Father Piotr at synagogue celebration

The Friday evening prayer in Eshel Avraham Conservative Synagogue in Beer Sheba had a festive character because of the twenty fifth anniversary of the rabbinic ordination of Rabbi Mauricio Balter, who is a dear friend of the kehilla in Beer Sheba.

The traditional Kabbalat Shabbat prayer was rich in testimonies given by some of the members of the synagogue, who expressed many good wishes for the future.

Rabbi Mauricio Balter was born in Uruguay. He received an MA in Jewish thought from the University of Haifa. He received his rabbinic ordination in 1991 from the Seminario Rabbínico Latinoamericano. He attended the prestigious Educators Graduate Program at the Melton Center for Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and continued his educational leadership training at the Leatid program in Argentina. He was a Rabbi in Argentina for fourteen years in Tucuman and Salta (Northern Argentina) and at the Or Hadash synagogue in Buenos Aires. He was also the first director of the Masorti Movement in Argentina. He immigrated to Israel in 1995 and was rabbi of the Kiryat Bialik community for fifteen years. Since 2010, he serves as the Rabbi of Kehilat Eshel Avraham in Beer Sheba. He is a member of the executive committee of the Masorti movement in Israel and co-president of the Rabbinical Assembly of Israel.

Father Piotr represented the Catholics of Beer Sheba during the celebration. He and Rabbi Mauricio are members of the Inter-religious Council of Southern Israel, and privately they are good friends.

We wish Rabbi Mauricio God's blessing for many years of service in the future and pray for him and his family.

(The photo was filmed at one of the Inter-religious Council meetings)