Professional Documents
Culture Documents
American Jewish Archives 1982 - 34 - 02 - 00
American Jewish Archives 1982 - 34 - 02 - 00
American Jewish
Archives
A Journal Devoted to the Preservation and Study
of the American Jewish Experience
I33
Introduction
Judith Laikin Elkin
138
Historiographical Problems in the Study of the Inquisition and the
Mexican Crypto-Jews in the Seventeenth Century
Stanley M. Hordes
IS3
Jose Diaz Pimienta: Rogue Priest
J. Hartog
164
Judios y gauchos: The Search for Identity in Argentine-Jewish
Literature
Stephen A. Sadow
178
The Jewish White Slave Trade in Latin American Writings
Nora Glickman
190
Eakly Zionist Activities Among Sephardim in Argentina
Victor Mirelman
206
Hombre de Paso: Just Passing Through
Isaac Goldemberg
216
Some Aspects of Intermarriage in the Jewish Community
of SHo Paulo, Brazil
Rosa R. Krausz
231
A Demographic Profile of Latin American Jewry
Judith Laikin Elkin
249
Book Reviews
Murphy, Bruce Allen. The BrandeislFrankfurter Connection:
The Secret Political Activities o f Two Supreme Court Justices
Reviewed by William Toll
253
Kalechofsky, Robert, and Kalechofsky, Roberta, Edited by. South African Voices
Reviewed by Anthony D. Holz
256
Plesur, Milton. lewish Life in Twentieth Century America: Challenge
and Accommodation
Reviewed by Samuel K. Joseph
259
Brief Notices
263
Index to Volume XXXIV
Introduction
Exactly ten years ago, while a candidate for the Ph.D. at a Big Ten Uni-
versity, I met my newly assigned academic adviser and announced my
desire to write my thesis on the history of Latin American Jewry. Pro-
fessor Smith looked quizzically at me and asked, "Why don't you
write a history of the Smith family?"
My adviser was not alone in this reaction. A senior Latin Ameri-
canist to whom I next turned confided that, in his forty-year career, he
had seen no scholarly work on the Jews of Latin America. Fortunately,
he had a large enough vision to grasp the importance of the topic, and
encouraged me to go ahead. Seeking to join two disparate fields of
knowledge, I next addressed several scholars engaged in Jewish stu-
dies. But none knew much about contemporary Latin America. This
ignorance seemed all the more odd since medieval Spain and the In-
quisition-prelude to the history of contemporary Latin American
Jewish communities-have attracted continuing scholarly interest on
the part of Jews and non-Jews throughout the centuries.
How to explain why writers of Jewish history have overlooked the
Latin American branch of the diaspora? How to explain the complete
silence concerning Jews which characterizes Latin American studies?
These dual questions intrigued me then and intrigue me now. They
provided the impetus for my own career and contributed to the emer-
gence of a new scholarly subject, Latin American Jewish studies, of
which this edition of American Jewish Archives is the latest manifesta-
tion.
Not surprisingly, Latin American Jewish studies is at this date ill-de-
fined, still struggling for recognition within the older cognate fields of
Latin American studies and Jewish studies. It draws upon history, eco-
nomics, sociology, anthropology, geography, languages, and litera-
ture. It embraces the twenty-one Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking
republics, with the necessary addition of Curaqao, the former Dutch
possession which was the cradle of the Sephardic community in the
New World. It concerns itself with Sephardim and Ashkenazim,
speakers of Ladino and Arabic, Yiddish, Rumanian, Polish, Russian,
German, French-in addition to the more traditional languages for the
I34 American Jewish Archives
study of Latin America, Spanish and Portuguese. It encompasses a pe-
riod of close to five hundred years, starting with Isabella of Spain's de-
cree of 1501, in which she instructed the governor of Hispaniola to
prohibit Jews, Moors, heretics, New Christians, and persons
penanced by the Inquisition, as well as their children or grandchildren,
from settling in the Indies. The date most commonly assigned to the
beginning of the Jewish experience in Latin America is 1492, for one
or two conversos may have sailed with Columbus. But 1501 is a far
more significant date, for the queen's decree, unlike the identity and
purpose of those converso sailors, was clear and unambiguous. It es-
tablished beyond doubt that the limits to the Jewish experience were
to be set by others-rulers and representatives of a dominant society
that was hostile to Jews. It immediately raises hydra-headed ques-
tions: To what extent was this hostility ameliorated by political inde-
pendence? By the different historical paths the republics took when
they tore loose from Spain? By aggiorniamento within the Catholic
Church? It forces us to ask to what degree Jews continue to live in Lat-
in America on sufferance, and to what extent they have become ac-
cepted as citizens-recognizing that the answers will vary for different
precincts of the continent. These are all questions to which Latin
American Jewish scholars in increasing numbers are turning their at-
tention.
The extraordinary reach of Latin American Jewish studies, the wide
range of disciplines and languages with which scholars are working,
imparts excitement to the field. Some of this variety may be sampled in
the present issue of American Jewish Archives. Stanley M. Hordes ad-
dresses the problems of interpretation which study of the Inquisition
raises for historians, most of whom are partisans of one legend or an-
other: the Black Legend (Spaniards most cruelly obliterated both dis-
sent and dissenters) and the White Legend (Spaniards were no more
cruel than their contemporaries, but they were unlucky enough to
have their enemies write their history). Some Catholic historians have
viewed the Inquisition as the protector of society from immoral for-
eign elements and ideologies;Jewish historians have written as though
the Inquisition had no other function than to torment judaizers. Nei-
ther group has grasped the entire truth, Hordes argues, which will re-
main obscure so long as we cling to legends instead of studying
objective reality.
Introduction I35
The bizarre adventures of one Jose Diaz Pimienta, Cuban-born
priest, convert to Judaism, and double apostate, are recounted with
scholarly vim and vigor by J. Hartog. Pimienta was very much a crea-
ture of his time: the seventeenth century was fraught with mythology
about the Jew, a creature whom many practicing Catholics had never
met in the flesh. In this case, it would seem that a private neurosis
blended with a social psychosis, meeting its apotheosis at an auto de fe'
in Seville.
The modern search for identity is pursued through an analysis of
Argentine Jewish literature by Stephen Sadow in his essay "Jud'ios y
gauchos" ("Jews and Cowboys"). The inner struggles of the fictional
characters will sound familiar to readers of Saul Bellow or Philip
Roth, but they are rendered more poignant by the feeling of marginal-
ity which Jews experience as they seek to find a permanent home in Ar-
gentina.
Nora Glickman looks to Latin American writings for a reflection of
Jewish life. Her subject, however, is the Jewish white slave trade
which, under the protection of the Argentine police, flourished at the
turn of the century. It is symptomatic of the status of Latin American
Jews that more attention has been focused on prostitutes than on any
other group of women.
Studies of the Sephardic communities in Latin America are scarce,
and so Victor Mirelman's monograph on early Zionist activities
among the Sephardim of Argentina is particularly welcome. Sephar-
dim were slower than Ashkenazim to mobilize on behalf of a Jewish
homeland, a reluctance Mirelman ascribes to greater religiosity
among them and a fear that the needs of Sephardim in Eretz Israel
would be subordinated to those of the Ashkenazim. How prophetic
those fears were is left to the reader to judge.
A small but elegant study of intermarriage among Jews of S2io Paulo
authenticates trends and motivations which we have hitherto known
largely from anecdotal evidence. Rosa Krausz has constructed a scale
for correlating the degree of Jewish education with the probability of
intermarrying; replication of her study for other communities would
provide us with a better understanding than we have at present of the
forces urging toward intermarriage.
Even those with an interest in Latin American Jewish studies lack
sufficient knowledge of the demography of this subject: myths
136 American Jewish Archives
abound. Judith Laikin Elkin's essay on the demography of Latin
American Jewry brings together in one place the very disparate and
uneven data that have been gathered thus far, and points to gaps in our
knowledge. Significantly, Latin American Jewish communities are
dwindling in size, a phenomenon that may be attributed to a low birth
rate, intermarriage, and assimilation.
Your editor is particularly proud to be able to include in this issue
new poems by the Peruvian-born Jewish poet Isaac Goldemberg. As in
his novels, Goldemberg has an uncanny talent for evoking the evanes-
cent nature of so much of the Jewish experience in Latin America. It is
an experience which can be nullified by a queen's decree, by a happy
intermarriage, or by the expulsion decree of a military junta.
Before inviting the reader to read on into the substance of this jour-
nal, I would like to announce that a Latin American Jewish Studies As-
sociation was recently formed. Our network includes 124 scholars
and resource persons living and working in fifteen countries around
the globe. Scholars are defined as teaching at academic institutions or
publishing on Latin American Jewish studies. Resource persons in-
clude diplomats, businessmen, film makers, physicians, and others
with hands-on knowledge of the Latin American Jewish scene.
LAJSA held a working conference in October 1982on the campus
of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cin-
cinnati, at which time we sought to develop some of the basic research
tools that are needed if scholarship is to advance. Next year, LAJSA
plans to co-sponsor with the University of New Mexico a conference
on major themes in the Latin American Jewish experience. Readers
who wish to join our network and receive the Newsletter advising
about these and other developments are invited to write to the editor
in care of the American Jewish Archives.
This introduction would not be complete without a word concern-
ing the role which the American Jewish Archives has played in the de-
velopment of Latin American Jewish studies. The American Jewish
Archives was one of the first institutions in the United States to recog-
nize the importance of this field of study. It was while I was Senior Fel-
low at the Archives that I assembled the research materials and
scholars' directory which the Archives published under the title Latin
American Jewish Studies. The Archives continues to publish and dis-
tribute the LAJSA Newsletter. Opening the pages of its journal to us,
Introduction 137
and offering to host our first conference, confirm its continuing inter-
est and support. For this, our warmest thanks to Director Jacob R.
Marcus and Associate Director Abraham J. Peck.
Judith Laikin Elkin
Guest Editor
Historiographical Problems
in the Study of the Inquisition and
the Mexican Crypto-Jews in the
Seventeenth Century
Stanley M. Hordes
Scholars of Jewish history are not the only ones to view the relation-
ship between the crypto-Jews and the Mexican Inquisition in a narrow
perspective. The historiographical champions of the Holy Office, also
motivated by twentieth-century concerns, have used their writings to
create a favorable historical context for their cause. The decades fol-
lowing the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution of 191 I witnessed a
violent reaction on the part of the revolutionary government against
the once-powerful Catholic Church. Proclerical authors sought to
portray the colonial Church and the Inquisition as morally upright,
patriotic forces, essential for the protection and preservation of Mexi-
can civilization. There soon appeared in Mexico several books defend-
ing the role played by the Church and the Inquisition in New Spain.
Very much in accordance with the White Legend tradition, these
works extolled the virtues of Spanish institutions in the New World,
emphasizing the vital function served by the Church as the guardian of
the faith and morality.
Padre Mariano Cuevas participated in the bitter Church-State
struggle of the 1920's. He was instrumental in establishing V.1.T.A.-
Mexico, the European organization in support of Catholic activities in
Mexico, and spoke out often in defense of the Church." Padre Cuevas
was also one of the more articulate spokesmen representing the histor-
ical advocates of the Inquisition. His five-volume Historia de la iglesia
en Mkxico, published in the ~ g z o ' swon
, the acclaim of contemporary
Catholic leaders from all over the world." In sharp contrast to the au-
thors described in the preceding sections, Cuevas saw the Inquisition
as fulfilling a positive function within Mexican society. In every soci-
ety, including that of seventeenth-century New Spain, he held, there
148 American Jewish Archives
are "eternally damned elements, who conduct themselves not on the
basis of love or noble ideas, but only out of fear of iron and fire"; the
Holy Office provided this iron and fire, and used them to protect the
moral fiber of Mexican ~ociety.~" Having placed the Inquisition in this
parochial context, Cuevas then proceeded to detail the activities of the
Inquisition in the seventeenth century, lamenting the paucity of cases
from I 604 to I 642 in view of the growth of the "accursed Jewish com-
munity." He praised the inquisitors of the 1640's for their vigilance in
the pursuit of the judaizantes. His approval of their actions reflected a
belief that dangers similar to those faced by the seventeenth-century
Church existed in every age, including his
This theme of the Inquisition as the protector of society from im-
moral and foreign elements and ideologies was echoed by other con-
servative Mexican authors in the middle decades of the twentieth
century. Both Rafael HernAndez Ortiz and Yolanda Marie1 de Ibaiiez
sought to justify the actions of the Holy Officein New Spain in terms
of the defense of a divinely ordained, immutable social hierarchy. The
Inquisition represented the forces of God over human weakness, a
cleansing agent to purge Mexican society of dangerous, revolutionary
elements which threatened the moral fabric." Implicit in this argu-
ment is the idea that the Inquisition represented a distinctly Mexican
phenomenon; the Holy Office served as a bulwark to defend New
Spain from dangerous outside influences, as well as a unifying force
engendering a national inner strength.j3
Notes
I. Strictly speaking, the term crypto-Jew denotes a person who was born and baptized as a
Catholic Christian but secretly practiced Judaic rites and customs, while the terms converso and
New Christian should be applied only to Jews who actually converted to Catholicism, but for the
purposes of the discussion in this article, the latter two terms will be extended to include descen-
dants of the original conversos who lived as crypto-Jews.
