Two Argentineans — are here for a crash course in
Jewish communal leadership.

JULIE WIENER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

F

or most Americans, Ar-
gentina conjures up images
of a glamorous Eva Peron-
as-played-by-Madonna
crooning to the masses in Evita.
But there is also a Jewish side
to Argentina, acommunity strug-
gling to rebuild itself in the face
of such challenges as bombings,
assimilation, a legacy of anti-
Semitism and a struggling econ-
omy.
Alejandro Avruj, a 26-year-old
rabbinical student, and 27-year-
old Diego Freedman, a youth pro-
gram coordinator, are in Ann
Arbor to enhance their skills as
leaders of the Jewish communi-
ty in their homeland.
The two men are being spon-
sored by the collaborative efforts
of the American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee and Pro-

ject STaR, a joint social work-
Jewish communal service pro-
gram offered at the University of
Michigan. They will return to Ar-
gentina at the end of the month.
Mr. Avruj studied electronics
in high school to prepare himself
for a teaching career. At the same
time, he began to sing with the
rabbi of his synagogue, and at the
age of 17 was recruited to lead
services for the High Holidays at
the synagogue that he now leads
year-round.
He continued studying chaz-
zanut through his family syna-
gogue, and went on to study for
two years at Succat David Yeshi-
va in Buenos Aires. He is about
to enter his third year of rab-
binical school at the Argentine
branch of the Jewish Theological
Seminary.
Mr. Freedman's Jewish iden-
tity grew out of his involvement
with the Hebraica — Buenos

Julie Wiener is an Ann Arbor-

based freelance writer.

PH OTO BY J ULIE WIENER

A Jewish Future
In Argentina

Aires' equivalent to the Ameri-
can Jewish Community Center.
As a child, Mr. Freedman at-
tended youth activities every Sat-
urday, and when he was 15 years
old, he began training to become
a madrich, or youth leader. After
two years studying in the Insti-
tute for Madrichim, Mr. Freed-
man began working as physical
education teacher at the He-
braica, eventually becoming di-
rector of its youth program.
The two men recently dis-
cussed Argentina's shrinking
Jewish community and how it
has changed since the bombings
of the Israeli embassy in Buenos
Aires four years ago and a Jew-
ish community center three years
ago. The latter incident resulted
in the deaths and injuries of 100
people.
In the past 12 years, the Jew-
ish population of Argentina has
declined from 450,000 to 220,000,
a decrease Mr. Avruj and Mr.
Freedman attribute to the large
number of Jews immigrating to
Israel and the United States and
high levels of assimilation and
intermarriage.
Yet, in the wake of the two
bombings, they have witnessed
a new energy and level of in-
volvement among young Jews in
Argentina.
The tragedies galvanized Jew-
ish political groups, including a

Diego Freedman and Alejandro Avruj: Enhancing their skills.

new movement called Memoria
Activa (Active Memory), in which
both Mr. Freedman and Mr.
Avruj are active. The group num-
bers more than 300 people, and
is often joined by non-Jews.
The 1994 bombing, which lev-
eled the building that housed the
Argentine Jewish Mutual Aid As-
sociation and the Delegation of
Argentine Jewish Associations,
has led to an increased empha-
sis on security, but Argentina's

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Jews are still shaken.
"Two and a halfyears later, we
are more relaxed," says Mr.
Avruj. "But the scare — you can
still feel it in the air." Mr. Freed-
man agrees, adding, "If you walk
through the streets of Buenos
Aires,you can know which are
the Jewish places. They are the
ones with barricades and high se-
curity."

ARGENTINA page 10

