Jews in Mexico are building a so-called 'City of Torah' for young observant Jewish families and students who cannot afford an apartment in the capital.
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Ciudad de la Tora is being built on an area that was purchased outside the Ixtapan de la Salle town, 120 km (70 miles) south of Mexico City.
Another reason for establishing the new city is the situation in the capital, which boasts Mexicos' largest Jewish community. Jewish residents there say their children are afraid to leave their homes lest they become targets of antisemitic attacks.
Some 120 houses are to be constructed on the property, all of which have already been registered for by Jewish families.
The community held a cornerstone laying ceremony for the community on Sunday. Some 5,000 residents of Mexico City attended the ceremony, as well as rabbis and Jewish leaders from the United States and prominent Haredi singers.
The new town draws inspiration from Rabbi Aharon Kotler, who brought several yeshiva students from New York to study in Lakewood, New Jersey, in the 1940s and turned it into a hub of Orthodox Judaism.
Developers plan to build a yeshiva on the site, Torat Eliyahu, and dorms for students to live in.
"In contrast to other large Jewish cities, this one is being built by Mexican Jews themselves," Rabbi Yehoshua Gretzolin, the head of Torat Eliyahu, said. "The new community will have representatives of both the Sephardi and Ashkenazi communities, and members of all Jewish communities in Mexico will live here."
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