Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner found their home in Washington. Even more important, it seems they have found a synagogue too. The family is moving to Washington’s Kalorama neighborhood and will attend the nearby Chabad synagogue.
The Washingtonian reports that the home the Kushners chose is a $5.5 million, six-bedroom house, only blocks away from President Obama's future home. It should be noted that there were more expensive properties on the block to choose from but this house was what they wanted.
The large home was built in 1923. Google Earth pix show it was being renovated in 2014. The home has an area of 6,700 square feet and has five wood-burning fireplaces.
See renovation pic
Shul shopping, they looked at the choices and chose a smaller, more centrally located Chabad synagogue called TheSHUL led by Rabbi Levi Shemtov who is also the executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavich (Chabad) . The rabbi wouldn’t confirm if they are actually joining his congregation but did mention that their future home is only a seven-minute walk from the synagogue. This was important because Orthodox Jews don’t drive on the Sabbath and on Jewish holidays.
The Chabad synagogue is a small one. An average of 40-60 people attend Shabbat prayers there and up to 250 people participate in High Holiday services. Many Jewish politicians have attended TheSHUL throughout the years. These include former senator Joe Lieberman, current Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, several Jewish ambassadors posted in Washington, and Israeli orthodox Cabinet ministers. TheShul may get a lot of attention if the Kushner’s attend regularly not to mention a lot of security from secret service personnel.
Kesher Israel and Ohev Sholom, the two other Washington D.C. Orthodox Synagogues, are a 40-minute and 60-minute walk, away. That rules them out as impractical choices for observant Jews.
We hope they are happy in their new home and shul. May they be blessed with success assisting our new president.