2. Anita Libman Lebeson, "The American Jewish Chronicle," in The Jews: Their History, ed.
Louis Finkelstein (New York: Harper & Row, 1970), pp. 50-504; Solomon Grayzel, A History
of Contemporary Jews (New York: Jewish Publication Society, 1960; Harper & Row, 1965), p.
57; idem, A History of the Jews (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1947)~p. 700.
3. Cecil Roth, A History of the Marranos (Philadelphia and New York: Jewish Publication So-
ciety, 1932; Meridian Books, 1959), p. xiv; Boleslao Lewin, La inquisici6n en Hispanoambica
(judios, protestantes y patriotas) (Buenos Aires: Editorial Proyeccibn, 1962), p. 10.
4. Seymour B. Liebman, The Jews in New Spain: Faith, Flame and the Inquisition (Coral Ga-
bles, Fla.: University of Miami Press, 1970), pp. 12, 304.
5. See, for example, Cyrus Adler, "Trial of Jorge de Almeida by the Inquisition in Mexico,"
Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society (hereafter cited as PAJHS) 4 (1896):
3-79.
6. See, for example, George Kohut, "Jewish Heretics in the Philippines in the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Century," PAJHS 12 (1904): 149-156; idem, "Jewish Martyrs of the Inquisition in
South America," PAJHS 4 (1896): 101-187. In the latter article Kohut did cite the persecution of
Indians by the Holy Office.
7. Roth, History of the Marranos, pp. 276-283.
8. See, for example, Lewin, La inquisici6n en Hispanoambica; idem, El Santo Oficio en
Ambica (Buenos Aires: Sociedad Hebraica Argentina, 1950); and idem, ~ Q ufue i la inquisition?
(Buenos Aires: Editorial Plus Ultra, 1973).
9. Lewin, La inquisicibn en Mixico; impresionantes relatos del siglo XVII (Puebla: Editorial
Jost M. Cajica, 1967); idem, La inquisici6n en Mixico; racismo inquisitiorial (Puebla: Editorial
Jose M. Cajica, 1971).
10. Martin A. Cohen, The Martyr: The Story of a Secret Jew and the Mexican Inquisition in
the Sixteenth Century (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1973)~p. xi.
Historiographical Problems 151
Jose Diaz Pimienta was born in the village of San Juan de 10s Reme-
dios, Cuba. There is some question about the date of his birth. In
1708, when he became a priest before he was old enough, he said that
he had been born in 1682, producing a forged baptismal certificate as
substantiation, but another certificate, on file in the archives in Seville,
states that he was baptized in 1688. In all probability this was the actu-
al year of his birth, because his parents seem to have been pious, as is
implied by their desire that he enter the clergy, and thus it is unlikely
that they would have waited six years before having him baptized. In
any case, both of Pimienta's parents were Cristianos Viejos (Old
Christians), meaning that their Catholic roots anteceded the period of
forced conversions in the fifteenth century, and thus, despite Pimien-
ta's later claim to this effect in Curaqao, there was no possibility of an
admixture of Jewish blood in his ancestry. According to the terminol-
ogy in use in the Spanish New World colonies, Pimienta's father was a
Spaniard (i.e., born in Spain), and his mother was a Creole (i.e., born
in Cuba to white Spanish parents).
In 1697, at the age of nine, Pimienta was confirmed in Havana,
where his parents had sent him for his education. It was around this
time, when he tried to kill himself by taking poison, that his mental in-
stability first became evident. After this unsuccessful suicide attempt,
Pimienta remained in Havana for two more years. Toward the end of
I 699 he was studying grammar and moral theology with the fathers of
a monastery in Puebla de 10s Angeles, Mexico, but in 1703 he trans-
Rogue Priest ISS
ferred to a convent of the Mercedarians, a monastic order that had
been founded in the thirteenth century for the purpose of ransoming
captives from the Moors and subsequently had begun to concentrate
its activities in the Caribbean and Latin America. On the Feast of Our
Lady of Ransom in 1706 (September q), when he was eighteen, Pi-
mienta entered the order himself as a novice.
Barely two months later, however, Pimienta and two other monks
ran off. After hiding out in his parents' home for ten months, Pimienta
returned to the monastery and asked the superior for permission to
continue his studies at one of the order's other convents. When this re-
quest was denied, he ran away again, leading an itinerant existence
that took him to Caracas, Vera Cruz, and finally Puebla de 10s
Angeles, where he came up with the idea of becoming a priest. Since he
had not yet attained the canonical age of twenty-four required for ad-
mission to the priesthood, he forged the baptismal certificate men-
tioned earlier. This document enabled him to deceive the bishop, and
in 1708 he was ordained. He was assigned to a post in Vera Cruz, al-
though whether as a parish priest or in some other capacity cannot be
determined, but about four months later the bishop discovered that he
had lied about his age and recalled him to Havana. There Pimienta
was forbidden to perform any priestly functions, but he remained a
priest since Catholic doctrine holds that priestly vows are an irrevoca-
ble sacrament.
After a few weeks of aimless wandering, Pimienta returned to the
Mercedarian monastery. Despite his record of escapes and his fraudu-
lent ordination, the master of novices gave him another chance, but
soon afterwards Pimienta decamped again. He was caught and re-
turned to the monastery but before long escaped again. This time he
was brought back in shackles. After two months fettered to the walls
of his cell, he was taken to another monastery in Arta, but permitted to
leave ten days later.
Pimienta's next stop was a French island which is named Prechi-
guan in the sources but can no longer be identified. Three months later
he turned up in Puerto del Principe, Cuba, where he presented a forged
document from his bishop authorizing him to proceed to New Spain.
While in Cuba he attempted to steal some mules from his parents'
home. When he was caught red-handed by one of their servants, Pi-
mienta pulled a pistol and shot him, inflicting no less than seven
156 American Jewish Archives
wounds, and then hurriedly took his departure from Cuba to avoid ar-
rest.
The ship Pimienta boarded was captured by English pirates, who
put him ashore near Icacos, not far from where he had started out. Em-
barking on another ship, he went to Trinidad, where a friend of his
was a priest. Through his friend he obtained permission to collect alms
and was appointed sub-parish priest in a hamlet named Pueblo, then
in Tarimtos, and finally in San Benito Atad-townships which can no
longer be identified. In San Benito Atad he had an affair with a woman
and then became embroiled with her lover, who threatened to kill him.
Pimienta managed to frighten the fellow off with his pistol but for
some reason was unable to do the same thing when he was accosted
and soundly beaten by a mulatto whom he had refused permission to
marry.
Sometime after these events Pimienta left Trinidad. In 1714 he
turned up in Rio de la Hacha on the Venezuelan coast, and there, so he
later told his Inquisition interrogators, he said Holy Mass for the last
time. Pimienta then made his way to Cartagena, but when he learned
that the Spanish Vicar General was coming for a visit, he realized that
the jig was up and began nosing about for a new refuge. He finally de-
cided on the Dutch colony of Curacao, having heard, according to his
testimony before the Inquisition, that the Jews of that island had re-
cently given 300 pesetas to a man who had converted to Judaism. The
man in question, Pimienta said, had been obliged to whip a crucifix
and deface the images of the saints. While Pimienta later insisted that
he himself would never have done any such thing, he explained that he
took the story as an indication that heretics and Jews were free to live
in Curacao and thus that it would be a safe haven for him. By and large
he was right; while the Calvinist Dutch in Curacao barely tolerated
Protestant heretics and sometimes persecuted them, they had a more
open-minded attitude toward Catholics and Jews, especially the latter,
and permitted them to reside in the colony so long as they kept a low
profile.
On February 6,1715, when he arrived in Curacao, Pimienta got in
touch with the Jewish community and quickly discovered that the sto-
ry about the crucifix and the images was pure fantasy. Not only had
such a thing never happened, according to the Jew he consulted, but it
could not possibly happen, since the tale implied that the Jews had
Rogue Priest IS7
graven images in their possession, and this would have been a sin.
Reassured that he would not have to perform an act that he pro-
fessed to find odious, at least so he said later on, Pimienta decided to
convert. Claiming that his parents were Marranos who had fled to the
New World to escape the Inquisition, losing all their property in the
process, he took lodgings with the godfather of the convert who had
been given the 300 pesetas. Although Pimienta replied that the Messi-
ah had not yet come when he was asked his beliefs about Jesus, the
Curaqao Jews were astute enough not to take him at face value, espe-
cially when they discovered that he knew almost nothing about the
Bible-which is amazing in itself since he is supposed to have spent sev-
eral years studying theology. Biding their time, they gave him some
books on Judaism and suggested that he begin studying.
Despite Pimienta's punctilious observance of the laws of ritual puri-
ty at mealtimes, the Curaqao Jews remained suspicious and tried to
persuade him to go to Amsterdam for his conversion, but he refused,
claiming that he would be unable to endure the cold climate in the
Netherlands. Meanwhile, virtually destitute since he had not been giv-
en the sum he anticipated, Pimienta wrote to his parents for money.
The suspicions of the Curaqao Jews were heightened when they inter-
cepted the letter and discovered that his parents, supposedly divested
of their property by the Inquisition, were actually rather prosperous,
but Pimienta managed to talk his way out of this predicament, con-
cluding his explanation with the words, "The Law of Moses stands
forever."
Since the story of Pimienta's life can only be reconstructed on the
basis of information derived from his interrogations before the Inqui-
sition, we do not have all the details, and some of what we have may
not be reliable. Certainly, in view of his past history, we have no way
of knowing how he finally managed to convince the Jews of Curaqao
that he was sincere. According to his own account, which of course
may not be true, the decisive moment came when he tore his rosary
apart and shouted, "If this thing is from God, then let flowers sprout
from the beads." Whether or not this actually happened or had the ef-
fect he claimed, the Jews decided to accept him into their congrega-
tion, presumably MikvC Israel. On May z I, 17 I 5, he was circumcised
with all the appropriate ceremonies and adopted the Hebrew name
Abraham in place of JosC. He was given 94 pesetas-one wonders
158 American Jewish Archives
why-and a banquet was held in his honor. Soon afterward he married
a Jewish woman, but unfortunately the sources do not give her name.
In his "new life" Pimienta remained as restless as ever, and before
long he put out to sea again, sailing to Bahia Honda, where he some-
how managed to accumulate 500 pesetas. His reason for making this
voyage is not stated in his testimony, but it must have involved bucca-
neering of some kind, for around this time, while engaged in what he
admitted was an act of piracy, he was struck with a cutlass and suf-
fered a split nose, a wound that left him with a permanent scar. Life as
a pirate was not to Pimienta's taste, however, and the wound in his
nose actually set him to praying-not in the Jewish manner, as one
might expect, but by reciting the Litany of Our Lady, with the addition
of a Salve Regina for his safe return to Curasao.
If Pimienta's shipmates overheard his prayers, they said nothing
back in Curaqao. Meanwhile, the Jewish congregation appointed Pi-
mienta as a teacher in its school. It may be assumed that a man charged
with the religious instruction of the young was expected to conduct
himself in an exemplary manner, but Pimienta later told the Inquisi-
tion that he had not observed the dietary laws except when Jews were
present. He also recounted what may have been an attempt to convert
him to Protestantism-a Lutheran acquaintance in Curaqao gave him a
copy of the New Testament and told him that as a born Catholic and a
converted Jew he would have been better off if he had never been born.
Not long after this Pimienta gave up his job as a teacher and left Cura-
qao. A few days out to sea his ship was captured by pirates. They put
him ashore in Jamaica, where a Jewish friend took him in. Pimienta
still had the Lutheran's New Testament, and while staying in his
friend's house he threw it into the fire. According to his own account,
he saw blood flowing from the burning pages. Whatever the true sig-
nificance of this hallucination, Pimienta took it as a sign that he should
turn his back on Judaism. Soon afterward he visited the synagogue in
Jamaica, made contacts with Catholics, and baptized two Jewish chil-
dren.
While still in Jamaica, Pimienta learned that someone was trying to
track him down. The information was so vague that Pimienta had no
Rogue Priest I59
idea whether the person on his trail was an agent of the Jews or of the
Inquisition, but whatever the case, he decided to move on, departing
from Jamaica in the company of a Jew and fifteen Indians. The Jew
seems to have been his prisoner; Pimienta regularly beat him, and for
reasons that are no longer clear, forced him to eat pork and to recite
the name of the Holy Trinity. After a while, however, the Indians
turned against Pimienta, beating him half to death and fleeing. Left on
his own, he managed to reach a camp of some kind, where he was ar-
rested and sent to Rio de la Hacha. For the next three weeks Pimienta
played the fool-a role that certainly gave him no trouble-praying first
in the Catholic manner and then in the Jewish, and boasting to his jail-
ers that he would profess to be a Catholic when taken before the Inqui-
sition but would then escape to Curaqao and resume his life as a Jew.
He offered to sell his soul to the devil in exchange for deliverance from
prison.
