By Dan Aznoff, Special to JTNews
The winter coats did little to keep out the cold that chilled young Bernard and Luna Manela to the bone as they prepared to celebrate the Sabbath.
The brisk weather was more than just the winter temperatures south of the equator in July. The heating system at Congregation Adat Israel on the outskirts of Buenos Aires was too old to provide enough heat to warm the old building.
But the cold inside of the old synagogue was a heat wave compared to the climate for Jews who remain in the economically depressed nation.
“It was surreal. The thing struck me first was the kipot. They were made of paper,” said Dora Manela, who moved to the United States with her husband Flavio from neighboring Brazil more than a dozen years ago. “Jews [in Argentina] are still afraid to be out in public. Not simply because they are Jewish, but because they are frustrated by the lack of justice.”
The youngsters and their parents – members of Herzl-Ner Tamid Conservative Congregation on Mercer Island – were in Argentina this past July to visit the recipients of the congregation’s response to the needs of the Jewish community in the South American country.
The visit was timed to mark the 10th anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA in Spanish) that left 85 people dead and injured more than 200 innocent civilians. The New York Times described the bombing as the deadliest anti-Semitic incident since World War II.
“The government provided $10 million to rebuild the AMIA and the Israeli Embassy that was bombed in 1992, but they have failed to bring the criminals to justice,” said Dora. The embassy bombing claimed 32 lives.
A public trial of 20 people charged in the AMIA bombing did not result in a single conviction. The 1994 trial also failed to shed light on the events or the people behind the massacres. Reports at the time pinned responsibility on anarchists with support from the government of Iran. Members of the Jewish community have blamed the lack of justice on the obstructionist tactics used by the state police.
The sentiment against Jews in Argentina has not improved in more than 40 years. There were 172 anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2001 alone, including one mail bomb.
Despite the history of religious oppression, 13-year-old Bernard walked proudly as a Jew through the streets of the Parque Chacabuco neighborhood that surrounds Adat Israel.
“The people in Argentina are blind to the anti-Semitism that is all around them,” observed Bernard. “Security around every Jewish building has become a way of life. At the JCC, my name and my identification were checked and doubled-checked. I had to walk through a metal detector before I was allowed to enter the building.”
The family trip to the congregation in Argentina was especially meaningful to Bernard. He was able to see young people at Adat Israel play with Lego building sets that were donated as part of his Mitzvah Project from his Bar Mitzvah last December.
The construction toys were gathered by Bernard and his friend Sam Michael at Herzl, and then delivered to Argentina by members of the Hillel at the University of Washington.
“The Jews there are so vulnerable,” said 9-year-old Luna, echoing the words of her mother. She compared the security measures in Buenos Aires to the steps taken around synagogues after the events of 9/11.
Luna’s memory of the Shabbat service at Adat Israel was that the wine for kiddush was diluted with soda so everybody would have enough to share.
The curly-haired youngster treasures a small necklace given to her by Israel Isidoro Faerman, the president of the tiny congregation. Faerman also presented Bernard with a traditional fountain pen to mark his Bar Mitzvah.
Herzl’s rabbi, Jay Rosenbaum, said his congregation first reached out to the Jewish community in Argentina two years ago in response to stories about cruelty that have plagued the Jews who fled to that country after World War II.
“So many Jews in America give generously to help Israel. Before that, the cause was Jews fleeing the oppression in the former Soviet Union,” said Rabbi Rosenbaum. “But the plight of the Jews living in South America is often overlooked or ignored.
“A dollar or $1,000 may not mean much to somebody living in Seattle,” he added, “but it is enough to keep this congregation open and the community alive.”
The Manela family was the sixth family from Herzl to visit Adat Israel since the outreach program began. Flavio and Dora helped identify the Jewish community that has been virtually adopted by the Mercer Island congregation.
Another Herzl member, Fanny Goldman, remembered attending services at the small synagogue in Argentina when she was a child. Goldman recently read a sermon in Spanish during a Shabbat service on Mercer Island.
Fewer than 250,000 Jews now live among the 37 million residents of Argentina, less than half the number that once filled its synagogues and community centers. The collapse of several banks two years ago made the situation even worse for many Jews. The AMIA declared an emergency in 2002 when overwhelmed welfare institutions could not keep up with the needs of a desperate population.
Jews who could afford to escape the oppression have emigrated to either Israel or the United States. Those who remain are often trapped in a cycle of poverty.
Donations from the ArgentinaNOW program at Herzl are sent to Adat Israel, in part, to cover the cost of B’nai Mitzvah and weddings for families that could not otherwise afford the cost of a celebration. The Manela family presented the members of Adat Israel a check from the ArgentinaNOW fund at Hertzl to help repair the decrepit heating system at the old shul.
Contributions to the ArgentinaNOW fund can be made by calling Herzl at 206-232-8555 or logging onto their Web site at www.herzl-ner-tamid.org.