Another Orthodox Rabbi for Santorum
As Jennifer Siegel reports this week, Senator Rick Santorum is turning to Jewish supporters to help him score a comeback victory against Democrat Bob Casey Jr. And, she notes here, at least one New York-based Chabad rabbi is answering the call.
Now the Santorum campaign is touting the recent proclamation from a leading Philadelphia-area ultra-Orthodox rabbi, Shmuel Kaminetsky, urging followers “to vote for those who strengthen our nation — whether materially or spiritually — and also support our Jewish brethren living in the Land of Israel.”
As it turns out, the proclamation — which the Santorum campaign sent out — does not mention any specific candidate. And Kaminetsky, dean of the Talmudical Academy of Philadelphia, told the Forward that the statement was not intended to be a direct endorsement of Santorum. The rabbi quickly added, however, that he would be voting for Santorum and encouraging others to do so because of the senator’s support for Israel and the Jewish people.
The good feelings are mutual.
In a statement sent out at the end of the day Thursday, the Santorum campaign quoted the senator as saying: “I look forward to Rabbi Kaminetsky’s guidance and sage advice in the years to come.”
The statement noted that the senator had met with Kaminetsky early in October and that they discussed “school choice… the sanctity of marriage, religious freedom, the threat of a nuclear Iran, and a safe and secure Israel.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.