the a the story of a source for it for the with his grandfather getting cursed? Or was it a different Kennedy?
We know the story was true but doesnt make this kennedy an anti semite.
Just because a grandparent was bad doesnt give us a right to decide a grandchild is bad as well
Have nt you ever heard of baalei tshuva who come from non frum families and have become torah leaders?
It is never wise to label a politician as an anti-Semite – even if you think they are. By labeling someone as such, you can only exasperate the issue.
See the Rebbe’s letter to Dershowitz on the matter in 1984 re Jesse Helms.
Chabadniks should be aware of this.
I was waiting for a comment like this.
See the Rebbe’s letter for the pure Torah view of this
Yes im sure hes a real antisemite who comes to visit the Rebbe ! Its enough with the cancel culture we should not be part of it. Do we trust or put our faith in every politician? No, only in Hashem. It doesnt bother me that RFK jr came to visit. He clearly believes theres something special to come and pray here. Give it a rest. We need any friend we can get. kabdehu ve’chashdehu !!
I’m wondering if it’s possible for someone who is not a public figure to arrange for a private visit to the ohel?