Mexico’s new “Ir HaTorah” breaks ground amid fanfare and celebration
Yochonon Donn, Mexico City
The bochurim, grasping their yarmulkes as their tzitzis spun around as if to the beat, were indistinguishable from their counterparts in New York and London. The little girls, dressed in traditional frum clothes, raced down the hallways as children do all over the world during long seudos.
Except that they were speaking Spanish, the language I had until now associated with cabbies, grocery workers, and cleaning help.
Make place, Lakewood and Bnei Brak. The hallowed title of “Ir HaTorah,” sparingly applied to cities that are exclusively made up of bnei Torah, is preparing to jump to the Spanish speaking world.
Mexico City took a major step forward on Sunday toward building its long-planned community that is centered around a yeshivah, patterned after Yeshivas Ponevezh, and described in a publicity video as “Lakewood de América Latina.” The cornerstone-laying ceremony for the neighborhood that will be called “Kiryat Hayeshivah,” which was launched with an emotion-laden siyum haShas made jointly by 38 of the local kollel yungeleit, attracted rabbanim, journalists, and music stars from around the world.
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