In due course Pimienta was handed over to the Inquisition in Carta-
gena. Brought before the tribunal, he pleaded guilty and begged for
mercy. After undergoing the public disgrace of marching in a proces-
sion of penitents while garbed in a sambenito (penitential garment), he
was sentenced, at an auto da fe' in the city's Dominican convent, to life
imprisonment in a Mercedarian monastery in Spain. Soon thereafter,
together with some other prisoners, he was embarked on the ship
Minora for the transatlantic voyage, but it was only thanks to his
guards that he ever got to Spain, because his fellow prisoners, driven to
distraction by his constant ranting and raving, tried to throw him
overboard.
When the Minora docked in Cadiz, Pimienta was taken in custody
by the bishop and the city prefect, and the record of his trial was sent to
the archives in Seville. Contrary to the terms of his sentence in Carta-
gena, and despite his vehement protestations, he was fettered and sent
to a prison rather than a monastery. In prison, though, Pimienta was
really in his element, and before long he and another inmate managed
to break out. They left behind a note inviting anyone who was tired of
life to try and catch them.
After parting from his fellow escapee, Pimienta turned himself in at
a Mercedarian convent in Jerez. The monks extended him their full
hospitality; he was allowed to participate in the choir and to make
confession of sins every four days, but was not permitted to say Holy
I 60 American Jewish Archives
Mass because he could not show the necessary permit.
From the monastery Pimienta wrote to a wealthy resident of Jerez
and asked that he come see him. Since Pimienta later referred to this
man as a Jew, he was probably a New Christian, and in all likelihood
Pimienta saw him as a possible ally or patron, perhaps even imagining
that he was a secret judaizer. This would explain why he included
some Hebrew phrases remembered from his circumcision ceremony in
the letter, but despite, or perhaps because of, this gesture, the man
turned him down, replying that he did not understand Latin. Un-
daunted, Pimienta wrote to another Jerez "Jew," but this time he spe-
cified that the recipient should not ask for him at the mon-
astery-instead he would be waiting somewhere in the street outside,
and could be identified by the scar on his nose and by a long green rib-
bon on his wrist. When this letter went unanswered, Pimienta wrote to
a third "Jew," promising to pay him 25 dubloons when they met, but
this letter too was ignored.
Since there are no secrets in a monastery, the superiors soon found
out about Pimienta's spate of letter writing and asked for an explana-
tion. As always he had a ready answer. He wanted to get money from
the Jerez Jews, he said, so that he could go back to Curaqao and kill his
former Jewish associates there. He wanted revenge because they had
caused all his troubles by circumcising him against his will, even
though he had never wanted to become a Jew and had never converted
in his heart. His superiors were apparently duped by this tale, since
they dropped the matter and even began addressing him as Fray JosC.
Meanwhile, as if to underscore the veracity of his explanation, Pi-
mienta wrote to the king and then to the duke of Veragues, asking for
money for the same purpose. These two letters, which were never an-
swered, had hardly been sent when he sat down to write another mis-
sive, this time to the city prefect. In it he declared that he had never
intended to abandon Judaism and convert to Jesus and was now more
convinced than ever that the Law of Moses was true; in fact he was
ready to give up his life for it and felt certain that he would gain a thou-
sand lives in the flames at the stake. Before the prefect could respond,
Pimienta slipped out of the monastery and made his way to Lisbon,
where he hoped to book passage on a ship to London, Amsterdam, or
Jamaica. When he proved unable to do so, he went to the Mercedarian
monastery in Seville and asked the superior to hand him over to the In-
quisition.
Rogue Priest I 61
thor of The Jews and St. Eustatius and History of St. Maarten and St.
Martin. Dr. Hartog now lives in Salzburg, Austria.
Notes
I especially want to express my indebtedness to Miss Kathleen Houghton of the British Library,
London; to the anonymous functionary of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; and to
Miss Lori A. Feldman of the Library of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio; all of
whom did everything possible to provide me with source material and printed references.
I. R. Gottheil, "Fray Joseph Diaz Pimienta, alias Abraham Pimienta," Publications of the
American Jewish Historical Society 9 (1901); E. N. Adler, Auto de Fb and Jew (London, 1908),
pp. 172-180. The case is also mentioned in C. de Bethencourt, "Notes on the Spanish and Portu-
guese Jews in the U.S., Guiana, and the Dutch and British West Indies during the 17th and 18th
Centuries," Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society 29 (1925): 21-25, and is giv-
en a few words or paragraphs in several other works, although none of these provide any dates
not found in the works cited in this note or in note 2.
2. My primary source for the account in this article is Relacibn de el autodafee celebrado en el
real Conbento de Sun Pablo, Orden de Predicatores (Manuscript section, British Library [for-
merly British Museum], London, inv. 4071.1.4.9). See also J. Hartog, Cura~ao(Aruba, 1961),
I:4II.
Judios y gauchos:
The Search for Identity in
Argentine-Jewish Literature
Stephen A. Sadow
In spite of their relative prosperity and the freedom with which they
have practiced their religious and communal affairs, Argentine Jews
have often found themselves to be in an estranged or at least problem-
atical relationship with their country. Argentina is a Roman Catho-
lic-if anticlerical-country, with a strong consciousness of its
Hispanic origins.' Over the years there has been almost incessant anti-
Semitic activity. The attacks have sometimes been violent. In recent
years, Jewish intellectuals, businessmen, and students have been kid-
napped and murdered. Jews have variously tried to ignore or oppose
these outrages. It is important to remember, however, that for the
most part, these anti-Semitic activities only indirectly affect the daily
lives of most Jews, causing apprehension but little more. Whether be-
cause they believe that Argentina is not basically an anti-Semitic coun-
try or because they employ an elaborate denial system, many
Argentine Jews downplay the importance of anti-Semitic incidents.
Nevertheless, they worry about them.
For many Jews, the question of national identity is a far more tick-
lish problem. In Argentina, the pressure for conformity and assimila-
tion into the dominant culture is fierce. Argentineans tend to be
intensely nationalistic and proud of their traditions, many of which
have Christian underpinnings. Argentine Jews share in the national-
ism, strongly identifying themselves with the nation. But often they
find this attachment to be in conflict with their sense of themselves as
Jews. Many experience an intolerable contradiction. Some make ali-
yah to Israel. Many more assimilate, ceasing to identify themselves as
Jews. Most remain troubled, but assume, with an optimism that is typ-
ically Argentinean, that, with time, things will improve.
Not surprisingly, the difficulty of living as both a Jew and an Argen-
tinean has been a theme of consuming interest for Jewish writers in Ar-
gentina. Writing in Spanish, rather than the Yiddish of some of their
Search for Identity 165
contemporaries,' writers such as Alberto Gerchunoff, Max Dick-
mann, Manuel Kirshenbaum, Luisa Sopovich, Bernardo Kordbn, LA-
zaro Liacho, Eliahu Toker, Jose Isaacson, Gregorio Scheines, and
Bernardo Verbitsky see themselves as the product of Argentine reality.
Most, if not all, have produced "Argentine literature," that is, works
in which Jewish characters and themes do not occur. But these writers
and others like them have not assimilated. Many have also written on
Jewish themes for Jewish-sponsored journals such as Comentario and
Davar.' A significant number have chosen to produce fiction, poetry,
and drama in which they examine closely the position of the Jew in
Argentine society.
Saul Sosnowski has argued correctly that any discussion of Argen-
tine-Jewish literature "has to be undertaken from a position that rec-
ognizes the two basic components of the authors: their Jewish
background and their Argentine ~itizenship."~ Sosnowski himself has
studied a number of Argentine-Jewish writers, including Gerchunoff,
GermAn Rozenmacher, and Gerardo Mario Goloboff, and has come
to bleak conclusions. His interpretation of Argentine-Jewish literature
is affected by his analysis of Argentine society. He criticizes optimistic
writers for being misguided and for having misinterpreted the position
of the Jews in Argentina. He favors those writers who are most critical
of Argentine-Jewish life. Sosnowski's stress on biographical and his-
torical material leads to an overemphasis on the somber quality of the
literature. However, when extraliterary considerations are down-
played, a different view is possible. Argentine-Jewish literature is quite
varied in tone. Celebration and desperation coexist. There is warm-
hearted laughter as well as bitter recrimination. Argentine-Jewish
writers taken together present a tapestry of views about what it means
to be both Argentinean and Jewish.
Alberto Gerchunoff
Char Tiempo
Marcos Soboleosky
Jewish writing continued unabated through the 1930's and during the
ten-year rule of Juan Domingo Peron (1945-1955). Many Jewish au-
thors, such as the novelist Max Dickmann and the playwright Samuel
Eichelbaum, tended to favor general rather than specifically Jewish
themes. A Jewish-oriented work was Bernardo Verbitsky's Es dificil
empezar a uiuir [Beginning to live is difficult] (1941), which describes
the coming of age of one Pablo Levinson.
By the time Marcos Soboleosky's novel Enferm6 la uid [The vine
sickened] was published in 19 57, being a Jew in Argentina had taken
on new dimensions." Soboleosky's portrait is in sharp contrast to that
of his predecessors. Soboleosky's protagonist, Ezequiel Oleansky, is a
Jewish intellectual, author of a book on Kafka, who despairs, first, of
the difficulties of living as a Jew in a Christian society, and ultimately,
of the possibility of living as a Jew at all.
Oleansky has committed the act decried by Gerchunoff's and Tiem-
po's characters: he has married a non-Jewish woman. Except for an
epilogue, the novel is written in the form of a long letter from
Oleansky to his wife, Ana G6mez. In it, he tells the history of their
marriage and recalls his feelings, thoughts, and observations. The
novel is a confession and, to a lesser extent, an account of a spiritual
journey.
Oleansky admits that he married Ana less for love than in an at-
tempt to avoid marrying a Jewish woman who would, as he puts it, as-
phyxiate his personality. The marriage causes repercussions in both
his family and hers. Her family view him as exotic, but attractive and
"digno de ser cristiano" ["worthy of being a Christian"] (p. 17). The
fact that he, the son of immigrants, speaks Spanish better than many
natives, impresses them greatly. Her aunts tolerate him but are deeply
disappointed when the couple marries in a civil ceremony. With resig-
nation, his mother accepts her daughter-in-law, counting it a victory
that her son did not marry in church. Upon marrying, Ezequiel cuts his
ties with the Jewish community.
Search for Identity 171
Almost from the start, the marriage founders. Ana has no compre-
hension of Jewish values, customs, or traditions. Normal family
events cause crises for the couple. Instead of bringing them together,
having children accentuates their differences. Ana wants to name their
first child after her grandmother. Following Ashkenazi Jewish tradi-
tion, Ezequiel forbids their naming the child after a living relative. Ana
is confused and angered. They bring up the children without religious
training. But their children encounter the intensely Christian environ-
ment of their friends, who attend Mass, take communion, go to reli-
gious schools, and have religious images in their homes. Ezequiel does
not want to meet the parents of his children's friends for fear they are
anti-Semites. When Ana refuses to have her son circumcised, Ezequiel
is disturbed but does not insist. But when Ezequiel begins to read Dub-
now's History of theJews, Ana feels estranged. She retaliates by bring-
ing an image of the Virgin and Child into their home. Seeing her as
superficial, small-minded, and uncultured, Oleansky blames his wife
for the deterioration of his marriage.
The overriding effect upon Oleansky of marrying a Christian and
cutting his ties with his Jewish background is, ironically, that he is
constantly reminded of his Jewishness. He meditates on the commu-
nal, psychological, and spiritual aspects of his Jewishness. His conclu-
sions disturb him greatly. At times he experiences self-hatred and
desperation. He believes that to be a Jew is to be different in many es-
sential ways from all those who are not Jews. For in the Jew, there is a
sense of insecurity with respect to the world in which he lives but to
which he does not belong. Jews feel constantly observed but are also
continuous observers. Jewish happiness is always limited, Oleansky
concludes. A Jew cannot love a Christian the way he would another
Jew because the world impedes it.
Oleansky eventually decides that he desires the loss of his Jewish-
ness. He argues that he would have more in common with another
Argentinean than with a Jew from another culture. Nationality is
more important to him than religion. Oleansky pleads that he wants to
live not as a Jew o r as a Christian but only as a citizen.
Spiritually also, Oleansky flees his Judaism. He finds the local syna-
gogue to be devoid of spirituality. In a nearby church, he meets a priest
who becomes his teacher. Oleansky is attracted to the universalism of
Catholicism and believes that in each Jew lies a potential convert. But
172 American Jewish Archives
Oleansky finds he cannot achieve the faith in Christ necessary for con-
version. He blames his Jewish upbringing and "Talmudic mentality"
for his inability to find spontaneous faith or tolerate Catholic symbol-
ism. Oleansky finds himself in a predicament. He no longer wants to
follow the Jewish religion, but inner constraints keep him from be-
coming a Roman Catholic. He contemplates entering a Fransciscan
monastery. Instead, he commits suicide.
For Soboleosky's protagonist, being Jewish in Argentina (or per-
haps anywhere) leads to an intolerable situation. He is constantly re-
minded of his Jewishness and troubled by Jewish history. He is
uncomfortable in both Jewish and Christian society. The novel is, of
course, the portrait of one man, who might be dismissed as neurotic. It
is impossible to know the extent to which Soboleosky intended him to
be symbolic. However, the mass of social detail presented suggests
that Soboleosky believed that many other Jews were facing similar
traumatic struggles.
