Trumps Skip White House Seder — Ivanka Posts Passover Message

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Having posted Sunday that President Donald Trump would be hosting a Seder at the White House Monday evening for the first night of Passover, I was somehow not surprised to read that he was, in fact, a no-show.
First daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, who are Jewish, were not in attendance either. At about 8:45 last night, Ivanka Trump posted the family photo above on Instagram and Twitter, with the comment, “During #Passover, we are called upon to reflect on the significance of the exodus from Egypt and to celebrate the great freedoms we enjoy today! #ChagPesach”
In a pointed response, someone posted the comment: “While you are celebrating a mas [sic] exodus of refugees, your Dad and Co are not allowing them into our land…”
Along with White House staffers, one Trump cabinet member participated: secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin, who is a holdover from the Obama administration.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told The Times of Israel that a kosher meal was provided at the Seder, which was held in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, not far from the West Wing.
Liza Schoenfein is food editor of the Forward. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @LifeDeathDinner
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
