In Election Day Visit, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Prays at Rebbe’s Resting Place
On Election Day morning, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) made a personal prayer visit to the Ohel, the resting place of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. The senator from New York chose to spend an hour at the holy site as one of her only public appearances of the day.
During the visit, Gillibrand spent time learning about the Rebbe’s perspective on contemporary issues and wrote a pan, a traditional prayer note, which she then left at the Rebbe’s resting place, among the thousands of similar letters from petitioners around the world.
The Ohel is open to all and is frequently visited by foreign heads of states, cultural figures and thought leaders from diverse backgrounds, all of whom come in private capacities with little fanfare, seeking not cameras but to draw strength for the formidable responsibilities they face. They join regular men, women and children who come to pray at the Rebbe’s resting place asking that he intercede before G‑d on their behalf or that of their loved ones.
It is common for people to visit the Ohel to pray in proximity to a personal or professional milestone, whether a bar or bat mitzvah, wedding, anniversary, starting a new business or overcoming personal challenges.
People familiar with the visit shared that the senator prayed for strength to serve New Yorkers with wisdom and compassion, and for the safety and security of Jewish communities in New York, Israel and worldwide.
During her visit, Gillibrand took a few moments to speak with an eighth-grade student from Bais Rivkah, a Jewish girls’ school in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., hearing about the school’s Election Day debates and about matters pertaining to Jewish communal life.
Gillibrand occupies the seat once held by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who enjoyed a decades-long relationship with the Rebbe—ranging from local New York matters, greater social issues and Soviet Jewry. Other senators from New York who visited the Rebbe for guidance and advice included Jacob Javits, Robert F. Kennedy and Al D’Amato.
In recent months, former President Donald Trump, President Javier Milei of Argentina and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, among other leaders, have traveled to the Rebbe’s resting place for prayer and inspiration.
