B"H

Present-Day Argentina
In 1983, Raul Alfonsin was democratically elected as president of Argentina. Alfonsin enjoyed the support of the Jewish population and placed many Jews in high positions.

Carlos Saul Menem was elected president in 1989, his Arab origin and support of Peron worried the Jews, however, he did not follow in Peron’s footsteps. Menem appointed many Jews to his government, visited Israel a number of times and offered to help mediate the Israeli-Arab peace process. After a Jewish cemetery was desecrated in Buenos Aires, Menem immediately expressed his outrage to the Jewish community and, within a week, apprehended those responsible.

President Menem also ordered the release of files relating to Argentina’s role in serving as a haven for Nazi war criminals. A law against racism and anti-Semitism passed in the Argentine parliament in 1988.

Gran Templo de Paso, Buenos Aires
Despite Menem’s sympathetic policies and a democratic regime, the Jews of Argentina were targets of two major terrorist attacks. The Israeli Embassy was bombed in April 1992, killing 32 people. In 1994, the Jewish community headquarters (AMIA) in Buenos Aires was bombed, killing 87 people and wounding more than 100 others. The community’s archives were destroyed in the bombing and the event left many emotionally scarred. Though Iran was suspected of involvement, with the help of Argentine police, the culprits have never been found. In 2005, an Argentine prosecutor said the AMIA bombing was carried out by a 21-year-old Lebanese suicide bomber who belonged to Hezbollah.

Jews are active in all sectors of Argentine society and many are prominent figures in the arts, film, music and journalism. Some influential Argentine Jews include: writer Jacobo Timmerman, owner of a local newspaper who campaigned for human rights; Rene Epelbaum, who founded a protest group for mothers of political prisoners; pianist Daniel Barenboim, and Cesar Milstein, the 1984 Nobel Prize recipient in medicine.

Throughout Argentina’s history, Jews have held a large stake in the country’s fur, textile, chemical, electronics and auto industries. Both Banco Mercantile and Banco Comercial were founded by Jews. On the other hand, Jews are still absent from the high ranks of the military, foreign ministry and judiciary.

Poverty in Argentina is on the rise, affecting Argentina’s middle class, which is losing its small and medium sized businesses. Many Jewish business owners have lost their shops and are unable to pay membership or tuition fees to local Jewish institutions and synagogues. These communal institutions now face declining membership and budgets to maintain their activities and services. A much larger percent of the bugets of these oranizations now has to go to emergancy economic relief. In response to the economic decline and lack of funds, the Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency are training new, young lay leaders to rebuild the community and run the local institutions.

The economic situation has caused about 10,000 Jews to leave Argentina in the last few years. About 6,000 emigrated to Israel. Jewish community leaders are hoping that the election of a new presdient will bring economic stability and cease emigration .

Jewish Community
Argentina’s Jewish community numbers more than 250,000; of that 200,000 live in Buenos Aires, 20,000 in Rosario, 9,000 in Cordoba and 20,000 in other small, rural communities, including some areas in the Sante Fe province. There are also signifcant numbers of Jews in the cities of Concordia, La Plata, and Mar del Plata. The majority of these Jews are Ashkenazi, about 15 percent are Sephardic. Nearly all the Jews speak Spanish — Ladino and Yiddish are rarely spoken. The community is not growing and many young Jews are immigrating to other countries.

Argentina’s Jews have numerous Jewish community organizations. The DAIA (Delegacion de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas) was founded in 1939 as the political arm of the Jewish community. The DAIA protects Jewish rights and represents the community in the government. Another organization, the AMIA, originally an Ashkenazic mutual-aid society that provided health and human services to Argentina’s Ashkenazi population, now serves the country's entire Jewish community.

Most of Argentina’s synagogues are traditional, lying somewhere between Conservative and Orthodox. Buenos Aires has 50 Orthodox synagogues, 21 Conservative synagogues and a few Reform synagogues. Most of the synagogues built before World War II are still in use today.

ACILBA, Buenos Aires
The Conservative movement became strong in Argentina in 1958 after Rabbi Marshall Meyer took control over Communidad Bet El, the country’s first Conservative synagogue, located in Buenos Aires. His enthusiasm attracted many young adults. Meyer became involved politically, gathered information about political prisoners and published the material in the newspapers.

President Alfonsin appointed Meyer to a government commission that investigated the disappearances of Jews in the military regime. In 1984, Marshall left the community and moved to New York, where he currently serves as the Rabbi for B’nei Jeshrun, another vanguard synagogue in the Conservative movement.

Today, Communidad Bet El also has a day school and attendance on a regular Saturday morning reaches up to 800 worshipers.

Argentina boasts more than 70 Jewish educational institutions, including kindergartens, day schools, elementary and secondary schools. More than 60% of Jewish Argentine youth attend one of these institutions. In Buenos Aires alone, 17,000 Jewish children study in the Jewish educational system

Communities in other cities also have Jewish social clubs, Sociedad Hebraica for Ashkenazi Jews and Casa Sephardi for Sephardic Jews. Maccabe Sport Federation is also active in Argentina. Plays are performed in Yiddish, Spanish and Hebrew in a number of Jewish theaters across the country.

There are also 18 Jewish cemeteries located in Argentina, of those seven are still active. One can find Jewish cemeteries in Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Parana, La Plata, Colinas del Tiempo, Rosario and Sante Fe. La Tablada cemetery in Buenos Aires has been vandalized in anti-Semitic attacks in 1994. Bronze objects were stolen from more than 150 graves.

While Argentina's Jewish population has many community outlets, one quarter of the population is living below the poverty line. Even well-educated young people are finding it next to impossible to find a job. There are groups in Argentina trying to irradicate this problem. Alianza Solidaria (started by the JDC) is an organization trying to fight poverty among Jews. The Tzedaka foundation is another organization that devotes its efforts solely to helping the impoverished Argentinian Jews.

Even those wealthier Jews who try to help the poor have been unable. In 1998, Banco Patricios collapsed, taking with it millions of Jewish dollars. The Banco Mayo also failed to help the situation as it too went bankrupt in 1999. Because of these circumstances, many once wealthy Jewish organizations are now unable to give funding to charity groups. AMIA, a major benefactor for social programs, is now trying to pay off a $26 million debt.

Buenos Aires
Much of Buenos Aires Jewish life centers around the Once district (pronounced on-say). One of Once’s well known synagogues is Yesod Hadat, founded in 1932 by Jews from Aleppo, Syria. It is located on Lavalle 2449.

Libertad
Once also has a Jewish cultural center, which hosts concerts, lectures and a high school, located at Sarmiento 2233. Other Jewish clubs include Hacoaj and C.A.S.A. Sefardita have a range of sports and cultural activities.

Argentina’s oldest synagogue, Congregacion Israelita de la Republica Argentina, is known as "Libertad" because it is located at Libertad 733 in Buenos Aires. The Libertad was dedicated in 1932 and houses a small Jewish museum, which a good collection of photographs and Jewish ritual objects.

The Argentine branch of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical School, opened in 1962 in Buenos Aires and trains Conservative Rabbis from all over Argentina and Latin America. In 1992, the first woman was ordained by the seminary. The seminary acts as a center for interfaith dialogue, hosts a high school and a graduate school and offers adult education lessons and seminars for the community.

Buenos Aires has one of the world’s four remaining Yiddish daily newspapers, others are found in Paris, Tel Aviv and Birobidjan, in Siberia.

Next Page