Shmuley Boteach Defends Trump For Shunning Warsaw Ghetto Memorial
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who defended Trump’s decision not to visit the monument to the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Image by Getty
By Ari Feldman July 6, 2017
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is defending President Trump’s decision not to visit the monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during his sojourn to Poland.
Boteach, who has been a vocal defender of President Trump in recent months, responded in a statement to Poland’s Chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, after Schudrich criticized Trump’s decision to skip the monument.
“He is absolutely correct that it would have been appropriate for President Trump to visit the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Memorial,” Boteach said of Schudrich. “But the absence of gestures should never be allowed to undermine strong and courageous action.”
“So, while President Trump should also be attending the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial today, we should remember that gestures, while extremely important, do not replace grand action,” Boteach added, ticking off supposed achievements of Trump’s rocky presidency.
Ivanka Trump visited the monument with Schudrich, who called her visit “very, very important… not only because she’s a Jew, because her grandparents-in-law are survivors of the Holocaust, but also as a human being it’s important.”
Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aefeldman.
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.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
