Moisés Kaiman

Rabbi Moisés (Moshe) Kaiman (1913 – 22 January 2012) was the Rabbi for the Jewish Community of Monterrey, Mexico from 1944 until his death in 2012.[1] Besides his rabbinical duties, he acted as a liaison between the local Jewish Community and the city's religious and political figures. He was a contributor to several newspapers and published six books.

Moisés Kaiman
Born1913
Szczuczyn, Poland
DiedJanuary 22, 2012
Monterrey, México
OccupationRabbi
Spouse(s)Sarah Dublin

Biography

Early life

Born in Szczuczyn, Poland in an observant Jewish family, he was the son of a loving mother and a father known for his knowledge and oratory. At age 13, he was accepted into the Rabbinical Seminary in Bialystock, which meant leaving his home and family in order to pursue a career as a Rabbi. According to anecdotes, his teachers and classmates used to call him "Moshe the sage". At age 18 he graduated and received the title of Rabbi.

World War II

Rabbi Kaiman fled Europe during World War II, which left a strong mark on him: his parents and siblings, as his wife's family were murdered by the Nazis at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Cuba

In 1941, Rabbi Kaiman arrived to Cuba, where he was hired as a Rabbi. His children were born while he worked there. A Jewish friend from his hometown of Szczuszyn convinced him to move to the city of Monterrey, Mexico, to work as the Rabbi of the small local Jewish Community. In 1944, he arrived to Monterrey.

Monterrey

Rabbi Kaiman was the religious guide of the Monterrey Jewish community from 1944 until his death. Given the small size and limited resources of the community, he did not only perform the duties of Rabbi, but had to take on multiple other tasks including Hazzan, Mohel, Shochet, teacher, etc. He was the Rabbi of Monterrey for 68 years, making him the longest serving Rabbi in the world. He became a Mexican citizenship in 1993.

His spiritual work was not limited to the Jewish Community. Since his arrival he formed a cordial relationship with members of other religions and the local community in general, and promoted peaceful coexistence and inter-religious dialog. He kept an "open door" policy and received visitors from all religions on a daily basis. He formed a very close friendship with Archbishop and Cardinal Adolfo Suárez Rivera, who referred to him as "brother". He maintained friendly ties with his successor Cardinal Francisco Robles, who is now Archbishop of Guadalajara. He was part of the committee that received Pope John Paul II on both of his visits to the city and received a thank you note from the Vatican for the Hebrew Bible he gave the Pope as a present.

Between 1993 and 2006 he wrote a popular weekly column "Desde la Sinagoga" (From the Synagogue) in a local newspaper El Norte with advice on daily life. From 2007 to 2009 he wrote "Cartas de la Sinagoga" (Letters from the Synagogue) for the same newspaper. He also collaborated with El Porvenir and El Diario de Monterrey, and for the New York-based Algemeiner Journal.

Published works

Rabbi Kaiman authored six books:

  • Consejos bíblicos para la familia Mexicana (Biblical Advice for the Mexican Family)
  • ¿Cuál es el buen camino? (What is the Good Road?)
  • ¿Quién no quiere vivir bien? (Who Doesn't Want to Live Well?)
  • La estrella de David (The Star of David)
  • Amarás a tu prójimo como a ti mismo (Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself)
  • Todos somos hijos de un solo Dios (We are all Children of the Same God)

Awards
  • Medalla al Mérito Diego de Montemayor (Shield of Merit Diego de Montemayor), given by the City of Monterrey in 1993.
  • Medalla al Mérito Cívico Presea Estado de Nuevo León (Shield of Civic Merit State of Nuevo León), given by the State Government in 2005.
  • A plaza in Parque Fundidora bears his name since 2009 as an initiative of the Consejo Interreligioso de Nuevo León (Nuevo León Inter-religious Council).
  • Decano del Consejo Interreligioso del Gobierno del Estado de Nuevo León (Dean of the Inter-religious Council of the Government of the State of Nuevo León) [2]

Bibliography

Reconocen al Rabino Moisés Kaiman. Por su ecumenismo, dedican plaza del Parque Fundidora a líder judío. El Norte, Monterrey N.L., 15 de diciembre 2009. Sección Vida. Pág. 14

En memoria del Rabino Moisés Kaiman, que su recuerdo sea una bendición http://gustoporlahistoria.com/2009/12/08/homenaje-al-rabino-moises-kaiman/

Recuerdan su fe, amor y sabiduría http://www.elnorte.com/vida/articulo/670/1339992/

gollark: Oh no, typing.
gollark: The install is not that hard:- set correct keyboard layout- connect to WiFi- synchronize date/time- partition disks- format partitions- mount filesystems to /mnt or whatever- pick mirrors (kind of optional)- install packages (`base`, `linux`, probably `nano`, `dhcpcd` or whatever)- generate `/etc/fstab`- chroot into `/mnt`- set time zone- set locale- set hostname, add entries to `/etc/hosts`- set root password- install bootloader
gollark: Your awful OS, yes.
gollark: All of them do as far as I know, even just to set passwords and stuff.
gollark: Not true. Lots of them require manual intervention.

References
  1. "Local | Despiden a rabino". El Porvenir. Archived from the original on 2012-01-24. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
  2. http://www.nl.gob.mx/?P=leerarticulo&ArtOrder=ReadArt&Article=66461
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