The Curious Case Of Javier Milei’s Catholic Faith And Love Of Judaism
JERUSALEM — Meeting Pope Francis this past Sunday, Argentina’s maverick right-wing libertarian President Javier Milei had a not-so-secret reason for celebration.
Just a few hours prior to the meeting at the Vatican, two dual citizens of his country and Israel — held hostage by Hamas since Oct. 7 — were rescued in a daring mission by IDF commandos from a building in Rafah.
Milei’s cause for celebration was compounded by the warm welcome he received during his whirlwind three-day state visit to Israel just a few days before. Over the weekend, videos went viral showing the 53-year-old economist-turned-politician sporting a kippah at the Western Wall here and dancing to the rhythm of “Am Israel Chai” (“The Jewish People Live”).
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The newly elected president, who was born Catholic, with his slogan “!Viva la libertad, carajo” (“Long live liberty, damn it!”), wept as he prayed at the Western Wall, part of a massive retaining structure built by Herod the Great 2,000 years ago when he revamped the Second Temple. To the consternation of his phalanx of security guards, the Argentine president was then lifted on a litter with great fanfare by a group of Jewish worshippers. The raucous celebration continued as Milei was cheered by the throngs of celebrants.
The crowd was marking the onset of the lunar month of Adar Alef, considered an auspicious time of renewed happiness capped by the often-drunken celebration of the festival of Purim, when costumed celebrants read the Scroll of Esther. But they were also marking the visit of one of Israel’s strongest supporters.
Support for Israel
When arriving here last week, Melei pledged to Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz the following: “My plan is to move the (Argentine) embassy (from Tel Aviv) to west Jerusalem.”
Other nations with an embassy in Jerusalem include the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo and Papua New Guinea.
The Jerusalem Peace Institute further noted: “Argentine President Javier Milei calls for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem by demolishing Al Aqsa (mosque) in order to bring the Messiah.”
While Milei never uttered those words, he did quote an apocryphal story from the Talmud’s Tractate Makot, pages 24-24b, whereby Rabbi Akiva and his fellow sages were looking down at the ruins of Herod’s Temple and saw a fox walking through the place that was once the Holy of Holies.
As the rabbis cried, Akiva smiled and laughed. Asked how he could, Akiva retold the two interlinked prophecies of Uriah, who foresaw the day when Jerusalem would be destroyed, and Zachariah, who saw the day it would be rebuilt.
Muslims believe the Haram ash-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) compound — which includes the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque — is the third holiest site in Islam after the ones in Mecca and Medina, both in Saudi Arabia. Any initiative to build a third temple there would like trigger a vast religious war.
Flirting with Judaism
Milei, despite his Catholic upbringing, claims to be a student of the Torah the past few years, even suggesting he may convert to Judaism.
Milei, who describes himself as an “anarchist-capitalist,” was raised in a Catholic family but studies the Hebrew Bible and feels a deep affinity for Judaism and Israel. After his election in November 2023, he prayed at the tomb in New York City of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, the last leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch Chassidic movement.
In a further sign of Milei’s abiding interest in Judaism, he has appointed his personal rabbi, Axel Wahnish, who accompanied him on the visit, as Argentina’s next ambassador to Israel.
Last Thursday, while touring to a Gaza Strip border kibbutz that was devastated by Hamas’ massacre, Nir Oz, Milei decried what he called the “21st century Nazism” of terrorism and antisemitism. Nearly a quarter of the kibbutz’s residents were gunned down or taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Milei was accompanied by Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Ofelia Roitman, a 77-year-old Argentinean-Israeli who had been released from Hamas captivity in a hostage trade.
Several kibbutzim near the Gaza border have sizable Argentinean populations, going back half a century to a wave of immigration to Israel by Jews keen to escape the Latin American country’s military junta and economic chaos.
More than 20 of the hostages Hamas members seized that day hold Argentinean passports, including Luis Harr, 70, and Fernando Simon Marman, 61, both rescued this past Sunday.
The papal meeting
Milei’s meeting with the pope had also been a much-anticipated event. Milei had called the pope names in the past, saying Francis was a “communist” and “an imbecile.”
All that seemed forgotten at the Vatican. Milei was there at a ceremony where the pope declared Mama Antula a saint, the first Argentine-born woman to be bestowed that honor.
It also marked the first meeting between the Argentine pope and Milei,
“You cut your hair!” Francis joked as Milei embraced him — a reference to the president’s unruly locks.
“One of the things that I’ve come to understand, among other things,” Milei told Italian broadcaster Rete 4, “is that the pope is the Argentine who is the most important person in (my) country.”
Gil Zohar was born in Toronto and moved to Jerusalem in 1982. He is a journalist writing for The Jerusalem Post, Segula magazine and other publications. He’s also a professional tour guide who likes to weave together the Holy Land’s multiple narratives.