Pedro Schvartzman
A little book entitled Cuentos criollos con judios [Creole stories with
Jews], published by Pedro Schvartzman in 1967, contrasts with Sobo-
leosky's rather dismal portrayal." Totally ignoring the virulent anti-
Semitism that plagued Argentina in the early 1960's' Schvartzman's
work is unabashedly pro-Argentina. Like Gerchunoff's, Schvartz-
man's narrative is, in part, autobiographical. In a set of interrelated
short stories, he revives the nostalgic tone of Los gauchos judios, even
mimicking its title. The stories are made up of scenes of life in the agri-
cultural communities of Entre Rios province. Several stories present,
in a romanticized fashion, warm relations between the Jews and their
non-~ewishneighbors. The few instances of anti-Semitism are consid-
ered to be the acts of hooligans and the relics of an earlier time. Sch-
vartzman's descriptions border on the incredible. Gauchos eat matzah
and other Jewish foods; they praise the Jews' intelligence. A local
Catholic butcher sells only kosher meat; a nonkosher butcher goes out
of business. For their part, the Jewish immigrants adapt rapidly to the
cuisine and customs of the country. They are delighted by the abun-
dance of food. "La Argentina es un presente de Dios" ["Argentina is a
gift of God"] says one (p. 11).
Search for Identity 173
As portrayed in these stories, the acculturation of the Jews was not
without cost. The earliest immigrants tried to keep the Sabbath, but
local customs made this difficult. Many Jews protested that they were
not even religious. Eventually, the practice was forgotten. By the
1930's Jewish education in the communities was on the decline, poor-
ly funded, and staffed by poorly trained teachers. Schvartzman's nar-
rator recalls that for the children, Yiddish, Hebrew, and most
religious practices seemed anachronistic leftovers from prehistoric
times.
In spite of these negative aspects, Schvartzman stresses the ease of
acculturation and, in particular, the welcome the Jews received from
Argentinean Christians. The latter theme is exemplified in a story enti-
tled "Hermandad" [Brotherhood]. Fleeing Hitler, Jews come to Entre
Rios. After facing the Nazi terror, the children find it difficult to be-
lieve that they are accepted. Years later, one immigrant, now adult, be-
comes a taxi driver. One night his fare is Carpincho, the local drunk.
Intoxicated, Carpincho shouts that the Jew is not his friend. Suddenly
reexperiencing feelings of his youth, the taxi driver is terrified. Contin-
uing, Carpincho insists that they are not friends but brothers.
In Schvartzman's work, the future of the Jews in Argentina seems
assured. What is remarkable about Cuentos criollos con judrbs is that
it was written during the early days of the political crisis which contin-
ues to the present day. The government was headed by General Onga-
nia, who, if not an overt anti-Semite, was an archconservative and
identifiably a member of the military oligarchy. But Schvartzman's
portrait is unequivocally positive. It strongly implies that one can be
comfortable being both Jewish and Argentinean.
Bernardo Verbitsky
Polaca ("Pole") was the generic name applied to all Jewish prostitutes
in Argentina, whether they came from Poland, Russia, or Rumania.
Between the 1880's and the early I ~ ~ o 'asperiod
, when the country
was undergoing vast waves of predominantly male immigration, the
Jewish white slave trade was of great social significance in Argentina.
While brothels were licensed, violations of the law were widely toler-
ated by corrupt officials in the police customs office. As Robert
Weisbrot reports, "The lax atmosphere in which this trade flourished
was most visible in the theatres, where hundreds of prostitutes nightly
patrolled the balconies in search of customers."' In consequence of all
these factors, white slave traders found Argentina to be quite conge-
nial for their operations.
Despite all the publicity that the phenomenon of Jewish white slav-
ery in Argentina has received, it is still not fully understood. Prosti-
tutes were extremely reluctant to testify, for fear of reprisals from their
slavers. The traffickers, for their part, did all in their power to keep
their activities secret; and the laws protecting minors against the trade
were seldom enforced. Statistical data on Jewish prostitution in Ar-
gentina are scant and unreliable.'
Since the white slave trade is, by its nature, clandestine, most au-
thors who have written on the subject knew it only by hearsay or were
able to gather just enough information to mention it in their stories
without shedding any real light on the phenomenon. Some authors
who claimed to be writing serious studies of white slavery actually re-
lied mainly on their imagination, but even impressionistic accounts of
this kind can sometimes enlighten us about the nature of historical
events in ways that history cannot accomplish. Other authors, howev-
er, were more concerned with first-hand documentary evidence. Such
is the case with Albert Londres and Julio Alsogaray.
White Slavery Writings
Albert Londres
Julio Alsogaray
Juan Maria Miro ( I8 67-1 89 6), known by his pseudonym Juli5n Mar-
tel, published in the major conservative newspaper La Nacidn (August
19, 1891) a fictional account which he labeled a "social study" and
182 American Jewish Archives
which later became the first chapter of his novel La Bolsa [The stock
exchange], now a classic of Argentinian literature. La Bolsa intro-
duced an anti-Semitic theme which has influenced nationalistic au-
thors up to the present day.
In Martel's view, the Jews embodied the faults and vices of all for-
eigners. They controlled the world of financial speculation. They were
the "extortionists," the "vampires of modern society," who struck
easy deals and reaped exorbitant profits, and who promoted corrup-
tion among "naive public officials." The "diabolical" characters
were, consequently, also responsible for the slave trade. Martel's Jew-
ish figure, Filiberto Meckser, is an odious stereotype, both in his repul-
sive appearance and in his sinister character: " ...dirty teeth, pale
complexion, small eyes, lined with red filaments that denounced the
descendants of Zebulun's tribe, a hooked nose as in Ephron's tribe,
dressed with the vulgar ostentation of a Jew who could never acquire
the noble distinction that characterizes Aryan men."16 Posing as a jew-
elry dealer, Meckser manages "to cover up his infamous traffic and to
give an appearance of respectability to his continual trips abroad.""
The real purpose of these trips, the reader knows, is to procure prosti-
tutes. Without mentioning its name, Martel refers to the Zewi Migdal,
presided over by Meckser, as a "club of human flesh traffickers, locat-
ed next to the police station, which the police had never dared dis-
turb.'"" Martel's anti-Semitism, uninfluenced by contact with
flesh-and-blood Jews, ignored the campaign launched by the Jewish
community in Buenos Aires to wipe out the Zewi Migdal.
Other Argentinian authors, although as conservative as Martel, did
not share his opinion of Jews. The most important of these was Ma-
nuel Ghlvez (1882-1962)~ who, despite his reservations about Jewish
immigrants, praised Jewish efforts to eradicate the bad elements from
their midst by denying them entry into their synagogues and burial in
their cemeteries.19 In his novel Nacha Regules (1922)~which depicts
the miserable state of prostitutes in Buenos Aires, Ghlvez's sympathies
are obviously with the "polacas ...who were sold in public auction,
who were brutalized and deeply hurt."""
Ten or twelve years later, a more romantic view of the polaca emerged
in the writings of liberal, socially conscious authors who showed the
W h i t e Slavery Writings 183
prostitute as a victim. These include Samuel Eichelbaum and David
Viiias, whose sympathy for the polacas and sensitivity to anti-
Semitism were probably associated with their own Jewish origins.
Samuel Eichelbaum7sdrama Nadie la conocio nunca [No one ever
knew her] (194 5 ) is, in a way, a criticism of the cultural attitudes of the
privileged class." It portrays the anguished life of Ivonne, a polaca
crushed by society, a true victim of social circumstance, and an out-
cast. Ivonne hides her real identity behind a French name, which serves
partly to improve her professional status as a prostitute and partly to
protect her from persecution. The joviality of the first act of the play
turns serious when Ivonne hears a group of young Argentinian aristo-
crats-her clients and her lover, Ricardito-boast of having shaved the
beard of a Jewish immigrant, publicly degrading him.
In her own living room Ivonne witnesses a playful reenactment of
the shaving, performed by the perpetrators. Responding to this racial
insult, she strikes one of the offenders, thus demonstrating that she
still retains some feeling for her origins. The realization that they had
done this for amusement shocks Ivonne into recovering her Jewish
identity. It also brings back memories of her father, murdered during
the Tragic Week of 1919, when a pogrom broke out in the streets of
Buenos Aires. Recalling similar pogroms in Russia, which had caused
her to emigrate to Argentina, Ivonne expresses her remorse in a con-
fession of her errors: "I am glad.. .that my father did not live to see me
leading this life of debauchery. I thank my stars that I never had to face
him looking like this. Even worse, today I feel the emptiness of my
whole life, like a terrible revelation."" As a redeemed heroine, Ivonne
sees herself as a representative of all Jewish women. She feels com-
pelled to behave with dignity "because now, in each one of us, in our
words and our deeds, the Uewish] race prevail^."'^ Her curse is that
despite her understanding, she is too weak to change and will remain a
prostitute.
David Viiias (b. 1929), like Eichelbaum, links violence with casual
amusement. In his novel En la Semana Tragica [During the Tragic
Week] (1974), he exposes the thoughtless brutality of the guardias
blancas (white guards), who went on a rampage of murder and de-
struction against the Jewish community in 1919.'~Violence that week
was an entertainment for well-to-do youth, who alternated between
whoring with polacas or francesas and beating up defenseless Jews.
184 American Jewish Archives
In a later novel, Los dueiios de la tierra [The owners of the land]
(1974)," Vifias's protagonist, Vicente, remembers that he and his fel-
low law students used to leave the courthouse and amuse themselves
"with the polacas or with the Jewesses, who after all were the same
thing."z6 When he compares the different sorts of whores he has en-
countered, Vicente finally decides that, contrary to public opinion,
"one Jewess is worth four Frenchwomen anytime."" Significantly,
both Vifias and Eichelbaum create male protagonists who, despite
their expressed hatred for Jews, eventually fall in love with and marry
Jewish women; yet this resolves none of their internal tensions.
Conclusions
1956).
22. Ibid., p. 56.
23. Ibid.
24. David Vifias, En la Semana Tragica (Buenos Aires: Jose Alvares, 1966).
25. David Vifias, Los duefios de la tierra (Buenos Aires: Editorial Libreria Lorraine, 1974).
26. Ibid., p. 69.
27. Ibid.
28. Mario Szichman, Los judios del Mar Dulce (BuenosAires: Galeria Sintesis 2000, 1971), p.
134.
29. Mario Szichman, La verdadera crdnica falsa (Buenos Aires: Centro Editor de AmCrica
Latina, 1972), p. 26.
White Slavery Writings
30. Szichman, Los judios del Mar Dulce, p. 136.
3I.Mario Szichman, A las 20:2j nuestra sefioraen86 en la inmortalidad (Hanover, N.H. Edi-
ciones del Norte, 1981),p. 120.
32. Szichman, Los judios del Mar Dulce, p. 135.
33. Szichman, A las 20:25 la setiora entr6 en la inmortalidad, p. 33.
34. Ibid.
35. Moacyr Scliar, 0 ciclo das dguas (Porto Alegre: Editora Globo, 1978).
36. Londres, El camino de Buenos Aires, p. 169.
37. Isaac B. Singer, Passions (Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett Books, I~SI),p. 14;Sholern Asch,
Motke the Thief (New York: Putnarn, 1935);Sholem Aleichem, "The Man from Buenos Aires,"
in Teuye's Daughters (New York: Crown, 1958).
Early Zionist Activities Among
Sephardim in Argentina
Victor A. Mirelman
Even after the Balfour Declaration and through the ~gzo's,Zionist ac-
tivities in Argentina were concentrated among the country's Ashkena-
zim. Some of the immigrants from Eastern Europe had come in touch
with Hovevei Zion groups in their towns and cities of origin, and oth-
ers had developed a warmth toward Jewish national aspirations
through the various organs of propaganda, especially the Yiddish
press, and through the many Zionist political and cultural associa-
tions. The Sephardic groups in Argentina, on the other hand, re-
mained at best lukewarm to Zionist aspirations for many years after
the Balfour Declaration. The present paper, which supplements my
work on Zionist activities in Argentina from the Balfour Declaration
to 1930, deals with the reactions the Jewish national revival aroused
among the country's different Sephardic groups.'
Dr. MoisCs Cadoche, a lawyer and president of the Zionist society
Bene Kedem of Argentina, declared in an interview in London, in
March 1928, that "Zionist activity among the Sephardim of my coun-
try" dated back only to the end of 1926, "the first time that a delegate
came to bring the Zionist message to the Sephardim of South America
in a language they could understand.'' According to Cadoche, the
main reason that the newly founded Bene Kedem did not join the Fed-
eracicjn Sionista Argentina was because "we do not understand each
other. We do not understand Yiddish, and their [Ashkenazic]Hebrew
192 American Jewish Archives
pronunciation is strange to us. We respect the work they are doing, but
in order to arouse our own people, we must speak to them in a way
they ~nderstand."~ Though differences with Ashkenazim were a natu-
ral barrier for Sephardim, there were internal factors within the
Sephardic communities that prompted their reticence vis-a-vis Zionist
work. We shall touch upon these factors later on in this paper.
