President Donald Trump met with several Hasidic rabbis at the White House on Thursday ahead of Rosh Hashanah, a gathering his office called the first of its kind in nearly 50 years.

The rabbis, many of whom were pictured in photos that circulated on social media ahead of the meeting flying to Washington on private jets, hailed from a range of leading Hasidic communities in New York — including the two rival Satmar sects in Brooklyn and Kiryas Joel; the Bobov sect in Brooklyn; the Vizhnitz sect in Monsey; and the Skver sect in New Square. 

The 85-year-old Skver rebbe, David Twersky, whose endorsements in congressional races have long been highly coveted, sent one of his sons to the meeting in his place. Rabbi Malkiel Kotler, dean of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, N.J., the largest yeshiva in the United States, also joined.

The meeting, according to sources, was attended by Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and key outside advisor, who is Jewish; Vice President JD Vance; and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who is among the most vulnerable House Republicans running this cycle. The congressman — whose district includes the Hasidic village of New Square — has depended on the politically powerful Skver endorsement in past races.

Vance paid a visit to the Roosevelt Room during the gathering, according to two sources familiar with the matter granted anonymity because they had not been authorized to discuss the private reception. He joked to the attendees that the “Hasidim are the only ones who have larger families than him,” the sources told Jewish Insider afterward. 

A spokesperson for Vance, who welcomed his fourth child in July, did not dispute that account but told JI it might have been “a joke one of the rabbis made to” the vice president.

Beforehand, sources familiar with the meeting framed it as a chance for Trump to convey Rosh Hashanah greetings ahead of the Jewish new year marking the beginning of the High Holy Days next week — in a demonstration of mutual respect for a community whose rank and file have shown strong support for his campaigns.

But some more substantive issues were also raised, according to the sources, including topics like “large families” as well as housing concerns, prison reform and “expanding earned income tax credits” for those with more than three children.

One source who attended the meeting also said that Trump, for his part, talked “about pardoning Jewish prisoners” including Sholom Rubashkin — the kosher meatpacking executive convicted of financial fraud in 2009. His 27-year prison sentence was commuted by Trump in 2017.

The president also spoke privately with Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, the Satmar leader in Kiryas Joel, another person informed of their exclusive discussion told JI.

A White House official told JI the president and top administration officials “met with the leading Hasidic Rabbis in the United States,” saying it was the first of such gatherings “at the White House since 1979.”

The Hasidic leaders “thanked the president for all he had done in combatting antisemitism, advocating for school choice with the middle-class tax credit and for fighting for peoples of faith,” the White House official added. 

In recognition of Rosh Hashanah, the delegation of rabbis “said blessings to the president, and thanked the entire administration for all they had done for all Americans,” according to the official.

The meeting had faced some resistance from a few far-right Trump allies over its inclusion of the Satmar community, an anti-Zionist Hasidic sect that believes only the messiah is supposed to bring about a Jewish state. 

But the Trump administration indicated that it was unmoved by such protestations, proceeding with the scheduled meeting on Thursday.

Broadly speaking, the rabbis who joined the meeting “focused on issues important to the community,” one source said of the visit. “It mostly went as planned.”