Scoop: White House Chanukkah Party May Be Scaled Back Due to Ballroom Construction

The White House’s annual Chanukkah party, traditionally a high-profile event for Jewish community leaders with a large crowd in attendance, is expected to be a more limited affair this year, sources familiar with the situation tell Belaaz.

The  sources say that the guest list is being sharply curtailed due to “minimum space” at the White House due to ongoing, large-scale construction of a new State Ballroom in the East Wing, a major project championed by the Trump administration.

According to the sources, the spatial limitations have created a scramble for access, with “many who are usually invited to the Trump Chanukkah party… having a hard time getting access.”

To navigate the logistical challenge, the White House may be considering a workaround. Belaaz’s sources noted “a chance there will be two separate parties.”

Belaaz is also told that a date for the party has yet to be finalized and invites did not go out yet, though some VIP’s already got the nod that they will attend.

This solution would not be without recent precedent; the administration also hosted two separate, smaller Chanukkah receptions in 2020 to manage crowd sizes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Construction on the new, privately funded ballroom began in September and has involved major work on the East Wing, complicating the logistics for large-scale holiday gatherings.

The annual Chanukkah party is a relatively recent, but deeply embedded, White House tradition. While previous presidents held smaller menorah lightings, the first formal, large-scale Chanukkah party was hosted by President George W. Bush in 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks as a significant gesture of solidarity.

The event grew in prominence, and in 2005, the White House kitchen was kashered for the first time to prepare for the reception, a practice that has continued.

The guest list, which often numbers in the hundreds, has historically included a bipartisan mix of members of Congress, rabbis, and heads of American Jewish organizations. During President Trump’s first term, the receptions were sometimes noted for guest lists that were “more personal than political,” with invitations notably not extended to Democratic lawmakers or Jewish leaders who had been critical of the administration. The reported space constraints this year are likely to renew focus on who makes the limited invitation list.