In Mexico Today

No accurate statistics are available concerning the Jewish population in Mexico. Estimates which are really nothing more than guesses vary from fifteen to forty thousand. On the basis of my recent visit to Mexico, which included conferences with scores of Jews and a study of the Jewish institutions, my conjecture is that there are about twenty thousand Jews who recognize and identify themselves as such. In my opinion, there are several thousand others who have lost or renounced their connection with the Jewish people.

Mexican Jewry is composed of many heterogeneous elements. There are small colonies of German, French and United States Jews. There are considerably larger groups of Syrian and Sephardic Jews. Of the latter, many families trace back their ancestry in Mexico for centuries. The largest and most active community is that of the East European Jews, most of whom entered Mexico since the close of the World War.

On the whole, Mexican Jewish life is normal and well-circumstanced. Owing to the backward economic condition of the country and the unprogressive business methods of the established merchants and manufacturers, the Jewish immigrants have been able by dint of their ambition, their industry and their ability to achieve quickly a comfortable economic position for themselves.

There was no incentive to enter agriculture and hence no Jews are to be found in the impoverished peasant class. Their natural ability and independence caused them to seek business opportunities rather than labor as workers. Therefore the number of Jews in the proletariat is negligible. The great mass of Jews entered business and practically all of them are earning a living. Very few, if any, have achieved tremendous wealth but a substantial number have acquired modest fortunes. Since practcally all of the Mexican Jews are engaged in business and the number of those employed as laborers is negligible, the problems of unemployment and relief among Jews are also negligible.

The usual institutions of Jewish life are to be found in Mexico. These include a Y.M.H.A., a B’nai B’rith Lodge, Zionist organizations, various philanthropic groups, a Yiddish newspaper, the “Weg,” a Jewish Chamber of Commerce and synagogues. The latter in spite of the religious conflict now being waged in Mexico have been little troubled. This may be owing to the fact that the Jews form an insignificant element in the population, hardly more than one-tenth of one per cent, and also to the fact that Jews have sought to conform to the government’s program, and also and perhaps primarily, because the conflict in Mexico is largely a struggle between State and Church for power over the people and is not, as in Russia, an attempt to destroy all religion.

Of course, the Mexican-Jewish community has encountered difficulties and problems. Business competitors have sought to arouse ill will against Jews. At one time this reached the point where Jews were driven from their stores in the large market-place. But with the help of the authorities they quickly found other places of business and are today more successful than before.

A Gold Shirt movement has annoyed and worried the Jews of Mexico. It seems to have been financed by business competitors and the propaganda has resembled that of the German Nazis.

By a strange irony, the Association of Comedians recently passed a resolution designed to eliminate Jews from their group. This action was protested by Jewish leaders. This protest was sympathetically received by the government which promised to use its influence to prevent such discrimination against Jews.

Whether these evidences of anti-Semitism are matters of grave concern or not, only the future can tell. My own opinion is that at the present moment they are not major problems. No Jewish community, however well-circumstanced, is ever free from experiences of anti-Semitism. In Mexico it takes the forms described above, but it has not prevented the Jews from enjoying a normal, comfortable and on the whole happy life in that country.

Potential sources of danger exist. Since Mexican Jewry is to be found almost exclusively in the bourgeoisie, a real proletarian uprising, should it ever develop, might direct the spearhead of its attack against them. At present there seems to be no likelihood of such an uprising. General Plutarco Calles still controls the nation’s affairs, and no effectual revolt against his rule now seems possible.

Another source of potential danger lies in the professional ambitions of Mexican Jewish youth. At the present time, the number of Jewish doctors, lawyers, dentists and engineers is very small. However, every Jewish boy with whom I spoke in Mexico plans to enter a profession. It is altogether possible that within a generation the Jews will constitute the majority of the professional men of the country. This may lead, as elsewhere, to envy and bitterness and other unfortunate consequences. Nevertheless, it is difficult to see how such consequences can be prevented. The Jew cannot morally approve a numerus clausus in the professions. Furthermore, no Jewish authority exists in Mexico or any country who can tell Jewish youth what occupations to enter.

The difficulties of Mexican Jewry, real and potential, point to the need of an effective Jewish community organization. At the present moment, Mexican Jewry is not a community at all, but a conglomeration of groups and individuals who do not sufficiently realize their common interests and needs. These should associate themselves in an effective organization to protect Jewish rights and to advance Jewish interests. President Bernard Deutsch of the American Jewish Congress when in Mexica organized a group for this purpose. In my opinion, it has not been very active or effective, and further efforts should be made to assist Mexican Jewry to this end.

The religious situation in Mexico presents a difficult problem for the Jews. These are the factors that constitute the problem and make its solution difficult:

(1). Religious persecution prevails in Mexico today. The government definitely has the upper hand in the century-old struggle between Church and State. It limits priests to one for every 50,000 of the population and in some places permits none at all. It has confiscated church property and destroyed some of it and put others to secular uses. It denies priests the ordinary rights of citizenship. Most serious of all, it forbids religious instruction to children and at the same time saturates the schools with an irreligious atmosphere. All of this constitutes religious persecution similar to although not identical with, that of Russia.

(2). On the other hand, the Mexican government has not been unfriendly to the Jews. General Calles permitted and encouraged a substantial immigration of refugees from Eastern Europe. He allowed them to find whatever place in Mexican life their abilities carried them to and imposed no hardships or restrictions on them. Although the government may not have punished every anti-Semitic outbreak with the alacrity that the Jews might have desired, it has on the whole frowned on anti-Semitism and expressed itself in favor of tolerance and fair play. It is perhaps symbolic of the government’s attitude that President Rodriguez while in office permitted his sister-in-law to marry a Jew and was himself present at the wedding. Apart from the question of intermarriage, it is obvious that the government is not anti-Semitic or this would not have happened. It may be said that on the whole the government is sympathetic and friendly to the Jews and does not trouble them unnecessarily.

(3). In the fight against Hitlerism that has been waged in the United States, Jews have been aided by Catholics and Protestants. When Catholicism is persecuted in Mexico, it is natural that the Catholics should expect Jews as well as Protestants to join them in protesting such persecution. And it is natural that Jews, both because of their century old love of religious liberty and out of gratitude for Catholic assistance in their struggle, should join in this protest.

(4). It inevitably follows that when Jews in the United States join Catholics in protesting religious persecution in Mexico, their action is resented by the Mexican government and is regarded as unwarranted interference. This disturbs Mexican Jews and complicates their problems. They feel that the government will consider them its enemies, too, and will turn against them. If that should develop, their position will be precarious indeed.

The problem is complicated, but the solution, as I see it, is clear. Jews must always be on the side of religious liberty. This is best for the world and it is also best for the Jews. For if Jews condone religious persecution, why should not another government, adopting the same principle, feel morally justified in persecuting them? Therefore, I believe that the Jews of the United States should raise their voices in protest against religious persecution in Mexico and should appeal to the leaders of that country to grant such freedom to all religious groups as is consistent with the enlightened policy of the most enlightened nations everywhere.