Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Argentine Rabbi Is Running in National Election for Center-Right Party

Rabbi Sergio Bergman will lead the ticket for the center-right PRO Party in Argentina’s national elections.

The PRO Party confirmed the decision on Saturday hours before the deadline for parties to present candidates for the October vote.

Bergman, a member of the Buenos Aires municipal Legislature, will head the list for the National Lower House. He is the first rabbi to lead a national ticket in Argentina.

Buenos Aires city Mayor Mauricio Macri, who is running against President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of the Victory Front party, tapped Bergman to lead the party list.

Bergman, the senior rabbi of the traditional Congregacion Israelita Argentina, is the founder of Active Memory, a group that demonstrated every Monday for a decade seeking justice for the victims of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center.

In July 2011, he handily won his Legislature seat with 45 percent of the vote.

Before that election, Bergman told JTA that he became involved in politics because Argentinian society is “in a deep crisis of values,” adding, “I believe that Torah can also be taught in the Legislature.”

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.