MEXICO CITY (AP) — By mid-2024, Claudia Sheinbaum will most likely become Mexico’s first female president. She would also be its first leader with a Jewish background in a country that’s home to nearly 100 million Catholics.On June 2, voters will choose a new president, 628 congressmen and thousands of local positions — Mexico’s largest election ever, according to the National Electoral Institute.
Sheinbaum, a former mayor of Mexico City and the governing party’s candidate, has kept a comfortable lead in all polls against opposition candidates Xóchitl Gálvez and Jorge Álvarez Máynez.
What role has religion played in the ongoing campaign that will elect the successor to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador? The answers are nuanced.
Does Sheinbaum identify herself as Jewish?
The 61-year-old candidate has approached the question with caution: While she is of Jewish ancestry, she is not religiously observant.
Her four grandparents were Jews who immigrated from Lithuania and Bulgaria. She was born in Mexico City and her parents did not raise her under any religion. According to her campaign team, Sheinbaum considers herself a woman of faith, but she is not religiously affiliated.
Being Jewish can be an identity, but not necessarily a religious one, said Tessy Schlosser, director of the Jewish Documentation and Research Center of Mexico.
And Jewish identity is multifaceted, Schlosser said. It can be aligned with history, society, spirituality, geography and ideology. Even within the same Jewish community, for example, there may be conflicting views on Zionism or genealogy.
“For some, if you are born to a Jewish mother, you are Jewish,” Schlosser said. “For others, if you are born to a father. For others, if you have a grandfather. So, even in terms of lineage or racialization there are many debates.”
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Sheinbaum, a former mayor of Mexico City and the governing party’s candidate, has kept a comfortable lead in all polls against opposition candidates Xóchitl Gálvez and Jorge Álvarez Máynez.
What role has religion played in the ongoing campaign that will elect the successor to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador? The answers are nuanced.
Does Sheinbaum identify herself as Jewish?
The 61-year-old candidate has approached the question with caution: While she is of Jewish ancestry, she is not religiously observant.
Her four grandparents were Jews who immigrated from Lithuania and Bulgaria. She was born in Mexico City and her parents did not raise her under any religion. According to her campaign team, Sheinbaum considers herself a woman of faith, but she is not religiously affiliated.
Being Jewish can be an identity, but not necessarily a religious one, said Tessy Schlosser, director of the Jewish Documentation and Research Center of Mexico.
And Jewish identity is multifaceted, Schlosser said. It can be aligned with history, society, spirituality, geography and ideology. Even within the same Jewish community, for example, there may be conflicting views on Zionism or genealogy.
“For some, if you are born to a Jewish mother, you are Jewish,” Schlosser said. “For others, if you are born to a father. For others, if you have a grandfather. So, even in terms of lineage or racialization there are many debates.”
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