How patron Moshe Tussietransformed his hometowninto a Torah citadel
Yochonon Donn, Mexico City
Back in 1975, a visionary named Moshe Tussie realized that the only way for a yeshivah day school to succeed in Mexico would be to import a kollel along with it. That first endeavor turned into an unquenchable drive for the communal askan, who today has dozens of kollelim under his umbrella in a country few imagined as a Torah citadel
The main boulevard of Mexico City’s upscale Polanco neighborhood feels almost like Thirteenth Avenue in Boro Park, but in a Spanish version. Mothers push strollers along its leafy sidewalk strips while kollel yungeleit, seforim tucked under their arms, hurry past the high-rise office buildings and gleaming storefront showcases.
We’ve been hearing a lot about the planned Ir HaTorah that will be built in Ixtapan, a suburb about 70 miles away. The groundbreaking was a watershed moment for the century-old community that now boasts about 45,000 frum Yidden — a growth spurt its leaders could never have foreseen.
“We didn’t go from A to B but from A to Z,” says Chacham David Shwekey, the founding rosh kollel who arrived here 45 years ago fresh out of the Mirrer Yeshiva in Flatbush, referring to Mexico’s burgeoning community, which boasts a network of more than four dozen kollelim and a vigorous student body of nearly 600 homegrown yungeleit.
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