The Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce released the following statement this afternoon:

We are just one day away from the inauguration of Mr. Donald J. Trump as the 45th president of the United States. This is a historic event, an opportunity for us to extend the traditional Jewish prayer that the Almighty shall bless the leadership of our great nation with wisdom and success.

The inauguration has elicited a record level of interest and enthusiasm amongst Jews in the United States and worldwide, including many who will be personally attending Inauguration Day events in and around our nation’s capital. We fully support the choice of members of our community to personally show respect to our new president, but would like to stress that we cannot, Heaven forbid, trivialize the respect we show for Hashem and Shabbos in the process.

Inauguration Day takes place on a short winter Friday, with many related events extending past the onset of Shabbos.

It has come to our attention that some respected Jewish hosts of inaugural guests are abetting, even encouraging, Jewish participation in inaugural related events that take place past the onset of Shabbos. This is in direct violation of the spirit of the sanctity of Shabbos – even if attending these events does not involve the violation of a particular halachic prohibition.

On an individual level, it is incumbent upon all Jewish participants in the festivities to ensure that they are back at their place of lodging before sunset, bearing in mind the significant traffic, closures and other travel hurdles in the area – as well as avoid any activity or event on Friday evening or Shabbos day that violates the Shabbos spirit.

We are pleased to note that Mr. Trump has a greater personal familiarity with Shabbos observance than any U.S. president in history and has always shown great respect for the holy day – even at the expense of his own family or business activities.

May our community’s sanctifying of Shabbos in and around our nation’s capital bring blessing upon Am Yisroel, the United States of America and President Donald J. Trump.

With heartfelt blessing,

Duvi Honig

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce