WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jared Kushner read part of the Megillah at a Purim celebration at the White House.
A White House official said President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser joined about 40 people for the reading Thursday in the White House.
Also present were Ivanka Trump, Kushner’s wife and also a senior adviser to her father, Jason Greenblatt, the chief negotiator on the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan team that Kushner helms, and Elan Carr, the State Department envoy monitoring anti-Semitism.
Greenblatt posted a photo of the reading on Twitter. “Blessed that I was able to hear the #Megillah and celebrate the holiday of #Purim today in the @WhiteHouse,” he said. “So proud to be able to serve our incredible country.”
“He was flawless in the reading, we were very impressed,” Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch (Chabad), said of Kushner.
Shemtov said his group has helped organize Purim celebrations in the White House dating back at least to the administration of President George W. Bush.
