Jews of Argentina Facing Level of Brutal Home Invasion Anti-Semitic Attack

Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

This is the Ashkenazi rabbi of Argentina
which means his roots were from Germany and central and eastern Europe.
His language would be Yiddish, a mixture of German and Hebrew.  Of course
he would also speak Spanish in Argentina.  

Today we see much anti-Semitism coming from Argentina against the Jews living there. I am writing this after reading about a home invasion of anti-Semites who beat up the owner, a rabbi which put him in the hospital with a very serious injury from a violent beating!   His wife was tied up during this attack which ended with robbing the couple as well.   Anti-Semitism, when it injures Jews, has gone way too far and it's time for a halt as it has been going on far too long.  Illogical hatred, picking on a people, bullying, only gets worse and worse like a plague. Every day one reads about it happening somewhere in the world, usually in Europe, and now in South America as well.

 It was the Jews who were tortured by Spain and Portugal that made it to Argentina in the 16th century called Marranos, the hidden Jews.  Today we call such people the Anusim.  They were from Jewish families living in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition who had refused to submit to forced Christian conversion, so had to leave the country or face death.  They went to Portugal only to face the same consequences about a year later.  Now, they had converted, but wanted to and continued to practice what Judaism they could, which meant their work times, holiday celebration and diet. These Jews were ultimately absorbed into the Christian population.
                                                                       

1889, 130  Jewish families arrived by ship SS Weser to Argentina from Russia

By the 19th century, the first groups of Jewish traders came from the countries of western and central Europe.  The first Jewish community in Argentina in Buenos Aires as founded in 1862.  The main group of Eastern European Jews began only in the 1880s at a time many also made aliyah to Palestine while  others opted for the USA.   This is because conditions were so bad in Eastern Europe with many pogroms going on against Jews, especially in Russia.

Below, how Jews had to defend themselves in the colonies.  You tube listed below about it.
                                                                       

Baron  Maurice de Hirsch (1831-1896)
German Jew, born in Munich, Germany, settled in Paris,railroad builder,
philanthropist Worked towards improving the economic situation of Eastern European Jewry, founded schools for them, opposed by Russian government so went elsewhere.  With L2 million capital, all from his own pocket, set up the Jewish Colonization Association  (ICA ) to establish Jewish agricultural colonies in Argentina and elsewhere.
 

In 1889, 136 families arrived from the Ukraine with the intention of setting on the land.  In 1891, Baron de Hirsch's plan for the mass settlement of Jews on the soil of Argentina was initiated.  In spite of the large amount of capital invested, the scheme was not successful.  We usually hear of this happening in Palestine, not in the diaspora.  It was Hirsch's hope to fight against anti-Semitism. 
                                                                       

Jews from Europe in Argentina 1901 

Groups of Jews immigrated to Argentina increased after World War I.  A large Spanish-speaking Sephardi immigration from Mediterranean lands was also stimulated by the similarity of language, naturally.  240,000 Jewish immigrants entered Argentina from 1881 to 1951.

"Argentina kept its doors open to Jewish immigration until 1938, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in Germany began to take more actions against Jews, and tensions rose across Europe in preparation for war. The government imposed new regulations on immigration; it was severely curtailed at a time of increasing persecution of Jews and the outbreak of World War II, when Jews sought a safe haven from the Nazis."  I believe most Catholic countries asked for papers showing they 
were Catholic or they couldn't enter, like baptism papers.  


In 1940, there were 25 Jewish colonies in Argentina with 28,000 settlers, but during the economic boom of the 1940s,  many moved to the towns, and by 1990, few Jews were engaged in cultivating the land.  This is one of the first experiences for Jews, as usually in Europe they were not allowed to buy land at all, and thus become farmers.

Nazis moved to Argentina after WWII. " Even those accused of the most heinous crimes, such as Ante Pavelic (whose Croatian regime murdered hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies), Dr. Josef Mengele (whose cruel experiments are the stuff of nightmares) and Adolf Eichmann(Adolf Hitler's architect of the Holocaust) were welcomed with open arms. During World War Two, Argentina clearly favored the Axis because of close cultural ties with Germany, Spain, and Italy. This is not surprising, as most Argentines were of Spanish, Italian, or German descent.  It's no wonder then why they have been so active today against Jews.  

In 1990, the Jewish population was 228,000, mostly living in Buenos Aires, with 15,000 in Rosario and 10,000 in Cordova.  Argentina has the largest Sephardi segment in Latin America with about 35,000.

The Jews of Argentina have played an important pat in the development of industry and commerce.  They are probably still very active in this.
                                                                           
As for politics, the Jews here and their connections with other Jews are in the hands of a  delegation of Jewish organizations such as DAIA (Delegacion de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas) a representative body of Argentine Jews, formed in Buenos aires by 11 organizations back in 1934 as a committee to fight anti-Semitism.  It now deals with political matters of common Jewish interest and maintains ties with affiliated Jewish communities in other countries. Every section of Jewry is affiliated.

The central Ashkenazi body is AMIA.     The Vaad ha-Kehillot, the national organization of Jewish communities, coordinates the provincial communities.  
                                                                           

The recent anti-Semitic act " which shocks me to read about this morning, is that

Jewish groups condemn attack after Rabbi Gabriel Davidovich assaulted and wife restrained in Buenos Aires home; attackers shout ‘we know you are AMIA’s rabbi.’ "   To think that the populace of Buenos Aires goes after a rabbi is horrendous.  He is not teaching anything different from the Sephardic rabbi.  It's pure anti-Semitism, picking on the newest member with the smallest congregation  of the Jewish community in their eyes.  They're going after these Jews first, and next will be the DAIA group-the Sephardis.  

"On March 17, 1992 a suicide bomber drove a pickup truck loaded with explosives into the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, completely destroying it and other buildings nearby. Overall, 29 people were killed and hundreds were injured. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing and stated that it was in retaliation for the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary General, Sayed Abbas al-Musawi. When evidence emerged in 1998 suggesting that Iran orchestrated the attack, arrest warrants were issued for six Iranian diplomats, who promptly left Argentina."

"Then, two years later, in July 1994, a truck loaded with explosives drove into the seven-story AMIA building (Argentine Israelite Mutual Association), a focal point of the Jewish community in Buenos Aires. Eighty-five, mostly Jewish people, died and around 300 were injured"

There are 71 Jewish primary and secondary schools in Great Buenos Aires and 27 schools in the provinces.  Argentine Jewry maintains a number of Yiddish cultural institutions although the number of Yiddish speakers has declined in recent decades.  Various Jewish newspapers are published, the largest being La Luz, which appears every two weeks.  

There is considerable Zionist activity.  Emigration to Israel, the U.S. and other Latin American countries and assimilation have led to a drop in the Jewish population over the past 20 years.  

Resource:  https://www.timesofisrael.com/argentina-chief-rabbi-severely-beaten-in-anti-semitic-home-invasion/?fbclid=IwAR38Jpoj1b7TLAOJl5fZ9BvOoKjotavvB_9vGzm_4HFH7UQ9o-Qli5GJdd0
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Antisemitism/Chief-Rabbi-of-Argentina-violently-beaten-in-his-home-581772
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Argentina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1RmhiTFyqc  You tube about colonies-by American with roots
https://wander-argentina.com/jewish-argentina/
https://www.thoughtco.com/why-did-argentina-accept-nazi-criminals-2136579