Argentina: President 'Adopts' Young Man In Centuries-Old Custom

Argentina's President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said she had a "magical moment" when she adopted a young man as part of an old custom brought to Argentina by European immigrants.

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Kirchner shared photos from a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony on her blog and described "adopting" a young Jewish man named Yair Tawil. According to reports, he is the seventh son of his family.

Argentina's presidents since 1907 have been adopting — symbolically, anyway — the seventh children as part of a custom brought over by Russian immigrants, according to The Guardian newspaper. That custom over time has been linked over time to a centuries-old legend that the seventh son is supposedly cursed to become a werewolf on every full moon after his 13th birthday unless he is adopted by another family.

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Kirchner never referenced the werewolf myth in her blog about the ceremony, but said in a series of tweets the moment was "magical" and that the Tawils are a "marvelous family."

The Argentinian presidential practice of adopting godchildren has traditionally involved Catholic-born kids, but that was changed by decree in 2009. Under the country's law, seventh children adopted by the president receive a gold medal and an education scholarship until they turn 21. Last Tuesday's ritual was the first time someone of the Jewish faith was adopted by a president. Yair's parents, Shlomo and Nehama Tawil, had first written a letter asking that their seventh son be adopted in 1993, when he was born, reported the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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— Erik Ortiz