Overview
- A delegation of leading Hasidic rabbis met with President Trump at the White House on Sept. 3, 2026 and held a roughly 30-minute Oval Office session after an earlier Roosevelt Room meeting.
- The group included the two Satmar rebbes, the Bobover and Vizhnitz rebbes, Rav Malkiel Kotler and a son representing the Skverer rebbe, and Vice President J.D. Vance, Jared Kushner and Rep. Mike Lawler joined parts of the visit.
- The Satmar rebe of Kiryas Joel met privately with the president for about 10 to 15 minutes, offered a blessing and handed Trump a handwritten note that he kept in his desk.
- Delegates presented written letters and pressed specific requests on kosher meals and conditions for Jewish prisoners, pidyon shvuyim (redemption of captives), protection of yeshiva educational autonomy, housing and family benefit concerns, and appeals over Israel’s draft of yeshiva students.
- The White House called the meeting the first of its kind since 1979, organizers said the visit could lead to follow-up policy work such as a kosher meal proposal, and some pro-Israel figures criticized including anti-Zionist sects which could shape political fallout before the midterms.