First Rabbi Sworn Into Argentine Parliament With Tanach
Image by wikicommons
Rabbi Sergio Bergman was sworn in to Argentina’s National Parliament on a Tanach.
Bergman, the first rabbi to take office as a national legislator, wore a colorful yarmulke and swore the oath of office Wednesday before “God, the motherland and the sacred scriptures of the Bible, the Tanach” in an original and unprecedented formula that he prepared.
Image by wikicommons
Argentina’s 127 newly elected legislators were sworn in Wednesday at an opening ceremony in the Lower House of the National Parliament.
The parliamentary rabbi, whose PRO Party won 34.5 percent of the vote in parliamentary elections in late October, is believed to be the only rabbi elected to a national parliament outside of Israel.
Bergman is also the senior rabbi of Argentina’s oldest congregation, Congregacion Israelita Argentina, which marked its 150th year last month with a series of celebrations, including the launching of the rabbi’s book about Pope Francis. His book of religious essays titled “A Gospel According to Pope Francis,” praises Jorge Bergoglio, the former Argentine bishop who became pope earlier this year, as a religious leader, social worker and political statesman, and was presented at the synagogue by Bishop Victor Manuel Fernandez, dean of the Catholic University of Argentina.
Bergman, 51, is the author of five books and is recognized internationally. He founded a network of Jewish schools and educational projects that includes a gay alliance and a rural farm. In May, he received the Micah Award from the World Union for Progressive Judaism for his commitment to social justice at the organization’s convention in Jerusalem.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