Cadoche was referring to Dr. Ariel Bension7stour of Latin America
during the latter part of 1926 and the beginning of 1927. Bension7s
visit was the answer of the World Zionist Organization to the need to
involve the growing Sephardic communities around the world in
Zionist endeavors. Bension was mainly concerned with Argentina,
where a considerable Sephardic population had settled. Before his visit
several Sephardic groups in Buenos Aires had initiated Zionist activi-
ties, but little had been accomplished.
The first Sephardim to settle in Argentina came from North Africa,
especially Morocco. By 1880 several Moroccan Jews were living in
Buenos Aires, and more arrived later. By the turn of the century a few
of them had achieved financial stability and even ~ e a l t hThus,
. ~ not
surprisingly, the emerging Zionist leadership tried to involve them in
national work. At the initiative of "Liga Dr. Herzl," an early Zionist
society, founded in Buenos Aires in 1899, an Argentine Zionist Con-
gress was convened. Meeting in Buenos Aires, on April 16-18, 1904,
and attended by delegates from Jewish societies in the capital, as well
as from the cities in the interior and the Jewish agricultural settle-
ments, the Congress sought means of bolstering the propagation of
Zionist ideals among the Jewish population of the country. Two of the
sponsoring societies belonged to the Moroccan community: Congre-
gaci6n Israelita Latina, the oldest Sephardic synagogue in Argentina,
founded in 1891, and Hebra Gemilut Hassadim, a burial and charita-
ble society.' In practical terms the role of the Moroccan Jews at the
Congress was minor when compared to that of the Ashkenazic Jews.
Nonetheless, some of the Moroccans were appointed to positions of
leadership, doubtless with the intent of ensuring their support for
Zionist ideals. Thus Isaac BenzaquCn was appointed vice-president of
the Congress, and Abraham Benchetrit was a member of the com-
mittee.6
As a result of the Congress, a Federaci6n Sionista Argentina (not to
be confused with the Federation of the same name founded in 1913)
Early Zionist Activities I93
came into being. Two prominent leaders of Congregaci6n Israelita
Latina, Mair Cohen, its president, and Yona Migueres, a past secre-
tary, were elected vice-president and secretary, respectively, of the
Federaci6n Sionista Argentina.' Moreover, in line with a recommen-
dation by the Argentine Zionist Congress, a biweekly Zionist maga-
zine in Spanish was created in order to reach those Jews who did not
understand Yiddish, especially the Sephardim. Isaac Bentata, an active
leader of the Moroccan Jews, helped in the editing of El Sionista dur-
ing its early stages.8
Two years later, in 1906, Adolfo Crenovich of the Federaci6n
Sionista Argentina reiterated in a letter to the Zionist Action Commit-
tee in Cologne, Germany, that the two Moroccan synagogues in
Buenos Aires, Congregacion Israelita Latina and Ez Hayim, continued
to sympathize with Z i ~ n i s mIn. ~March 1907, in a long report to Co-
logne describing the overall Jewish situation in Argentina, the coun-
try's Zionist leaders mentioned the formation of two small Zionist
groups by Moroccan Jews in the interior, one in Villa Mercedes, Prov-
ince of San Luis, and the other in Margarita, Province of Santa Fe.
However, toward the end of the report, the correspondents asserted
that among the Spanish (i.e., Moroccan) Jews, "some are religious fa-
natics, who see in Zionism a blasphemy of the Messianic idea."'" This
last statement clearly reflects the existence among Moroccan Jews of a
strong religious undercurrent militating against the adoption of a pos-
itive political posture with regard to Jewish national goals. This atti-
tude would appear even more strongly among the Ladino-speaking
Jews from the Balkans and the Arabic-speaking Jews from Syria (both
Aleppo and Damascus) who settled in Argentina in much larger num-
bers than their Moroccan brethren around the turn of the century and
thereafter.
The impact of the Balfour Declaration, however, was reflected posi-
tively at the Congregacion Israelita Latina. A few days before the cele-
bration of the first anniversary of the Declaration, the congregational
board resolved "to adhere to the celebrations programmed for next
November 2 [I 9 I 81, by buying a box for the performance that FSA is
sponsoring at the Opera Theater; participating in the public manifes-
tation on Nov. 3 ;celebrating a special ceremony during the morning
services of Saturday, Nov. 2; sending circular letters to all members to
adhere to the celebrations by closing their businesses and displaying
I94 American Jewish Archives
flags in front of their houses.""
The Moroccan community, however, remained cool to the Jewish
national aspirations. Some sparks of activity were evinced during
Herzl's lifetime but subsided shortly after his death. Again, at the mo-
ment of Jewish pride and renewed hopes in Zion as a consequence of
the Balfour Declaration, support was given to the efforts of the Fed-
eraci6n Sionista Argentina, but when the enthusiasm gave way to
more realistic analyses in the political sphere, support of the national
cause also decreased. During the Keren Hayesod campaign of 1924,
the FSA sent a long letter to Congregaci6n Israelita Latina asking for a
contribution, but the congregation's board answered "that this soci-
ety is strictly religious, and they are not authorized [to approve expen-
ditures] to this end.""
Some initiatives also took place among Ladino- and Arabic-speak-
ing Jews before 1926. Jews from Turkey and the island of Rhodes
founded Bene Sion in 1914 for Zionist work. After the Balfour Decla-
ration its membership increased somewhat, but shortly afterwards it
was discontinued." Another group of Arabic-speaking Sephardic
Jews, originally from Eretz Israel and Syria, founded Geulat Sion in
19 I 6, and participated in the popular demonstration of 1917 together
with the rest of the Zionists. It was probably members of this group
who published A1 Gala, a short-lived fortnightly periodical printed in
Arabic. The issue of A1 Gala for December 28, 1917, was entirely de-
voted to developments in Palestine and in the Zionist world, including
several articles on Palestine and the Jews, and others on General Allen-
by, Theodor Herzl, agriculture among the Jews, and even the pogroms
of I 88 I in Russia.14Geulat Sion sent three of its most prominent mem-
bers to the Fifth Land Conference of Argentine Zionists in 1919. Ha-
cham Shaul Setton Dabbah, serving the Jewish community of
Aleppine origin, was invited to the conference as a special guest, but
due to the fact that the majority of the speakers insisted on expressing
their views in Yiddish, the Sephardic participants left the gathering.15
In I 921, due principally to the language problem, both Spanish- and
Arabic-speaking Sephardim decided to establish a Zionist Federation
independent of the FSA.16The formation of the Centro Sionista Sefara-
di did not take place until 1925, however. It initiated some small-scale
activities in the capital and some of the cities of the interior, and during
Bension's visit served as an instrumentality for his educational pro-
Early Zionist Activities 195
gram and for his efforts to organize a network of Sephardic Zionist
clusters." Nonetheless, throughout the 1920's the great majority of
the country's Sephardim remained far removed from the Zionist ideal.
Bension's labors opened the door to national work for the Sephardim
in Argentina, but even if there were cordial relations between Bene Ke-
dem and the FSA, the former being in direct connection with London,
200 American Jewish Archives
a major collaboration between Sephardim and Ashkenazim was not
effected via Zionism. Meanwhile, the WUSJ sent Shabbetai Djaen,
rabbi in Monastir and one of the founders of WUSJ, as its delegate to
South and North America. He arrived in Buenos Aires in April 1927,
just before Passover, and during his stay in Argentina visited Roshrio,
Mendoza, and other centers with Sephardic population^.^^ Djaen soon
aroused the suspicions of Argentina's Zionist leaders, including the
leaders of Bene Kedem. Dr. MoisCs Cadoche, at the time secretary of
Bene Kedem, mentioned on several occasions that Djaen was playing a
double role. On the one hand he spoke highly of Zionism as an ideal,
and on the other, he spoke against the Zionist Organization and its
personnel, demanding that the Sephardim send their contributions on-
ly to the WUSJ.3'
In 1928, Cadoche became the president of Bene Kedem, and in the
aforementioned interview in London with Zionist leaders he asserted
that "the WUSJ.. .in spite of its pretended Zionist tendencies, only
created obstacles for us, and made our Zionist work much more diffi-
cult.. .trying to convince us to change our allegian~e."~'In a cam-
paign to discredit the Zionist Organization in the eyes of Sephardic
communities all over the world, the WUSJ published some of its at-
tacks in an independent Sephardic publication which had a large fol-
lowing among Sephardim all over South and Central America and in
Morocco. These articles argued that the Zionist Organization did not
help the Sephardim in Palestine and did not appoint Sephardim to
posts in its bureaucratic hierarchy. The WUSJ would do a better job."
At the end of 1928, after a visit to the United States, Djaen returned
to Argentina. With the help of some leaders of the Moroccan Jews
(Congregaci6n Israelita Latina) and the Jews from Turkey (Comun-
idad Israelita Sefaradi), he formed a Consistorio Rabinico to deal with
rabbinical questions among Sephardic Jews. He also became Gran Ra-
bin0 of the Moroccan and Turkish Jews. Meanwhile, Akiva Ettinger,
the Argentine delegate of the Keren Hayesod, proposed to the central
officein Jerusalem that Djaen be asked to spend four months working
among the Sephardim as part of the annual fund-raising campaign.
The first 3,000 pounds he collected would go to the Keren Hayesod;
30 percent of anything over that amount would be given to the WUSJ.
The central office approved, and for some time Djaen handled this
work, though without great success. The Keren Hayesod approached
Early Zionist Activities 20 I
Djaen again on the eve of the enlargement of the Jewish Agency, this
time asking him to permit the inclusion of his name, along with the
names of Chief Rabbis and teachers in all the countries where the or-
ganization was active, on a circular sponsoring Keren Hayesod7swork
as provider for the Jewish Agency. Despite the recognition of his
standing that these invitations reflected, Djaen was already complain-
ing about his personal situation in Buenos Aires. In June 1930, the
Consistorio Rabinico was permanently closed, having accomplished
little, and soon after Djaen left the country for Europe.34
Bene Kedem initiated its Zionist activities with energy and enthusi-
asm, but as often happens, once its founder-in this case Ariel Ben-
sion-left, and contacts with him became more diluted, the
organization languished. Bene Kedem published a booklet containing
a "Call to Sephardim" by Bension and salutations by Weizmann, So-
kolow, Sir Alfred Mond, president of Keren Hayesod in England, and
Isaac Nissensohn, from the FSA. The goals of Zionism and the func-
tions of each of its institutions and funds were explained in this publi-
cation, emphasizing the partjcular interests of the Sephardim." The
organization was chiefly involved in financial affairs, promoting a
shekel campaign. During its first two and a half years of activities, un-
til May 1929, Bene Kedem did poorly even in the distribution of she-
kalim. Ettinger in 1928, and Pazi, as Keren Hayesod delegate in 1929,
believed there was no hope of effective action among Sephardim. Pazi
wrote, just before the Jerusalem riots of 1929, that Djaen could help
with the shekel campaign, although he was convinced that "for Keren
Hayesod it is impossible to do anything among Se~hardim."'~
Notes
I. Silvia Schenkolewski, "Di Zionistishe Bavegung in Argentine fun I 897-1917" [The Zionist
movement in Argentina during 1897-19171, Pinkas fun der Kehila (Buenos Aires), 1969, pp.
101-130.
2. Victor A. Mirelman, "Zionist Activities in Argentina from the Balfour Declaration to
1930,'' in Studies in the History of Zionism, ed. Yehuda Bauer, Moshe Davis, and Israel Kolatt
(Jerusalem, 1976), pp. 188-223 (Hebrew).
3. Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem (hereafter cited as CZA), zq 3579111 (1928); also in
New Judea, 4, no. 11 (April 27, 1928).
4. O n the migration of Sephardic Jews from North Africa and the Ottoman Empire to Argenti-
na, see Victor A. Mirelman, "The Jews in Argentina (189-1930): Assimilation and Particu-
larism" (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1973), pp. 33-43.
5 . CZA Z1 (405), # I 4 (1904).
6. CZA Z I (405), Enrique Rubinsky and Esteban Crenovich to Vienna, May 5,1904. Benza-
quen was vice-president of Congregaci6n Israelita Latina (CIL) in 1903, cf. Minutes of ibid., Sep-
tember 20, 1903; Benchetritwas vice-president in 1899, secretary in 1905, and later on president
of CIL, cf. Minutes, passim.
7. El Sionista (Buenos Aires), I, no. 12 (December I , 1904): 6.
8. CZA Z.B. Koln B.Ig 123, fasc. 3, "Report on the History of Zionism in Argentina," by J. L.
Liachovitzky, A. Crenovich, G. Dabin, and G. Zeitlin, March 14, 1907, 22 pp.
204 American Jewish Archives
9. CZA Z.B. Koln B.1g 123, fasc. I.
10. See note 8.
11. CIL, Minutes, October 30, 1918.
12. Ibid., August 3, 1924.
13. La Luz 12, no. 8 (April 17,1942): 184-186, in a report on the antecedents of the Centro
Sionista Sefaradi presented by Maurice Alacid to the First Sephardic Convention.
