Did Israel's Chief Rabbi, David Yosef, write a condolence letter to the family of Charlie Kirk on September 2, 2025 -- more than a week before Kirk was killed? No, that's not true: The letter was written on Sept. 12, 2025, but it was shared publicly online with a typing error -- it was dated September 2, 2025. In an email to Lead Stories, the office of the Chief Rabbi said this was a technical error in typing, and emphasized that the letter was written on September 12th.
One example of a post calling attention to the date on the letter (archived here) was published on X by @jacksonhinklle on Sept. 17, 2025. It was captioned:
🚨🇮🇱🇺🇸 BREAKING: ISRAEL'S CHIEF RABBI wrote a condolence letter about CHARLIE KIRK'S DEATH on September 2nd, 8 days BEFORE the ASSASSINATION.
The Hebrew calendar date 9 Elul, 5785 corresponds with September 2, 2025.
The letter is still LIVE on Israel Heritage Foundation (@IHF_Heritage) X account.
The post contained three images, a portrait photo of Charlie Kirk, The Israel Flag, and a screenshot (pictured below) of a now-deleted post by @EYakoby which includes the image of the condolence letter. This screenshot shows the date on the letter is typed as:
In the Bible, 9 Elul, 5785
September 2, 2025
(Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot of x.com/jacksonhinklle/status/1968221132588257543/photo/3.)
The @jacksonhinklle post notes that the letter is still live on the Israel Heritage Foundation (@IHF_Heritage) X account. That Sept. 15, 2025 post (archived here) contains a screenshot of the same letter (pictured below) with the September 2, 2025 date, but the image extends further down to include the official seal, signature and address information at the bottom of the letter.
(Image Source: Lead Stories screenshot of x.com/IHF_Heritage/status/1967765490828292216/photo/1.)
Lead Stories reached out to the office of the Chief Rabbi of Israel (Maran Rishon LeZion) to ask for a comment regarding the date on the letter. We received a reply (translated here by Google) on Sept. 18, 2025:
Earlier, we published the letter of condolence that the Chief Rabbi sent to Charlie Kirk's family. We wish to clarify that a technical error occurred in the office when typing the date on the letter.
We emphasize that the letter was actually written on September 12th, and this error in the date does not detract from the content of the letter or the heartfelt and meaningful message of condolence it conveyed. The updated letter, with the corrected date, is attached.
The updated letter in the attachment is pictured below:
(Image Source: Email attachment from The Rishon LeZion.)
