Among many moves aimed at reversing his predecessor’s policies, President Trump recently decided not to make public the White House visitors logs. Had they been open, the lists would reveal the profound change 100 days of a Trump administration had brought about to the Jєωιѕн community’s power structure.
“The atmosphere has changed, at least for us. There’s a sense of familiarity and greater receptivity and that makes a better atmosphere,” said Abba Cohen, vice president for federal affairs at Agudath Israel of America, a group representing the ultra-Orthodox stream.
Liberal-leaning Jєωιѕн activists, once the backbone of communal advocacy, had been pushed aside in favor of a new elite made up of activists who are more conservative in their politics and more Orthodox in their religious practice. The new leaders representing American Jєωιѕн interests in the White House are keen to shape policy on education and religious expression and to ensure a pro-Israel stance more in line with the Netanyahu government.
Agudah may speak for a relatively small portion of the Jєωιѕн community, but it succeeded in landing the first White House meeting among all Jєωιѕн groups.
On March 8, leaders of the organization visited the White House and sat down with Trump’s policy advisers, including counterterrorism advisor Sebastian Gorka and Boris Epshteyn, who has since left his position in Trump’s communication team. They were also the first to meet with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, an appointment favored by the group, which wants to expand the use of public funds for parochial education.
Agudah has also found shared interests with the Trump administration on an interpretation of religious freedom which would allow more leeway for faith groups to avoid anti-discrimination rules on hiring, school curriculum and healthcare. But Cohen, one of the longest-serving Washington representatives of major Jєωιѕн groups, said that it’s about more than policy.
In the Trump White House, which critics have deemed insensitive to Jєωιѕн issues, Orthodox activists have found allies. “The more I learn about the administration, I learn that there are more Jєωs there who are active in Jєωιѕн life,” he said, pointing to Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, international negotiations envoy Jason Greenblatt, and David Friedman, the new ambassador to Israel, all of whom are Orthodox. “They have an intimate knowledge of the Jєωιѕн community and of Israel and that makes the difference.”
But there’s also the personal aspect. With the center of gravity moving from Washington, D.C. and New York’s Upper West Side to New Jersey and Long Island’s modern Orthodox enclaves, a new power structure is emerging, one that was forged in the pews of Teaneck ѕуηαgσgυєs and at New York religious school fundraisers.
No one knows this better than Ben Chouake, a New Jersey physician who heads NORPAC, America’s largest pro-Israel PAC. Greenblatt and Friedman were on his board, and he even used to meet the Kushners at weddings and family events. “I have a lot more comfort with this administration,” Chouake said. In part, he says, it’s because he shares background and beliefs with some of Trump’s senior staffers. “This administration is much, much more congenial to U.S.-Israel relations,” he added.
NORPAC will be heading to Washington next month for its annual lobbying mission, focused on improving U.S.-Israel relations, but at least in the Trump White House, Chouake feels he won’t have a problem conveying his message. “I need to talk to David Friedman? I need to talk to Greenblatt? What, they don’t know what to do?” he asked, adding: “You have people in positions there that are emotionally inclined in favor of Israel, and that’s something that was emotionally missing in the previous administration.”
Adding weight to the Modern Orthodox circle of influence is another New Jersey activist - Morton Friedman, who was recently selected to serve as the next president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Friedman will be only the second Orthodox Jєω to serve at AIPAC’s helm. He was previously NORPAC’s vice president. AIPAC has proven in the past its ability to choose top leaders in line with the president occupying the White House. After Obama’s election in 2008, the lobby turned to fellow Chicago liberal Lee Rosenberg to serve as president. Now it is reaching out to Mort Friedman, an Orthodox conservative who may be closer to White House Jєωιѕн players.
The Zionist Organization of America, which was largely ignored by the Obama White House, is also seeing its star rise under the new administration. It was the first to score a meeting with a member of the Trump team after the election. President Mort Klein met in New York with an aide, Anthony Scaramucci. He left the White House shortly after.
The Orthodox Union raised its profile by lobbying in support of David Friedman’s confirmation. Chabad welcomed Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump to Washington, and Sheldon Adelson, one of Trump’s top donors, who is not Orthodox, was already invited to a private dinner with the President at the White House. Groups Adelson supports, including the Republican Jєωιѕн Coalition and Christians United for Israel, also got their share of face time with Trump in the first 100 days of his presidency.
These shifts in Jєωιѕн power are natural, argued Matt Nosanchuk who served as Obama’s liaison to the Jєωιѕн community between 2013 and 2016. Most have to do with policy, rather than with personal or religious affinity, he said. “I tried to engage with a broad spectrum of Jєωιѕн organizations, but a lot has to with shared priorities,” Nosanchuk said of his time at the White House.
He recalled working closer with groups such as the Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center, the National Council for Jєωιѕн Women and Bend the Arc Jєωιѕн Action, groups that now share little with the Trump administration. “It’s not that we shut anyone out, but we definitely had closer relations with those groups aligned with our priorities,” he said. An official with one of the major Jєωιѕн groups who had visited the Obama White House several times, confirmed that relations with the Trump administration are very different. “They haven’t showed any interest,” said the official who would not speak on record citing concern for future relations of his organization with the Trump administration.
Formal avenues to the White House for Jєωιѕн groups have also been difficult to access, since Trump has yet to fill the positions of liaison to the Jєωιѕн community, head of the faith-based office, and special envoy for combating anti-Semitism.
Trump, in his public outreach efforts, has made the Orthodox community a priority. During the presidential campaign he gave his only interview to a Jєωιѕн American publication to the ultra-Orthodox Mishpacha magazine. “He is eager for me to understand that Orthodox Jєωs aren’t alien species to him,” the reporter, Yisorel Besser, observed. The interview took place a day before the April New York primary and Trump was in full campaign mode, trying to make the case for Orthodox Jєωs to vote for him. “Look, you’re a visibly Orthodox Jєω,” he turned to Besser, explaining that he could be targeted by αnтι-ѕємιтєs in Europe. “They’ve already learned they can do whatever they want and get away with it. Obama taught them that.”