President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner gave the King of Bahrain a Torah scroll during their meeting last week, ahead of a historic peace accord between Bahrain and Israel.
White House special envoy Avi Berkowitz posted an image Monday night of Kushner giving the king a Torah scroll.
“The moment Jared Kushner gave His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa of the Kingdom of Bahrain a Torah scroll for a Synagogue in Bahrain,” Berkowitz tweeted.
Kushner told journalists that during a meeting between President Trump and the King last year, the king told Trump that he was very proud that the Jewish community in Bahrain had a beautiful synagogue in the capital city Manama which had been built in the early 20th century.
It was found, however, that the synagogue no longer has a kosher Torah scroll.
After learning this, Kushner paid to have a Torah scroll written specially for the synagogue in Manama, which he gave to the King of Bahrain during a recent meeting, telling the king it was written “in honor of the king.”
“It was a very nice gesture, especially knowing that we were in the final stages of normalization [with Israel], and thinking of all the Jews who are going to go and pray in the synagogue in Bahrain in the coming months and years,” said a senior Bahrain official.