Victor A Mirelman. - Jewish Buenos Aires, 1890-1939: In Search of an Identity

C opyright 1990 by W ayne S tate U niversity P ress , D etroit , M ichigan 48202.

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M irelman , V ictor A.

J ewish B uenos A ires, 18901930: in search of an identity / V ictor A. M irelman.

p. cm.

I ncludes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-8143-4457-6 (paperback); 978-0-8143-4456-9 (ebook)

1. J ews A rgentina B uenos A ires H istory. 2. B uenos A ires ( Argentina )E thnic relations. 1. Title.

F3001.9.J5M58 1990

982.11 dc20

89-16739

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Acknowledgments

This book was envisioned quite some time ago when researching the sources dealing with the early period of Jewish life in Argentina. First presented as a doctoral dissertation at Columbia University, it is now thoroughly revised. Additional research was conducted to fully develop some chapters and to add new dimensions to the work.

I am grateful to all the Jewish institutions in Buenos Aires mentioned throughout the work for opening their archives to me. Due to the extent of their contents, the archives of the Chevra Keduscha Aschkenasitoday the Jewish Community of Buenos Airesand the Congregacin Israelita, proved to be invaluable. The various Sephardic synagogues and communities provided entrance to their records and to insightful information as well. Many libraries in Buenos Aires, Jerusalem, and New York extended deeply appreciated courtesies to me. Among them the IWO Archives, Biblioteca Nacional, Biblioteca del Congreso, and Biblioteca del Honorable Concejo Deliberante in Buenos Aires; the National and University Library, Central Zionist Archives, and archives of the Sephardic Community in Jerusalem; and the New York Public Library and YIVO archives in New York. Among the scholars who provided useful insights at different stages of the work, I wish to acknowledge Gerson D. Cohen, Zvi Ankori, Ismar Schorsch, Hebert Klein, Haim Avni, and Judith Elkin. For the location of pictures, I am indebted to the Archivos de la Nacin, IWO Institute, Congregacin Israelita, and Martha Wolff. In addition I wish to thank Jewish Social Studies for allowing the bulk of to be reprinted in this book, my friend John Less for designing the map, Michael Lane who edited the book for Wayne State University Press, and Anne M. G. Adamus, its managing editor.

This book owes much to my supportive family. My wife, Rose-Miriam, encouraged me to bring this work to press, and together with our daughters, Yael and Jessica, provided the necessary home atmosphere for it to be completed. Finally, to my parents, Leon and Suzanne Mirelman, who settled as immigrants and flourished in the community described, I dedicate this book in love and gratitude.

Introduction

In 1890 the only Jewish institution a newly arrived Jew could find in Buenos Aires was Congregacin Israelita de la Repblica Argentina (CIRA). It was founded by a group of Jews desirous of holding High Holy Day services in 1862. CIRA was formally organized in 1868, and after 1875 it had its permanent synagogue in Calle Artes (today Carlos Pellegrini), number 351. In 1897 it inaugurated its temple in Libertad Street, facing Plaza Lavalle, a central location in the city of Buenos Aires. At the beginning of the 1890s most members of CIRA were Jews born in Western and Central EuropeFrance, Germany, England, and Italy. Some Moroccan and East European Jews had arrived in Buenos Aires during the 1880s and joined CIRA. However, their numbers remained small. In fact, the whole Jewish population in the country was estimated at 1,500 souls in 1888.

Though assimilated, the Jews grouped around CIRA maintained some type of Jewish identity. Services were held during the Holy Days, and attempted on Sabbaths, though most of the time without the formal quorum of ten males. A society to help the poor and ill was organized at CIRA during the early 1870s. A philanthropic committee was formed in 1881 with the purpose of raising funds for their persecuted coreligionists in Russia. Funeral services according to Jewish rites were held, and the dead were buried at the British Cemetery (Cementerio de los Disidentes). Dietary and Sabbath laws were far from being observed by most members of CIRA. Still, an Italian Jewish doctor, Aquiles Modena, circumcised the newly born males. Henry Joseph, an English businessman who had arrived in Buenos Aires during the late 1850s, officiated as rabbi after receiving a special certificate from the chief rabbi of the French Consistoire, Lazare Isidor, in 1882. Joseph, whose wife converted to Judaism when he was appointed rabbi but whose children were not raised in the Jewish faith, was the most active personality in the small Jewish community of Buenos Aires before 1890. He led religious services, officiated at weddings and other specifically religious rituals, and was always prompt to defend the interests of the Jewish immigrants.

A turning point in Argentine Jewry was effected when the Weser anchored in the port of Buenos Aires in August 1889, bringing 824 Jewish souls from Eastern Europe. This group constituted one of the main antecedents for the creation of the Jewish Colonization Association (JCA) by Baron Maurice de Hirsch in 1891. From 1890 until 1930 the arrival of Jews from Eastern Europe in Argentina was quite a common event. To the few North African Jewish families who had settled in Buenos Aires during the 1880s many more were added during the following four decades. Still, by the end of the century a new source of Jewish immigrants emerged in the form of the Ottoman Empire. Thus, Arabic-speaking Jews from Syriamainly Damascus and Aleppoand Ladino-speaking Jews from Izmir, Constantinople, Salonika, and Rhodes arrived during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Buenos Aires, a cosmopolitan city during this period, accordingly, became cosmopolitan also in a Jewish sense.

Eighteen ninety and 1930 are important turning points for the Jewish community in Argentina. Eighteen ninety marks the beginning, and 1930 the end, of immigration en masse to the country. During 1891 the Moroccan Jews founded their first institution, Congregacin Israelita Latina, while the Russian Jews founded their first society, Poale Zedek (Sociedad Obrera Israelita). However, the influence of pre-1890 Jewish history in Buenos Aires was felt there until World War I. CIRA, especially Henry Joseph, its rabbi, and Luis H. Brie, its president, played a major role at some of the main institutions such as the Chevra Keduscha Aschkenasi (founded 1894) and Ezrah (founded 1900). This was due mainly to the fact that the West European Jews were the veteranseven if only by a generation or lessin Buenos Aires. They had a better economic situation and a more fluent command of Spanish, which was of importance when dealing with the local authorities. They thus had more free time to dedicate to institutional life, which many promptly did. On the other hand, by the end of the centuryand more during the early 1900ssome Russian Jews had already secured for themselves worthy and stable economic situations, which enabled them to participate in leading positions in institutional life. Some of them entered CIRA and started occupying leading positions on its board.