Sabbath-observant Jew named Obama’s new White House chief of staff Natasha Mozgovaya, Barak Ravid, Haaretz, Jan 10 2012
A Sabbath-observant Jew was named on Monday as Obama’s chief of staff, one of the most pivotal jobs in US politics. Jacob Lew, who last served as the White House budget director, will be replacing William Daley, who resigned just one year into the job. The change will take effect at the end of the month. Daley’s predecessor was another prominent Jewish political figure, Rahm Emanuel, who is now mayor of Chicago. Over the past three years, Lew, whose son studied in a yeshiva in Israel, has developed a close working relationship with Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren, and has met several times with Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon and Finance Minister Steinitz. Lew, who served as budget director under Bill Clinton and was a deputy to Sec State Hillary Clinton before going back to the budget job under Obama, has strong relationships with lawmakers. He was instrumental in negotiating the debt ceiling talks with Republicans last summer.