Shaping the Future
During his 2016 Presidential Campaign, then candidate Donald Trump made moving the United States Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem part of his platform. For over 25 years successive presidents refused to move the embassy, claiming the time wasn’t right. Even though Congress had passed a bill approving the action.
Upon his election, President Trump fulfilled his campaign promise moving the embassy to Jerusalem. This and other actions have led to him being hailed as ‘the most pro-Israel president ever.’ He has also developed warm ties with Prime Minister Netanyahu. What led to this affinity with the Jewish people and with his relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu? It goes back to the relationship his father had with the Jewish community of Beach Haven in the 1950’s, and Donald Trump caught his father’s rapport and love for the Jewish people from him.
The congregation which Rabbi Israel Wagner, a Polish Holocaust survivor, came to serve met in the only place available: a parking garage owned by Mr. Fred Trump. The rabbi went to meet Fred Trump, and they became fast friends. Fred Trump offered to donate the land to the rabbi if they would build a synagogue on it. The community, Beach Haven in Brooklyn, was the second large development Fred Trump built, and along with a community, a friendship developed as well, one that lasted 50 years.
Rabbi Wagner’s daughter, Malka Weisberg, relates, “Mr. Trump was a very good businessman, and a very nice man, this gave the president his start in business.” Fred Trump had won the hearts of many in Beach Haven, receiving the name of Ohev Yisroel, ‘lover of Israel.’ Malka points out that the warm relations between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump originated with his father, whom he met when Benjamin came to the UN as the Ambassador of Israel.
She summarizes, “I believe that much of what the president does today relating to the Jewish people came from watching his father interact with the Jewish community, which came from the warm relations between Fred Trump and my father.”
(Source: The Hidden Story of the Trump Family Rabbi; by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz; Breaking Israel News)
