Politics

Monica Lewinsky’s former rabbi to give benediction after Bill Clinton’s DNC speech

Taylor Bigler Entertainment Editor
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Democratic National Convention planners may have made one fairly large (and awkward) scheduling mistake: Monica Lewinsky’s childhood rabbi will give the benediction after former President Bill Clinton’s speech at the DNC.

Rabbi David Wolpe from Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, Calif. is set to step up to the same podium as his former congregant’s philandering boss Wednesday night, ABC News reports.

As you might recall, Clinton notoriously had an “improper relationship” with a 24-year-old Lewinsky when she was a White House intern from 1995 to 1996.

The affair became an international scandal, and led to Clinton’s 1998 impeachment by Congress. (RELATED — Cigar Hunter: On Bill Clinton’s big night, let’s smoke his big Gurkha)

After the scandal, Wolpe publicly denounced Clinton’s actions. The Associated Press reported at the time that Wolpe told his congregation that Clinton needed to “cleanse his soul.”

“He was a brilliant, talented, extraordinary child, and for the leader of the United States we need an adult,” Wolpe reportedly said.

ABC noted that Wolpe wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post in 2009 criticizing the narrative around the affair: “During the Lewinsky scandal, it was the lying and smearing of Monica Lewinsky that marked the low point of the event, not the sex, which was primarily an issue for the individuals and families involved.”

Point: Wolpe.

Hopefully, convention speakers don’t all have to hangout in the same green room before their speeches.

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