14. A1 Gala (Arabic; Hagolah in Hebrew), I, nos. 13-14 (December 28, 1917).
IS. Habima Haivrit I, no. 6 (Elul-Tishre 1921): I I f. The three delegates from GeulatSion to
the Zionist Congress in Argentina were Josi Cassuto, Yedidiah Abulafia, and Jacobo Setton. Cf.
Habima Haivrit 5 (1925): 37.
16. Habima Haivrit I, no. 6 (1921): 11 f.
17. Cf. note 13.
18. The Third Zionist Conference in Argentina tried to encourage Sephardim (cf. Schenko-
lewski, "Di Zionistishe Bevegung in Argentine," p. I IS), as did the Twelfth Conference (cf. Se-
manario Hebreo, May 23, 1930, p. 3).
19. Cf. the suggestion of Moises Senderey in Habima Haivrit I, no. 7 (December 1921): 11.
20. HabimaHaivrit I, no. I (Nisan 1921): 2; reproduced in I. L. Gorelik, Be'eretz Nod [In the
land of Nod] (Buenos Aires, 1943), p. 135. Cf. also Atideinu, no. I Uanuary 1926): I f.
21. Israel (Mundo Hebraico Argentino) had correspondents in eleven provinces.
22. Arabic-speaking Jews put out, in 1917, the fortnightly A1 Gala, of which only one number
was available. Cf. above, note 14.
23. El Sionista was directed by J. S. Liachovitzky. Only forty-seven numbers of this fortnightly
were published.
24. Especially at the end of 1926, and during 19zg-1930, Semanario Hebreo published news
and articles about Sephardim in Buenos Aires, coinciding with visits of Sephardic personalities or
emissaries from Zionist centers in Jerusalem.
25. Cf. "El Silencio de 10s Sefaradim," Semanario Hebreo, August 23, 1924, p. I.
26. Cf. the summary of Report o f the World Union of Sephardic Jews for the period Iyar
5684-Elul 5686 (approx. April 1924September 1926) at CZA Zq 35791.
27. Cf. CZA Zq 2412, letters from Bension to the Zionist Organization (London), dated Men-
doza, September 22,1926, and Buenos Aires, September 29,1926; also s z 519, ~ Bension to Dr.
Leo Hermann (Keren Hayesod, Jerusalem), November 9, 1926.
28. CZA Zq 35791, FSA to Keren Hayesod Uersualem), December 12, 1926.
29. The quotations are from the letters mentioned in notes 27 and 28. Hacham Shaul Setton's
participation in Agudat Israel is asserted in the letter cited in note 28, and in CZA KHq 4531,
notes on Akiva Ettinger's conversation with Shmuel Pazi and Schwam, Jerusalem, January 21,
1929. The Argentine branch of Agudat Israel was founded in 1920, and Hacham Setton joined in
some capacity. Cf. Habima Haivrit I, no. 6 (1921): 14. In his collection of Responsa, Dibber
Shaul Uerusalem, 1928), Hacham Setton deals with the question whether in Argentina, which
has opposite seasons to Eretz Israel, Jews should include the petition for rain and wind in their
prayers-which is done during the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere-according to the
climate of Israel, or during the actual winter in Argentina. His answer was that Jews should fol-
low the seasons of their place of dwelling, which is the custom of the Aleppine community in
Buenos Aires, contrary to the practice accepted in all other synagogues in the country. For Ha-
cham Setton's position on the program of studies at the Talmud Torah, see Yesod Hadath, Min-
utes, February 22, 1928; also Yesod Hadath, Minutes o f General Assemblies, March 25, 1928,
and March 10, 1929.
30. CZA Zq 35791, Zionist Organization (Jerusalem) to all Zionist Federations and Organi-
zations in the Diaspora, December 7, 1926.
Early Zionist Activities 20.5
The Peruvian Jewish author and poet Isaac Goldemberg aroused con-
siderable attention with the publication several years ago of his first
novel, The Fragmented Life of Don Jacobo Lerner, which provided
English readers with a glimpse into the life of the Jewish community of
Peru. Now, with his new collection of poems, Just Passing Through
(Hanover, N.H.: Ediciones del Norte, 198I), Goldemberg attempts to
bridge two cultures-Jewish and Inca-that are so distinct that possibly
only the sensibilities of a poet could establish a connection between
them.
Haggadah
Lesson
* Wiracocha: the principal Inca god. t Manko Capac: the first Inca.
American Jewish Archives
In the first circle,
Karl Marx sits on a wooden bench
using his hand as a fan.
The prophet Jeremiah
fights off the heat by singing psalms.
In the second circle,
Solomon carefully studies
the stones from his Temple.
On some yellowing rolls of paper,
Moses draws hieroglyphics.
Christ dreams of Pontius Pilate
in the third circle.
Freud's clinical eye
follows every move he makes.
In the fourth circle,
Spinoza edits
a history of the Marranos.
In the fifth circle,
Jacob wrestles with a devil.
Cain and Abel
treat each other like brothers.
In the sixth circle,
Noah rides drunk on a zebra.
Einstein searches for atoms
in the space between rocks.
In the final circle,
Kafka tilts his telescope
and bursts out laughing.
One Day
One day
a man wakes up seized
by an unbearable fear
he feels like a monster
eating itself up from inside
a little at a time
He shouts he struggles .
curses himself outloud
Reaching out he touches his childhood
floats toward his memories
turns around
comes face to face with himself
crying
tired of knowing
he'll always be
both man and monster
taking up too many spaces
He falls asleep he backs off from his teeth
his nails
he speaks again
changes his name
hides his past
American Jewish Archives
sheds his skin considers
then rejects suicide
chases the monster off
and calms down
sleeps
until one day
when he least expects it
he wakes up
A Peddler's Memories
Anniversary
They must have seen him with neckties under his arms
every winter in the city
they must have asked him what's it worth
how much
for this summer tie
on those passing days
And Gosovsky walking all his life from Jiron de la
Union to Colmena Avenue
must have let them go at wholesale prices
or let them
fly from the city rooftops
at bargain rates
he would've used them on credit to keep warm
every winter
setting up stands full of sunlight on all
the quiet corners of Lima
All his life blue-eyed Gosovsky would've
dragged his feet
to the whorehouse on Jiron Huatica
lit up back alleys and shabby rooms with his
milky circumcised erection
crawled on his knees to the Banco Popular
reached up to the teller's window Peruvian coins
encrusted on his hands
his body searching for a place to sleep
each night
every morning he would've used his key
to open all the hotels in Lima
Just Passing Through
until they saw him die face down
with his feet
his hands
his whole body
Chronicles
- -
Introduction
Research Methodology
Age and sex. The age and sex characteristics of the respondents are
shown in Table I. The group that participated in the study was made
up of men and women between the ages of twenty-one and seventy-
four. Twenty-nine of the respondents (8 percent), the largest single
group, were from the thirty to thirty-nine age bracket, and seven ( 3
percent), the smallest group, were from the sixty to seventy-four
bracket. In the intermarriage categories, most of the respondents were
between twenty and thirty-nine years old (60.6 percent), while in the
endogamous category the highest concentration was found in the for-
ty to fifty-nine age bracket (55.0 percent). The majority of the re-
spondents in the intermarriage categories were male (66.5 percent). In
the endogamous category the distribution was more balanced: 55.0
percent male and 45.0 percent female.
Place of birth. Table LA shows that the respondents were predomi-
nantly first-generation Brazilians born in SPo Paulo City. Of the sixty-
eight first-generation Brazilians, the majority (66.2 percent) were
intermarried. This proportion grew even higher among the thirty-
three second-generation Brazilians (84.9 percent). The lowest inci-
dence of intermarriage was found among the foreign-born (47.9
percent). Thus the population studied showed a clear tendency to in-
218 American Jewish Archives
termarriage as we pass from immigrants to second-generation Brazil-
ians (see Table 2B).
Education. The educational characteristics of the respondents are
shown in Table 3A. Most of them had a university education, al-
though fewer females than males had attained this level of education
(61.7 percent and 79.2 percent respectively). The second-generation
Brazilians included the highest proportion of university graduates
(87.9 percent) as compared to the first-generation Brazilians and the
foreign-born (75.5 percent and 43.4 percent respectively). The data in
Table 3B make it evident that the Jewish conversionary group had the
greatest number of respondents with a university education, and that
the endogamous group registered the lowest.
The Jewish partner. Table 4 shows the sex of the Jewish partners in
the various groups. There was a clear predominance of male Jewish
partners in the Jewish conversionary category. This can be explained
by two facts: ( I ) conversion to Judaism is easier for women than for
men, and (2) in a male-oriented society like Brazil, women tend to sub-
mit more easily than men to their spouses' way of life. The sexual dis-
tribution of the Jewish partners was more balanced in the mixed and
endogamous categories.
Total 84 40 124
Total 40 4 40 do IZA
Total 40 100.0
*Multiple choice.
~
1
Aspects of Intermarriage
Conclusions
229
The data assembled in the study described in the preceding pages sup-
port the following conclusions:
I. Among Brazilian Jews, the frequency of intermarriage tends to be
higher among native-born university graduates.
2. There is a demonstrable relationship between the Jewish Educa-
tion Influence Degree and marital pattern; the higher the JEID, the
greater the observed tendency toward endogamous marriage; the low-
er the JEID, the greater the observed tendency toward mixed mar-
riage.
3. On the basis of the factors comprising the JEID, growing up in a
home where Jewish traditions are observed is one of the most positive
influences on. the process of Jewish identification-leading to endoga-
mous marriage or Jewish conversionary marriage.
4. The higher the JEID of the Jewish partner, the more likely that the
couple, whatever the marriage category, will raise their children as
Jews.
5. Affiliation with Jewish communal organizations was relatively
high in the endogamous category but tended to decrease somewhat in
the Jewish conversionary category and still more in the mixed-mar-
riage category.
6 . Respondents from the different marriage categories tended to de-
fine the concept of "Jew" in different ways. The definitions given by
members of the endogamous group were the narrowest, those given by
the Jewish conversionary respondents were somwhat broader, and
those given by the mixed-marriage respondents were the broadest of
all.
7. Respondents whose parents had strong views against intermar-
riage were less likely to intermarry.
8. Respondents from the endogamous and Jewish conversionary
categories were more likely to underline the unfavorable aspects of in-
termarriage than were those from the mixed-marriage category.
3. Barmat Mitzvah:
Yes I
No 0
The Jewish Education Influence Degree results from adding together the weights assigned each
item, with a range of o to 6.
Notes
The research project described in this article was conducted on a grant from the Memorial Foun-
dation for Jewish Culture.
I . The intermarriage categories outlined here are broadly the same as those used by E. Mayer
and C. Sheingold, Intermarriage and thelewish Future (New York: American Jewish Commit-
tee, 1979).
2. Simon N. Herman, ]ewish Identity (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage, 1977). p. 39.
A Demographic Profile of
Latin American Jewry
Judith Laikin Elkin
Characteristics of
Latin American Jewish Populations
1971-75 10.5
1976-80 (est.) 11.0
- -
Summing Up
Judith Laikin Elkin is the author of Jews of the Latin American Re-
publics (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1980) and
Latin American Jewish Studies (Cincinnati: American Jewish Ar-
chives, 1980)~and convenor of the Latin American Jewish Studies As-
sociation.
Notes
I. The United States Current Population Survey of 1957 posed a religious question in a trial
run for the 1960 census. The results were suppressed at the instance of Jewish organizations that
regarded the collection of separate official statistics on religion as a breach of the First Amend-
ment. The figures were released ten years later as a result of passage of the Freedom of Informa-
tion Act and have been a fertile source of information.
2. U. 0. Schmelz, Jewish Population Studies, 1961-68 (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, Insti-
tute of Contemporary Jewry, and London: Institute of Jewish Affairs, 1970), p. 104.
3. U. 0. Schmelz and Sergio Della Pergola, Hademografia shel hayehudim be-Argentina ube-
artzot aherot shel America halatinit (Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 1974).
248 American Jewish Archives
4. Henrique Rattner, Tradiqao e mudanqa: A comunidade judaica em Sdo Paulo (SHo Paulo:
Atica, 1970).
5. Tovye Meisel, "Yidn in Meksike," Algemeine Entsiclopedia 5 (New York: Dubnow Fund,
1957b
6. Ira Rosenswaike, "The Jewish Population of Argentina," Jewish Social Studies 22 (October
1960): 195-214.
7. Ibid., p. 201.
8. Ibid., p. t o t . At that date, the League of Nations Statistical Yearbook gave the Argentine
birth rate as 29.7, the death rate as I 2.8, and the rate of natural increase as 16.9 forthe country as
a whole.
9. Schmelz, Jewish Population Studies, p. 38.
10. Throughout the remainder of this article, national demographic data are drawn from
Charles L. Taylor and Michael C. Hudson, World Handbook of Political and Social indicators
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972).
11. Schmelz, Jewish Population Studies, p. 14.
12.Schmelz and Della Pergola, Hademografia shel hayehudim, p. 54.
13. Eduard E. Arriaga, New Life Tables for Latin American Populations in the Nineteenth
and Twentieth Centuries (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1968) pp. 1-4.
