Jewish Communities in Four Latin American Countries Found to Be Generally Flourishing

An American Jewish Committee group which just completed a two week visit to four Central and South American countries, found the Jewish communities there, though small, to be generally flourishing. In two of the countries visited — Costa Rica and Guatemala — the greatest single need was for a rabbi, they reported, and said American rabbinical organizations should be urged to supply that need.

The group, consisting of 15 people, most of them members of the Latin American Committee of the AJCommittee’s Foreign Affairs Commission, was led by Howard Greenberger, a professor of law at New York University’s Law School, who is a member of the AJCommittee’s Board of Governors. The group included Sergio Nudelstejer, of Mexico City, director of the AJCommittee’s office for Mexico and Central America.

In addition to Costa Rica and Guatemala, they visited Panama and Venezuela and the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean. Summarizing their experiences, Greenberger was most enthusiastic about Costa Rica and the warm relations the government of President Luis Alberto Monge maintains with Israel.

SITUATION IN COSTA RICA

He said that Monge, who received the group, reaffirmed his strong commitment to Israel “as a democratic society.” He compared Israel’s isolation in the Middle East to the problems of Costa Rica, one of the few democracies in Central America, Greenberger said.

Israel’s Ambassador to Costa Rica, David Tourgeman, told the visitors that many Costa Rican students are going to Israel to study and Israel is providing instructors and technical assistance in return.

Costa Rica’s Jewish community numbers about 2,500 in a population of more than two million, Greenberger reported. He described it as a “closely knit” community “with an excellent Jewish school, a love of Jewish tradition and a deep dedication to Israel.” But “Its most immediate need is a rabbi,” he said.

COMMUNITY IN PANAMA

Greenberger described the Jewish community of Panama as a “vital community of about 3,500 people dedicated to viable Jewish life.” Panama has three synagogues — Orthodox, Conservative and Reform — and the Jewish community, some of whose members trace their Panamanian roots as far back as 200 years, supports two Jewish day schools. Greenberger reported that about 20 percent of the student body in those schools is non-Jewish.

ORGANIZED COMMUNITY IN VENEZUELA

In Caracas, the Venezuelan capital and the largest metropolis of the Caribbean basin, the visitors found “a very well organized Jewish community of about 25,000 with most institutional bodies under the overall supervision of a central council known as the Confederation of the Jewish Associations of Venezuela.”

Greenberger reported that “They run a whole network of Jewish day schools, have a magnificent athletic facility called the Hebraica, an Ashkenazi kehilla as well as a Sephardic kehilla, a B’nai B’rith and a Zionist organization.”

But, Greenberger observed, “They also share some of the same concerns and problems that are present in American Jewish society — intermarriage, assimilation when children go away to college, and the general loss of Jewish identity.” He said the organized community is “making sincere efforts to bring in younger professionals and business people to take vital leadership roles.”