THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, November 29, 1985

LADIES
SUITES

FOCUS

Argentine Jews
Are Struggling

BY MILTON JACOBY

Buenos Aires — This is a su-
perb, proud city, easily the most
cosmopolitan, after New York, in
the Americas, and its Jewish
community of more than 200,000
possesses the vitality and sophis-
tication of the city it so proudly
inhabits. It also shares the socio-
economic woes of the new democ-
racy that dawned in 1983 after the
long night of the generals.
Despite prior estimates of twice
the amount, the actual number of
Argentine Jews, including the
50,000 residing outside Buenos
Aires, appears to be a bit less than
a quarter of a million, still one of
the largest communities in the
diaspora. The vast majority are
Ashkenazi, but the 10 percent
who are Sephardic (primarily
Jews who originated in Aleppo,
Syria) are Orthodox and tightly
organized.
On the economic scale, 15 to 20
percent are well-to-do, and about
the same number are poor, suffer-
ing from high unemployment and
a bare subsistence level. The 60
percent comprising the middle
class are finding it more difficult
to maintain their status and are
being forced to eliminate many of
the comforts of life.
A staggering paradox is that
the government of Israel has been
forced twice in recent years to dis-
burse $1 million to the Buenos
Aires community to prevent the
closing of the schools, and negoti-
ations are now in progress for an
extra $750,000 subsidy from
hard-pressed Israel.
Another anomaly is that the
wealthier Argentine Jews refuse
to support basic Jewish institu-
tions and stand by silently, while
Israel must dig down deep into its
nearly depleted treaury to bail out
a far-distant enclave.
Prominent among Jews in high
office are Cesar Jaroslaysky,
majority leader of the House of
Representatives; Dr. Adolfo Gass,
President of the Senate's Foreign
Relations Committee; Dr. Ber-
nardo Grinspun, Secretary of
Planning; and top officers of the
Central Bank. There are 15 to 20
Jewish Deputies in Parliament.
Bear in mind, said Goldberg,
that Argentina is 90 percent
Catholic, and that there is no sep-
aration between church and state.
"Our community," he added,
"not only here, but in the cities of
Cardoba, Mendoza, Rosario, and
throughout, operates within the
framework of a Catholic nation,
but our relations with the Church
ar improving slowly."
Isreal's Ambassador to Argen-
tina, Dov Schmorak, points out
that this is one of the very few
Jewish communities with a pro-
letariat, that "12 to 14 percent
live below the proverty line." Or-
ganized Jewishlife here, he as-
serts, has not been very helpful to
the20,000-30,000 in this category.
There has been an extremely
close relationship between
Argentine Jews and Israel
throughout the years, declared
Schmorak, and he alluded not
only to the many kibbutzim or-
ganized by Argentinians, but to
the current and intensive traffic
between the two nations, th cul-
tural exchanges, and the medical

Continued on Page 27

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