J.D.C. Director Finds Mixed Marriages Rising in Latin America

Assimilation and mixed marriages are on the rise and cultural and spiritual activities are declining among Jews in much of Latin America, Sydney Nelson Joint Distribution Committee director for Latin America, declared here today.

He made known his findings to a press conference following his return from a twelve nation tour on behalf of the JDC and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which has in recent years aided Jewish institutions in Latin America as well as elsewhere in the world. Mr. Nelson visited Bolivia; Peru; Ecuador; Colombia; Panama; San Salvador; Guatemala; Mexico; Cuba; Venezuela; Brazil, and Uruguay. Basically, Mr. Nelson was interested in finding out what had happened to the large number of Jews who had immigrated to Latin American countries in recent decades.

The general situation, he said, was pointed up by a lack of Jewish educators and teachers, virtually no Jewish education, few Jewish libraries and publications, no conferences on Jewish themes, a lack of rabbis and synagogues, the maintenance of very few social or athletic centers for Jewish youth, Mixed marriages are increasing and assimilation is “progressing rapidly.” Mr. Nelson said. There is no “Jewish spirit” to combat this condition he added. The major exceptions to this picture, he stressed, were the Jewish communities of Uruguay, Brazil and Mexico.

Organizationally speaking, he noted, the Sephardic and Askenazi communities are in competition and there are no coordinated activities. Fund-raising campaigns do well, but erratically because they are not unified. The Jews are economically well off and local organizations take care of the indigent. There is no Zionist youth work and there is no immigration of Jews into these countries except for Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela. There is a “flight” of Jews from the smaller countries in Latin America to the larger ones.

Mr. Nelson asserted that the Jews in the countries he visited look to the United States and Argentina the largest two Jewish communities in the Western Hemisphere, to send them teachers. They also need help from the Claims Conference, he said.

As a result of his own experiences, Mr. Nelson called for the conducting of a basic sociological study of the Jewish communities in the countries he visited, pointing out that there is difficulty in obtaining accurate figures about almost everything. He revealed that last year the Claims Conference had allocated $250,000 to 50 institutions in Latin America, including organizations which cared for the sick, the aged, the immigrant and other social welfare aspects; as well as cultural organizations, seminaries and those that offered legal assistance.