140 11,11ft$41- 11041. 110WriltsUfr M141.1ftsAkrAMOMMU- judy duslancler, i.d.s. ) # interior designer I.• complete design services space planning - color coordination furnishings & accessories OP-ED Specializing in Personalized Interiors First Consultation FREE 356-4282 ‘14 401ft141-eiltiWeltiAltrAtNientsUfr ik$41.4ftsWelft14.P., ‘1 ( DESIGNS IN DECORATOR LAMINATES For High Quality Formica Always At A Great Discount SPECIALIZING IN • desks • wall units • bedroom groupings • dining rooms • credenzas ALSO SPECIALIZING • woods • glass • metals • lucites A South American woman demonstrates against her government. South American Jews: Between Acceptance And Assimilation RABBI RICHARD C. HERTZ 1r he song Don't Cry For Me, Argentina is not heard in Buenos Aires these days. But Eva Peron is very much alive, even from her tomb in the Recoleta Cemetery. The army gen- erals, who took over after Juan Peron, ruthlessly stamped out any human rights in Argentina. They have now been succeeded by a more stable gov- ernment headed by a civilian president, Raul Alfonsin. Still, every Thursday afternoon in front of the Pink Palace (Argentina's equivalent to the White House), mothers gather- to weep for their disappeared loved ones. Anti-Semitic activity of the years following World War II, when the Nazi hierarchy was welcomed by Peron, have subsided, relatively speaking, though no one forgets the Jewish intel- lectuals and students who were kidnap- ped and disappeared. The Pope's recent visit to Argentina preceded our visit by only a few days. Posters of his presence were displayed everywhere. Argentina is a Roman Catholic country, with Spanish their language and strong memories of Spanish colonization. Between 1890 and 1940, four million migrated there, Dr. Hertz, rabbi emeritus of Temple Beth El, recently returned from a visit to South America. mostly Italians and Spaniards who re- sumed their former livelihoods as ag- ricultural laborers. What of the Jews? Baron de Hirsch's Jewish Colonization Association was a plan to answer the czar's pogroms. It brought thousands of Jews trans- planted from the shtetls of the Pale of Settlement to the pampas of Argentina. Between the 1890s and 1930s, many struggled to become gauchos and assimi- late into Argentine society. Though they never achieved the success of Palestine's kibbutzim, their socialist-secularism found expressions in identifying with the land. They became small farmers, cattle herders and yes, Jewish gauchos. Both before and after World War I but especially in the Hitler years of the 1930s, Jews came to Argentina from Germany and Poland. They avoided the land and turned to Buenos Aires. The city grew from 120,000 Jews in 1936 to nearly 300,000 today. Perhaps ten per- cent, frustrated by post World War II Argentinian fascism, emigrated to Is- rael. Still, most Jews today seem to be strongly pro-Argentinian. All they want is a stable government that will respect differences. Despite many warnings that Argentina may become another Nazi Germany, the large Jewish community stubbornly insists that a decent Dias- pora Jewish life in Argentina is possible. They can be both Argentinian and Jewish and still survive with a positive identity. As one said, "Argentina is not IT DOESN'T HAVE TO COST A FORTUNE ... ONLY LOOK LIKE IT! CALL LOIS HARON 851-6989 20" x 30" for wi 12"x18"for OUR PRICES ARE LOWER! $12.75 $10.25 OFFER GOOD THROUGH JUNE 30, 1987 Ask about frames (sold separately). Waist photo MASTERCARD VISA AM. EXP. 6698 ORCHARD LAKE ROAD IN THE WEST BLOOMFIELD PLAZA Ask for 851-5840 Continued on Page 18 7