By COLlive reporter
On Friday, September 20, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, was welcomed to Washington, DC, with appropriate pomp and ceremony to begin an official State visit, only the second hosted by President Donald Trump and his wife Melania.
After realizing the State Dinner would be taking place on Friday evening after the onset of Shabbos, The Office of Protocol reached out to Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Executive Vice President of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) and senior Shliach of the Rebbe to Washington, DC.
They extended an invitation to him and his wife, Nechama, who is an Australian-American, to instead attend the VIP welcome ceremony at the White House with the President and Mrs. Trump, followed by the official State luncheon hosted at the State Department later in the day by Vice President Mike Pence
The prestigious luncheon was held in the ornate Benjamin Franklin Room at the US Department of State, and attended by the official delegation and most of the Cabinet.
In attendance were Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of HHS Alex Azar, Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, Secretary of HUD Dr. Ben Carson, and a number of other dignitaries, as well as Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Senior Democrat Ben Cardin (D-MD) and ambassadors to the US.
Mrs. Nechama Shemtov, who directs the women’s issues and community outreach of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad) was introduced along with Rabbi Shemtov to the US Secretary of State and Prime Minister of Australia, and enjoyed a warm and substantial dialogue with them. They discussed the historic and current strong bonds between the two countries and Australia’s support for Israel and the significant Australian Jewish community.
Rabbi Shemtov used the opportunity to discuss certain issues on behalf of various shluchim with officials in attendance and was moved by the keen interest of the Secretary of State in learning more about the activities of Shluchim, who comprise the largest Jewish educational and social services network in the world, with operations in 106 countries.
The Prime Minister was strongly applauded during his official remarks for noting that one of the most important shared values between the two allies is their strong and unshakable support for Israel.
After the luncheon, Rabbi Shemtov also had the opportunity to converse with another of the guests, former Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger, and wish him a Shana Tova as well as discuss Israel and other current international matters relevant to Chabad-Lubavitch and the Jewish people generally.
