The Formation of Jewish Institutions in Latin America

1. The Formation of Jewish Institutions in Latin America • Religious Organizations • Burial Societies • Synagogues • Class-based Organizations • Mutual Aid Societies • Political Organizations • Cultural Organizations • Zionist

2. Argentina • Until 1889, most Jews in Argentina lived in rural settlements sponsored by the ICA • In 1895 when 3 out of 4 adults in Buenos Aires were foreign-born, only 13% of Jews lived in urban areas-altogether 7,000 Jews lived in Argentina • By 1935, only 11% of Jews in Argentina lived in rural areas • In 1889 when 130 Ashkenazi families docked in Buenos Aires—soon joined by others living in the countryside as well as recent immigrants

3. The Formation of the Kehillah • Basic organizational institution in Argentina. Came from Poland and medieval Europe where communities governed themselves through a council of elders, usually controlled by wealthier Jews • Provided basic social and religious services and became the central provider of aid to the poor. • Tended to polarize the community along class lines—especially true in Buenos Aires • Most orthodox groups, especially the Chassids, avoided joining the organization • The Kehillah in Buenos Aires formed in 1895 to provide burial services—known as the Chevrah Kaduscha Ashkenazi until 1949 when it became the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA)

4. Where the Jewish Community Lived • Initially, Jews tended to congregate near the downtown, in the Plaza Lavalle. This became the home of the Templo Libertad, the place where peddlers and small shops abounded, and also where prostitution became prevalent.

5. Buenos Aires, Plaza Lavalle and the Teatro Colón

6. Movement of the Jewish Barrio

7. The Establishment of Jewish Cemeteries • Prior to the purchase of land for Jewish cemeteries, Jews were usually buried in plots designated for “disidentes” or non-Catholics • In 1900 the Moroccan Jewish community purchased land south of Buenos Aires in Avellaneda, and close to it the Jewish Cemetery owned by a white slave society opened up as their members could not be buried in other Jewish cemeteries • The Chevra Kaduscha petitioned in 1896 for permission to buy land. First property purchased in 1910 in Liniers, at the western edge of the city. Another Kehillah in the province opened a Jewish cemetery in Lomas de Zamora in 1912 and the following year Sephardic Jews also purchased land in Lomas de Zamora to bury their dead. • Why such interest in cemeteries? • What are the costs of burial in Argentina?

8. Argentina’s Most Famous Cemetery, Recoleta

9. Other Jewish Institutions Supported by the Kehillah • At the same time that the Kehillah was founded, the first mutual aid society, the Bikur Joilim was founded in 1894 • Sociedad Ezrah followed in 1900. The gathering of funds to build a Jewish hospital became the explicit purpose of the Ezrah . The hospital opened in 1916 • 1916 the Liga Israelita Argentina contra la Tuberculosis began to provide free medical care for patients, and they owned a rest home in the mountains of Córdoba province where they welcomed non-Jews as well as Jews • Soprotimis, the Sociedad de Protección a los Inmigrantes Israelitas, founded in 1922, met Jewish immigrants at the port and helped them get settled • That same year a communal kitchen called the “Cocina Popular” opened to feed Jewish indigents without costs to them.

10. Economic Depression in Argentina • Began just as large number of Jews had recently arrived in Argentina • Argentine economy greatly impacted by World War I • Although Argentina neutral, it encountered great difficulty sending its major exports to Europe: beef, wheat, mutton • Coal miner’s strike in Great Britain disastrous for Argentina. At that point Argentina had no coal mines, and had only recently discovered petroleum. Coal often arrived in Argentina as ballast for merchant ships. Lack of fossil fuels made it difficult to adapt to the economic stress, and the rate of unemployment and poverty soared. • Jewish mutual aid societies confronted by constantly increased requests for aid. Almost 1700 poor families approached the Chevrah Kaduscha looking for work, food, or shelter. • By 1927 people began requesting aid to leave Argentina.—Just before the world wide depression created even more economic distress, and the economy did not improve until the mid 1930s.

11. Templo Libertad—Buenos Aires’ First Synagogue-founded 1897

12. Early Jewish Political Organizations • 1906 Socialist-Zionist (Poalie Zion) Party formed of politically aware Jewish workers • Opposed the authoritarian policies of the Jewish Colonization Association • Many members deported in 1910 after new laws enacted to control foreign Anarchists and agitators • Nevertheless Jews joined in the Anarchist movement and published in the party’s newspaper La Protesta- • Anarchist Jews involved in protests of bakers • Bundists formed in 1907. Strong supporters of Yiddish in Jewish culture as opposed to Socialists who opposed the generalized use of Yiddish • Eventually the dual issues of Zionism and Yiddish tore the Jewish working class apart, and divided it from the more conservative Kehillah

13. Definition of Bundist • The General Jewish Workers' Union of Lithuania, Poland and Russia was organized in 1897 at the inaugural congress the Jewish Social-Democratic groups in Vilna. It was an association mainly of petty-bourgeois Jewish artisans of Russia's western regions. • During the First World War (1914-18) the Bundists took an aggressively patriotic stand. In 1917 the Bund came out in support of the Russian Provisional Government. During the foreign military intervention and civil war in Russia, the group's leaders aided the white armies, though the members of the union were agitating in favor of collaboration with the Soviet government. In March 1921 the Bund concluded to dissolve itself and some of its members joined the Russian Communist Party.

14. Panama • Site of entry for conversos during colonial period, then in 19th century, new groups began to arrive from communities of Caribbean Jews from Jamaica and Ashkenazi Jews from Central Europe. • Formed first synagogue Kol Shearith Israel in 1876. • The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 brought new groups of Jews • Second synagogue founded in 1933 by Sephardic Jews • Two presidents of Panama were Jewish: Max Delvalle vp and later (1964-68) served as pres. Eric Delvalle Maduro became president (1985-88)