Along with their country’s first female President elect, Costa Ricans will now have a Jewish Vice President as well.
Luis Liberman, a former banker and well known financier, is to become the country’s third Jew in the high ranking position.
He ran with Laura Chinchilla, a social conservative, who won the elections on Sunday.
The son of Polish immigrants and grandson of Costa Rica’s first mohel, Liberman is a close friend of Chabad’s Rabbi Hershel Spalter of San Jose.
“He was our very first supporter,” Rabbi Spalter, in Costa Rica since 1989, told Lubavitch.com. Spalter maintains a warm friendship with Liberman, a traditional Jew, who in fact, “celebrated his own grandson’s bris on election day.”
Though many Jews have served in government in Costa Rica, it is the first time a Jew will occupy this position.
Spalter is confident that Lieberman will be a credit to his country’s Jewish community (population 3,000).
“I hope to make the Jewish community proud,” Liberman told Rabbi Spalter when he was nominated for the position.
hopefully he will help both the jews and the country…
2 previous vice presidents, a lady ombudsman and one president of the senate were jewish. and r.grynspan was acting prsident mady times during her vice presidency.
he is not the first jewish VP but the third, the first one was Rebecca Grynspan 1994-1998, the second one Luis Fishman 2002-2006,and he was running for president this elections wich he lost with only the 4% of the votes.
Congratulations!
This is a credit to the shliach there, Rabbi Heshy Spalter.
He has an incredible and toichendike effect on people there, even though the “Rabbi” there, named Malitchis (Malicious) or something like that, tries to destroy him every day.
Vechaasher ya’anu oisoi, kein yirbeh vechain yifroitz. You have to see it to believe it.
May Hashem continue to bless him and his rebbetzin with hatzlachah.
GO COSTA RICA!!!!!!!!!