Rabbi Shea Hecht, Rabbi Chanina Sperlin and Mrs. Devorah Halberstam received official invitations from the White House on Wednesday to join the President in the public school on Albany Avenue.
The Yeshiva World reports:
Beside Governor Cuomo, Mayor Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio’s presence, three prominent Crown Heights-Chabad leaders will be in the crowd when President Barack Obama delivers an address connecting education and economic growth in Brooklyn this afternoon, COLlive has learned.
According to the report, Rabbi Shea Hecht, Rabbi Chanina Sperlin and Mrs. Devorah Halberstam received official invitations from the White House on Wednesday to join the President in the public school on Albany Avenue.
Sperlin, intergovernmental liaison for the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, was initially invited and was asked to recommend a “local community leader.”
He recommended Hecht, Chairman of the National Committee for Furtherance of Jewish Education (NCFJE), which is involved in the public school system with its Released Time program to teach Judaism to Jewish pupils.
Also on the guest list is Devorah Halberstam, Director of Foundation & Government Services at the Jewish Children’s Museum in Brooklyn and an advocate against terrorism ever since her son Ari was murdered on the Brooklyn Bridge.
The White House said Mr. Obama will “discuss the importance of ensuring that the next generation of middle class American workers and entrepreneurs has the skills they need to compete and win in a global economy.”