A year in as leader, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, this mega-project politician, faces corona — an upheaval as big as any in the holy city’s history
Tension chased emotion across his face, and then his powerful voice filled the atrium. “Baruch atah Hashem…”, he sang the last of the Sheva Brachos to the melody used by his ancestors, chazzanim in Salonika, Greece. The glass was broken, Lion boomed a short Mazal Tov speech, and the mayor’s big Jewish heart and cantorial voice disappeared – replaced by the CEO’s drive that he’s brought to managing the capital’s fight against the deadly virus.
That wedding was only one of many worldwide as Jewish families try to salvage happiness from the destruction of corona, but it’s also key to understanding the many worlds of Moshe Lion.
He’s a successful Israeli entrepreneur, yet he’s presided over a range of state-sector agencies; he’s a bureaucrat, yet he loves to get behind a microphone to sing; he’s a Likud insider, yet he mixes comfortably with all sectors of the chareidi world, from chassidim to Shas.
But if that moving scene exemplifies Jerusalem’s current religious-friendly administration, there’s another one that could as well come to define Moshe Lion’s tenure in City Hall.
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