From Heritage - Florida Jewish News:
...Obama launched his administration with a strong contingent of Jewish advisers: In addition to Ross, David Axelrod was his top political adviser, Rahm Emanuel was his chief of staff and Daniel Shapiro handled the Levant desk at the National Security Council.
Emanuel quit in late 2010 to run for Chicago mayor, Axelrod left soon after to help run Obama’s re-election campaign and Shapiro is now in Tel Aviv as ambassador.
That left a perceived gap in the White House—one that Lew would fill, although Jewish officials stressed that they did not expect the attention from a chief of staff that they received from mid-level staffers.
“That’s not the role he’s going to play,” said Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, referring to the regular conference calls that Ross and Shapiro had with Jewish community leaders. “He will be an adviser to the president on all things and a gatekeeper, but to the extent the president will turn to him for his view, he has an understanding of the community and of its views.”
The Obama administration clearly wanted to push across the Jewish message; Shapiro Tweeted the news in Hebrew to his followers. Israeli ambassadors don’t usually make a big deal of the appointment of a White House chief of staff....
http://heritagefl.com/2012/01/13/chief-of-staff-lew-an-orthodox-jew/
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