14. Meisel, "Yidn in Meksike," p. 407.
IS. Rattner, Tradiqao e mundan~a,pp. 23-24.
16. Jacob Shatzky, "Guatemala," Jewish Journal ofSociology 7 (December 1965): 302-303.
17. Schmelz and Della Pergola, Hademografia shel hayehudim, p. 45.
18. Rattner, Tradi~aoe mundanqa, pp. 24 and 178.
19. Shatzky, "Guatemala," p. 302.
to. Schmelz and Della Pergola, Hademografia shel hayehudim, p. 65.
21. Rattner, Tradiciio e mudanqa, p. 33.
22. Comiti Judio Americano, Comunidades judt'as de Latinoamkrica (BuenosAires: Editorial
In discussing South Africa one should note that phrases such as "the
inalienable rights of citizens," "social justice for all," and "human
equality" are experienced as foreign, about as alien there as frogs' legs
and squid. In large measure this is because, perhaps more than any
other "Western" country, South Africa is built upon the old imperial
principle of "divide and rule."
Every society has its own peculiar array of horrors which it seeks to
hide from public consciousness. However, the abhorrent aspects of
daily nondramatic life in the land of apartheid are worthy of special at-
tention.
Growing up in and emigrating from South Africa and settling in the
United States, I have found few written sources which capture its
unique reality. Writers tend either to avoid dealing with unpleasant as-
pects of life in that beautiful land or else to use the tired images of po-
litical rhetoric to rehash several by now well-publicized South African
realities: banning and house-arrest, pass-books and legalized racial
discrimination.
South African Jewish Voices, an anthology of writings by Jews from
or living in South Africa, edited by Robert and Roberta Kalechofsky,
is a notable exception, for in it are pages that vividly bring home not
only the loveliness of the country, but also the often frightening in-
comprehensibility and grotesqueness in the lives of its people.
As in any anthology the level of contributions varies. The poetry is
little more than second-rate Rod McKuen embroidered with fairly
standard Jewish or sometimes African themes. Similarly, also, much
of the narrowly "Jewish" fiction or prose is eminently forgettable.
However, there are selections whose images and phrases make aspects
of South African life as clear as a nightmare.
For instance, in "Light Dark," Rose Moss begins by describing the
duck that a family once had for Sunday dinner, when the narrator was
a child. She tells how she saw the raw duck lying in its white enamel
254 American Jewish Archives
dish-"Ants were coming out of the hole where the neck had been
chopped off. The whole cavity was creepy with them coming in and
out in a ribbon like a spill of black, glittering blood.. .[pouring] down
into the basin like a pool" (pp. 107-108).
Later that day this duck was served to family and guests as the main
course of an elegant dinner. The little girl was not allowed to speak of
what she had seen; no one wanted to make a fuss: "So it became hid-
den, in the place we hide things we were taught as children not to talk
about" (p. 108).
In a few short paragraphs Moss then dusts off and exhibits a few
characteristically South African horror scenes: "respect for authority,
school spirit, neatness and ladylike manners" (p. I O ~ ) ,domestic ser-
vants without legal rights, undernourished black children begging for
pennies, white ladies who raise prize flowers and worry about the
cracks in their swimming pools while deliberately ignoring children
who die or go blind, deaf, or mad.
In another story, "Invisible Worm," Lionel Abrahams writes how
his hero reacted to unpleasant facts: "He contained the shock. But as
one contains an internal haemorrhage" (p. 247). The title of this story
is taken from William Blake's "The Sick Rose," a poem that speaks
about the invisible worm whose "dark, secret love / Does thy life de-
stroy."
This is a recurrent theme of this anthology: It is the dark, hidden
facts that destroy. Dan Jacobson, in "Beggar My Neighbour," writes
of a white boy who learns of his love for two black children, whom he
has mistreated, only after he becomes ill, after any possibility of rela-
tionship with them is over.
In her story "The Stench," Jillian Becker writes about blacks who in
order to protect one another keep a secret from white officialdom by
deliberately boiling a horse, thus forcing the whites, "the enemy," to
flee the "spreading, rising, inescapable stench" (p. 46).
It is in selections such as those here referred to that South African
Jewish Voices is the most powerful. These are, of course, general state-
ments and images, Jewish perhaps only in their indignation, or in their
ability to see what relative outsiders cannot but see, while those of the
establishment remain content.
In a country where divisions are emphasized and prized, the Jew's
sense of a separate identity receives a measure of societal support. But
Book Reviews 25 5
As the twentieth century rapidly reaches its end, scholars are begin-
ning to take a long hard look at the experience of Jews in America dur-
ing the past century. The study of this period will most certainly
include an analysis of the "facts" of American Jewish history and the
reciprocal influence of Jews on the development of American life and
the effect of this country's majority culture on its Jewish population.
Milton Plesur, author of a new volume entitled Jewish Life in Twenti-
eth Century America, has recognized the need for the latter. He writes
that "challenge and accommodation are the twin themes of Jewish life
in this country: the challenge of protecting traditional values while ac-
commodating the exigencies of life in the new world.'' Dr. Plesur's
book is one of the first attempts to explain this phenomenon of twenti-
eth-century American Jewish life to the high school or beginning col-
lege student. From a conceptual standpoint, Plesur's text is a
pioneering effort, yet from an educational viewpoint, the book falls
short.
When a secondary school teacher/college professor makes a deci-
sion to adopt a textbook for a course, the book must be carefully ana-
lyzed, accurately and in detail. The resulting analysis provides the
basis for making sound judgments about the text's quality and appro-
priateness for a particular instructional situation. With a book such as
Jewish Life in Twentieth Century America, one needs to be aware of
three general educational areas: the physical properties of the book,
the content area of the book, and the instructional properties of the
book.
Knowledge about the physical properties of a textbook is obviously
an important factor in its curriculum adoption. No one would wish to
purchase a text where quality was in doubt. From the aspect of aes-
thetic appeal, Jewish Life in Twentieth Century America is unusually
plain. The typeface is uninteresting and on the large side, which sug-
gests an appeal to a more immature reader. The pages are filled with
Book Reviews 257
long, unbroken paragraphs of the facts-and-figures variety. Particu-
larly disappointing is the section of photographs. Few in number, the
photographs are mostly of individuals, and the majority of these are
from the entertainment industry. This kind of textbook should be en-
hanced with more visuals of Jewish life in America from the teeming
Lower East Side to youngsters celebrating the Shabbat at a present-
day Jewish summer camp.
A key dimension of a textbook as part of a curriculum is the con-
tent: the facts, concepts, generalizations, skills, and attitudes to be
conveyed. The introduction to lewish Life in Twentieth Century
America is quite helpful, as it includes a brief but adequate overview of
the sequence and scope of the text. Dr. Plesur also explicitly states the
theme of the book, which is "how the American-Jewish profile
emerged." Yet one would hope that a book for high school or early
college years would treat the readerllearner with more intellectual re-
spect. This text is strictly a "knowing and recalling" book. Plesur
could have given us an upper-level book which used, for example, the
inquiry approach-where students are encouraged to use the content
as a springboard for making their own discoveries about twentieth-
century Jewish life in America.
Finally, one must analyze the instructional properties of the book.
This is a difficult task, for it requires a judgment about comprehensi-
bility, motivational techniques, and other aspects of instructional
properties that affect learning. It is in this overall area that Dr. Plesur's
volume is most deficient as a textbook.
Assessment devices, measures of student learning outcomes, are
quite important in a curriculum. To measure a student's progress
while the student is learning the curriculum content or when the stu-
dent has reached the final level of learning is imperative to an instruc-
tional design. If Dr. Plesur had included such a device, the
administrator, teacher, and student would have a clear idea of what
the author hoped would be the learning outcome for the individual
utilizing this textbook.
The motivational properties of Jewish Life in Twentieth Century
America, those elements particularly designed to attract and maintain
the learner's attention, are weak. The book contains few surprises,
questions, or techniques that would excite and arouse the student's in-
terest. It would have been useful if this text were an aid for guiding stu-
258 American Jewish Archives
dents through situations encountered in the "real" world. Instead, the
student is presented with a myriad of facts about Jewish life in this cen-
tury in encyclopedic or reference-book fashion.
Jewish Life in Twentieth Century America does include two very
strong sections. There is no doubt that the annotated bibliography will
be invaluable to the teacher or student. This section is overflowing
with hints and clues to further a more in-depth study covering a tre-
mendous number of areas related to modern Jewish life in America.
The usefulness of a name index and subject index is also notewor-
thy. This is especially so, given the general reference nature of this
book.
Milton Plesur has done a great service to the field of Judaic studies
by writing one of the first high school or college textbooks on an as-
pect of the American Jewish experience. Yet the book cries out for ac-
companying materials, the most important of which would be a
teacher's guide containing such necessary sections as suggested ques-
tions, activities for the class or individual student, and even appropri-
ate films, tapes, and records that would enliven and expand the scope
of this textbook. Without these, the student who reads this text will
have many facts at his disposal but little idea of their contemporary
relevance or their historical meaning.
-Samuel K. Joseph
Samuel K. Joseph is Assistant Professor of Religious Education at the
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati,
Ohio. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles on Jewish edu-
cation.
Brief Notices
Best, Gary Dean. To Free a People: AmericanJewish Leaders and the Jewish Problem in Eastern
Europe, 1890-1914. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 198 2. xi, 240 pp. $27.50
Ever since Senator J. William Fulbright "exposed" the American Jewish lobby as "the most
powerful and efficient foreign policy lobby in American politics," it has been the source of
concern and controversy for a good part of non-Jewish America. The media have hyperbo-
lized its importance and influence, at the same time conveniently forgetting to point out that
America is a nation of political lobbies and lobbyists.
While many American Jews first knew of the existence of such a group of Jewish interests
only during the recent AWACS discussions, Jewish lobbying efforts to influence American
foreign policy were in no sense a sudden creation of the Arkansas senator.
Indeed, the very existence of a Jewish lobby can be traced back to 1840, when the tiny
American Jewish community of the time, in its first-ever act as a self-consciousethnic entity,
asked of the American government that it intercede on behalf of Syrian Jews caught up in the
midst of a blood-libel accusation. A number of other individual causes cklkbres during the
years following the "Damascus Affair" brought out the American Jewish community in pro-
test.
But it was not until the beginning of a sustained and vicious series of oppressive acts against
Jews by the governments of Russia and Rumania in the 1880's that Jewish leaders in America
pushed the State Department to respond to their persecutions. Led by such distinguished
American Jews as Jacob Schiff, Simon Wolf, and Oscar S. Straus, together with other impor-
tant members of the Jewish community, American Jewry sought to induce the government to
protest to the East European authorities. Gary Best's volume on the early history of the Amer-
ican Jewish lobby is also the story of the changes affecting United States foreign policy at a
time when international human rights became an important concern of the American nation-
al interest.
Dinnerstein, Leonard. America and the Survivors of the Holocaust. New York: Columbia Uni-
versity Press, 1982. xiv, 409 pp. $19.95
Leonard Dinnerstein's fine book is a shocking account of a veritable Dark Age in the histo-
ry of America's humanitarian efforts on behalf of the displaced and stateless of our world.
The author paints a vivid portrait of a callous American military forcing Jewish concentra-
tion-camp survivors to live and eat with their former captors, DPs from the Baltic nations
who volunteered their services to the Nazi regime. Dinnerstein also describes the personal at-
titudes of certain American military officers towards Jewish displaced persons, attitudes
which ranged from contempt to hatred, to the feelings expressed by General George Patton,
who viewed the unfortunate victims of Hitler's "final solution" as less than human, as "ani-
mals."
But Dinnerstein is not finished. He then chronicles the history of efforts by American or-
ganizations, Jewish and non-Jewish, to allow the thousands of Jewish refugees stranded in
Germany, the nation that set out to destroy them, to find a new beginning in the United States
of America. Again, one is shocked by the anti-Jewish atmosphere of the period, by the deter-
mined efforts of certain groups in America to keep out the Jewish DPs. One is also shocked by
the role of certain national political leaders in supporting the aims of these groups by setting
out to pass what were in effect anti-Jewish immigration laws.
260 American Jewish Archives
One is indeed disturbed by all of this but not surprised. For the years between 1919 and the
early 1950's stand out as perhaps the most vicious period in the still unwritten history of
American anti-Semitism. And so to the names of such well-known Jew-haters as Henry Ford,
Father Coughlin, and Breckinridge Long, we are now able to add those of Senators Pat Mc-
Carran and William Chapman Revercomb and that of Richard Arens.
Finally, one can assume that Dinnerstein's rather limited view of official American military
and political anti-Semitism reveals only the tip of a very large and very ugly iceberg.
Eisenberg, Azriel, Edited by. Eyewitnesses to AmericanJewish History, Part Four: The American
Jew 1915-1969. New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1982. xiv, 206 pp.
This is the fourth volume of one of the outstanding documentary series on American Jewish
history available to younger religious and secondary school students. In this particular vol-
ume, Dr. Eisenberg presents the actual writings of those American Jews active in helping to
form a united community no longer divided between East European and German identities.
