El una mensch.
Argentina’s new president is a longtime public admirer of Israel and the Jewish people — and has close ties to the Big Apple’s Hasidic community.
Javier Milei was elected president of Argentina this week in a stunning upset. The libertarian firebrand has made headlines for vowing to defeat socialism from the South American country – and for a colorful past that includes serving as a tantric sex teacher.
In September, just months before his election, Milei, 53, who is Catholic, traveled to New York City where he held talks with prominent Hasidic Jewish leaders in Brooklyn and Queens.
“In my conversations with Mr. Milei, it was clear that he was truly inspired by Jewish teachings,” said Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, an official with Chabad, a Hasidic Jewish organization in New York. Kotlarsky met with future leaders in NYC earlier this year. “I found him to be very sincere, and it was his sincerity and deep spiritual conviction that brought him to New York to pray every day.”
Argentina’s new president Javier Milei poses with Chabad Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky.Facebook Mendy Kotlarsky
On the same trip, Milei made a pilgrimage to Queens to visit the Ohel, the tomb of Chabad Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
The rebbe, who died in 1994, was one of the most influential rabbis in modern history and his grave is visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year of all faiths.
“There is a book that contains the rebbe’s teachings. Usually they give you the book as a gift,” Milei said in an undated television clip during his presidential campaign. “I had the opportunity, the honor, to meet one of the rabbis who wrote the teachings and I was privileged that he gave me the book and signed it for me.”
Argentina’s new president Javier Milei greets Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky.Facebook Mendy Kotlarsky
Milei referred to another meeting during the same New York visit with Chabad Rabbi Simon Jacobson, who had been a close friend of Schneerson, and had been among the few high officials who would reproduce the rebbe’s Shabbat speech from memory, as there was no writing or audio. equipment allowed during weekly maintenance.
“You should see how her eyes light up, she’s really fascinated by the process of remembering and it’s all documented in a book,” Jacobson said in a YouTube video describing the moment and congratulating Milei. “Her excitement makes me excited.”
Argentina’s new president Javier Milei says his first international visit will be to Israel.NurPhoto via Getty Images
In other television appearances, Milei has boasted about favoring synagogues over churches and preferring to receive guidance from a rabbi over a priest.
Although she was raised Catholic, Milei has often clashed with Pope Francis, whom she has called “ingenuous communism” and “preachy-sons-of-a-bitch.” He openly thought about converting to Judaism.
Milei has promised to visit Israel on her first trip abroad and — following the United States — move her country’s embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
And he often quotes Torah verses when discussing economic theory and has blown the traditional Jewish shofar at political events. He has studied Jewish texts closely with his fellow Argentinian Rabbi Shimon Axel Wahnish, Haaetz reported.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
