Latin American Jewry Needs Communal Personnel, W. J. C. Reports

The need for Jewish communal personnel–rabbis, teachers and shochtim–in many countries of Central America was emphasized by Dr. Israel Goldstein in a report to the Western Hemisphere executive of the World Jewish Congress which was made public here today.

Dr. Goldstein, who is chairman of this WJC regional executive, made his report after recent discussions with a number of leaders from Panama, Colombia, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. All these communities, Dr. Goldstein stated, are anxious to obtain personnel from abroad–from the U.S., Israel, and the larger Latin American Jewish communities such as that in Argentina. Morocco was also mentioned as a possible source of rabbis, teachers and other communal officials.

The WJC leader voiced a plea for more extensive action to aid Latin American communities maintain their Jewish identification. Some assistance in the sphere of educational equipment has been sent in the past year by the WJC to many small communities in South and Central America. Educational aids such as those used in the United States–textbooks, readers’ workbooks, alphabet blocks, coloring cards and books, films and film strips and records–have been dispatched to Barbados, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curacao, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Jamaica and Surinam

A number of other small communities are scheduled to receive supplies in the near future. As far as the larger communities are concerned, supplies sent by the WJC have been in the main books for the local Jewish libraries. Some of the libraries serviced include those in Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago and Mexico City.