Karp, Abraham J. T o Give Life: The UJA in the Shaping ofthe American Jewish Community.
New York: Schocken Books, 1981. xii, 205 pp. $12.95.
The United Jewish Appeal was formed in 1939 through the mutual efforts of the Joint Dis-
tribution Committee and the United Palestine Appeal. Since that time it has raised billions for
philanthropic purposes, with much of its funding directed to Israel. Professor Karp's admira-
ble, if somewhat brief, account of the internal history of the shaping of the UJA's philosophy
and organizational structure as well as the conflicts which are a part of any successful venture
is highlighted by his contention that the UJA has brought a sense of unity to American Jewish
philanthropic efforts.
Moore, Deborah Dash. B'naiB'rith and the Challenge ofEthnic Leadership. Albany, N.Y.: State
University of New York Press, 1981. x, 288 pp. $18.95
An organizational history, especially when it has the rather suspicious term "commis-
sioned" attached to it, is immediately a cause for prejudgmental skepticism on the part of the
trained historian. Fortunately for B'nai B'rith, the organization which is the subject of De-
borah Dash Moore's history, the author of this commissioned history is beyond any suspi-
cion. Moore, the author of an excellent book on second-generation New York Jews, has
written an organizational history which should serve as a paradigm for future histories of
American Jewish groups.
Moore's volume is solid history in the finest sense. Although she has written the story of
this important American Jewish organization founded in 1843 from the viewpoint of its dis-
tinguished leadership, Moore has not excluded the rank and file. Indeed, the most controver-
sial aspect of her book is the use of the phrase "secular synagogue" to demonstrate the earliest
function of B'nai B'rith as an option to the inchoate and unformed religious community of the
time. Is B'nai B'rith to be recognized as the forerunner of America's "civil Judaism" and the
first effective organization to seek a merger of the Jewish and American identities? Moore's
analysis of B'nai B'rith's recipe for longevity and success-an ability to remain relevant in the
face of changing community needs-is an accurate and perceptive one. No doubt B'nai B'rith
has invoked some part of its "recipe for success" in commissioning a first-rate historian to
write its history.
Plaut, W. Gunther. Unfinished Business: An Autobiography. Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys,
Publishers, 1981. x, 374 pp. $19.95
Brief Notices 261
Rabbi Plaut's autobiography might well be subtitled "From Berlin to Cincinnati to St. Paul
to Toronto." These cities have been the major stopping points in a rabbinic career that has
spanned four decades. Plaut was one of the group of Jewish students who were literally res-
cued from the hands of the Nazis by the well-known efforts of the Hebrew Union College in
Cincinnati to bring them to America from the Hochschule fuer die Wissenschaft des Juden-
tums in Berlin. His achievements in Germany, America, and Canada have been enormous: a
doctorate in law from Berlin University; over a dozen scholarly books on subjects ranging
from commentaries on the Torah to American Jewish history to the history of Reform Juda-
ism; the presidency of the Canadian Jewish Congress; and, finally, a role as a major spokes-
person for American and Candian Jewries. W. Gunther Plaut's autobiography is really the
history of the Jewish experience in the twentieth century.
Schultz, Joseph P., Edited by. Mid-America's Promise: A Profile of Kansas City Jewry. Kansas
City, Mo.: Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City and American Jewish His-
torical Society, 1982. xvii, 405 pp. $25.00
The Kansas City Jewish community has counted among its members a number of national-
ly prominent figures. Names such as Jacob Billikopf, Rabbi Simon Glazer, and President Har-
ry Truman's business partner and confidant, Eddie Jacobson, are but a few of the
well-known. This multi-author approach toward writing the history of that community is a
most promising one. Indeed, it is, on the micro-historical level, exactly the kind of approach
needed to do justice to the history of the national American Jewish experience. Unfortunate-
ly, the essays contributed to this volume are of a highly uneven quality, and this detracts
greatly from an otherwise innovative approach to the writing of community history.
Slavin, Stephen L., and Pradt, Mary A. The Einstein Syndrome: Corporate Anti-Semitism in
America Today. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1982. 187 pp. $ Z O . ~ Q ;
$9.50 (pb)
The authors argue that corporate anti-Semitism exists in America today, a thesis that is not
new. Yet, while the board room is recognized as the last bastion of formal American anti-
Semitism, most of the national Jewish defense organizations have assured the American Jew-
ish community that such anti-Jewish discrimination is on the decline. Slavin and Pradt do not
agree. They find the following chain of events very much in operation today: (I) few major
corporations recruit at colleges with large Jewish enrollments; (2) most major corporations
hire relatively few Jews, given the availability of Jewish college graduates; (3) virtually all of
the Jews hired are placed in "Jewish jobs," especially in jobs where abstract and scientific
thinking are necessary. This sequence of events represents the "Einstein Syndrome" and the
shape of American corporate anti-Semitism.
262 American Jewish Archives
Spanjaard, Barry. Don't Fence Me In! An American Teenager in the Holocaust. Saugus, Calif.: B
& B Publishing (POB 165, 91350). viii, 206 pp. $9.00
Barry Spanjaard was two years old when his parents left Manhattan and America, the city
and country of his birth, to return to their native Holland. The Spanjaard family, as Dutch
Jews, were caught up in the Nazi efforts to exterminate European Jewry. Barry Spanjaard's
book recounts his life in Amsterdam under Nazi rule, his family's subsequent removal to the
Westerbork "transit" camp, and, finally, to the notorious Bergen-Belsen concentration
camp. Despite young Spanjaard's American citizenship, the family endured intense suffering,
and only in January of 1945 did Barry Spanjaard's citizenship status allow his family to be re-
leased from Bergen-Belsen. He finally found his way back to America, but not before he had
lost his father and most of his humanity.
New Poster
Rodgers, Richard, 5, 7, 17, 21, 25, 26, 28, Sio Paulo, Brazil, 135, 216-229 passim,
30 234, 237, 238, 239, 241, 243
Roman Catholicism, 18, 41, 45, 47, 53, 68, "Say It With Music" (Berlin), 23
93, 130, 138, 153, 161, 164, 167. Scheines, Gregorio, 165
See also Anti-Catholicism; Inquisi- Schiff, Jacob, 260
tion; Monastic orders; Priests Schmelz, U. O., 231, 236, 239, 245, 246
Romberg, Sigmund, 10, 13, 17, 21, 24 Schmier, Louis, I 24
Rome, Harold, 28-29 Schoenberg, Arnold, 29
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 23, 28, 108, 252 School Days (revue), 25
Roosevelt, Theodore, 67 Schools, public, 22, 25, 27, 64, 65, 67, 130
Rosario, Argentina, 198, zoo Schoua, Moisis, 199
Rose, Billy, 5, 16, 17, 28 Schultz, Joseph P., 262
Rosenau, William, 77, 82, 130 Schvartzman, Pedro, 172-173, 176
Rosenfeld, Monroe, 3, 4 Schwartz, Arthur, 24-25> 26
Rosenwaike, Ira, 234, 235 Schwartz, Jean, 9, 10, 11, 14
Rosenthal, Trudie (Mrs. Karl), 130 Schwartz, Jordan A., 106-1 I 5
Rosh Hashana, 128, n o Scliar, Moacyr, 184, 185-187
Ross, John E., 49 Scott, Edward W., 130
Rostow, Eugene V., 13 2 Scottsboro Boys, 70
Rotem, Mordechai, I 32 Second Congregations Church (Newport,
Roth, Cecil, 141, 144, 146 R.I.), 98
Roth, Philip, 13 5 Second Vatican Council, 4 I
Rozenrnacher, Germin, 165 "Secular Synagogue," 261
Rubber Survey Committee, U.S., 106 Secunda, Sholom, 3 I
Ruby, Harry, 9 Seesaw (Fields), 24
Russia, 5, 111, 112, 116, 131, 167, 175, Sefer Moreshes Avos: The Heritage of Our
260 Fathers (Kelman & Kelman), 129
Russian Jews Seixas, Moses, 99
in Argentina, 166, I 67 Self-hatred, Jewish, 18, 171, 176
in U.S., 5, 23, 26, 42, 44, 104, 123 Selznick Bros., 6
Russian Revolution, I 7, 26, I 3 I Semanario Hebreo, El (Buenos Aires), 197
Sephardim, 92, 129, 135, 19-205 passim,
242. See also names of communities
Sabbath, 75, 76, 77-78, 84, 85, 161, 173 and groups
"Sadie Salome" (Berlin), 7 "September Song" (Weill), 27
Sadow, Stephen A., 135, 164-177 Sermons and preaching
Saint-Domingue, Haiti, 89-94 in English, 8 I
St. Gregory the Great, Order of, 45 in German, 79, 81
St. Louis Jewish Voice, 81 Feinberg, 128
St. Louis Woman (musical), 22 Feldman, 128
Salonikan Jews, 198 Goldenson, I 28
Sambenito, 159 Goode, 128
Sandow The Great, 8-9 Hahn, 128
Sands, Eugene L., 53, 68 Kaplan, 129
San Francisco, I 3 I Kohler, 79, I 29
San Juan de 10s Remedios, Cuba, I 54 Krauskopf, 79
Santa Fe, Argentina, 198 Landau, 44-45
Santiago, Chile, 236 Landman, 44-45
280 American Jewish Archives
Levy, 84 Soga, 146
Marx, 76 Sokolow, Nahum, 197,201
Newfield, 54-55, 59,I29 Solomon, Hannah, 80
Pereira, 129 "Some Aspects of Intermarriage in the Jew-
Rosenau, 130 ish Community of Sgo Paulo, Brazil"
Wessolowsky, 132 (Krausz), 216-230
"Seven Poems" (Klein), I zg "Somebody Loves Me" (Gershwin), 23
Seville, Spain, 154,159,160 "Something to Remember You By"
Shaare Emeth (St. Louis), 81 (Schwartz), 25
Shabbat Sheni, 78 Somoza, Anastasio, 245
Shaffir, William, 125 Sonneschein, Solomon, H., 81
Shankman, Arnold, I18 "Soon" (Gershwin), 30
Shavuoth, 55 Sopovich, Luisa, 165
Shean, Al, 7 Sosnowski, Saul, 165
"Sheik of Araby, The" (Snyder & Rose), 16 South Africa, 254-256
Shervient, Lithuania, 10 South African Jewish Voices (Kalechofsky
Sholem Aleichem, I 87 & Kalechofsky), reviewed, 254-256
Shpall, Leo, I 16,I 17 South Carolina, 106
Shubert, J. J. ("JAKE"), 6,10 Southern Jewish Historical Society, I24
Shubert, Lee, 6,10 South Highlands Presbyterian Church (Bir-
Shubert, Sam, 6,10 mingham), 62
Shubert Alley, 10 Spanjaard, Barry, 263
Shubert Brothers, 6,9-10, 22 Speculator: Bernard M . Baruch in Washing-
Shubert Ziegfeld Follies, 10 ton, The (Schwartz), reviewed,
Shulman & Goldbert Public Theatre 106-115
(N.Y.C.), 13 Srednicke, Lithuania, 11
"Siam" (song), 14 Stars in Your Eyes (Schwartz), 25
Sicily Island, LA., I 17 Steinberg, Samuel, 3I
"Sick Rose, The" (Blake), 255 Steinhardt, Laurence A., 130
Silver, Louis, 21 "Stench, The" (Becker), 25 5
Simon, Barney, 256 Stiles, Ezra, 98,99
Simonhoff, Harry, 130 Stock market, 106, 114
Sinbad (revue), I 5 Strike Up the Band (Gershwin bros.), 30
Singer, Isaac B., 187 Straus, Oscar, 47,143-144,260
Singerman, Robert, 262 Straus, Roger W., 47
"Singing in the Rain" (Freed), 21 Strong, Josiah, 59
Siofok, Hungary, 13 Sudilkow, Russia, 42
Sionista, El (Buenos Aires), 193,197 Sullivan, Mark L., 107
Slaves and slave-owning, 92,93 "Sunday-Sabbath Movement in American
Slavin, Stephen L., 262 Reform Judaism: Strategy o r Evolu-
Smith, Kate, 3 z tion?, The" (Olitzky), 75-88
Snyder, Ted, 16 "Supper Time" (Berlin), 23
Soboleosky, Marcos, 17-172, 176 Supreme Court, U.S., 250, 251-252
Social gospel movement, 38,52,53,57, Sussman, Lance J., 35-5 I , 126
59-63,7 0 , 71 "Swanee" (Gershwin & Caesar), 11,IS, 26
Socialism, 26,29,123,174,175 Swope, Herbert Bayard, 107
Social justice, 125 Synagogue building, used as church, 99-102
Sociedad Hebraica (Argentina), 168 Synagogue-center, 105
Index 28 I
Syrian Jews, 193, 194, 196, 198, 199, 202 To Give Life: The UJA in the Shaping o f
Systematischer Katechismus des israelischer the American Jewish Community
Religion (Hirsch), 76 (Karp), reviewed, 261
Szemanski, David, 6, 10 Toker, Eliahu, 165
Szichman, Mario, 184-185 Toll, William, 253
Tombstones, 126
"Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye" (Kahn),
"Taking a Chance on Love" (song), 26 11, I 2