58 years after Robert F. Kennedy visited the Rebbe in a highly publicized visit, his son RFK Jr. paid a visit to the Rebbe’s Ohel in Queens, in a visit coordinated by former New York state Assemblyman Dov Hikind.
By Anash.org reporter
In 1964, while running to be elected as a U.S. Senator for New York, Robert F. Kennedy headed to 770 Eastern Parkway to meet the Rebbe. 58 years later, his son, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., paid a visit to the Rebbe’s Ohel in Queens. The visits were under very different circumstances, however.
The senior Kennedy visited the Rebbe to hold a conversation regarding many of the pressing issues of the time. The Rebbe highlighted a recent uptick of urban crime and the alarming delinquency of American youth, particularly the spike in drug abuse, and spoke of the need for a deeper, values-based education to stem the tide. The two spoke about government funding for religious schools, education, and other topics.
2023 saw a different picture. RFK Jr, as he is known, has recently faced accusations of anti-semitism for sharing a conspiracy theory about the supposed targeting of the COVID-19 virus, which he said was meant to avoid “Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”
His visit to the Ohel was coordinated by former New York state Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who defended RFK JR. in recent days, and was not accompanied by any official representatives of Chabad, rabbis or shluchim.
At the Ohel, RFK Jr. sat down to write a letter asking for blessings, as is customary, before entering the actual Ohel structure where he prayed silently. After his exit, he posed for photos with other visitors, among them a Chabad shliach from China.
Prior to the Ohel visit, RFK Jr. sat for an interview with Hikind, and said that he was a “rock of Gibraltar” for Jews and the Jewish state, following the lead of his uncles, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Ted Kennedy, his father, and Presidents Harry Truman and Franklin Roosevelt.
Thats a mischaracterization he’s denounced many, many times.
He said that it seemed impact certain ethnicities more than others based on a real study published in big journal, and his point that viruses can target certain ethnicities, and they should shut down all *current* biological weapons studies should be shut down.
When someone repeatedly says they didnt say something, no need to use the worst possible characterization.
Especially as a chassidishe outlet, you shouldnt be following hanachos haolam hook line and sinker