The Jewish Communities of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia are closer to the United States, in terms of cultural interests, than they are to Argentina or Brazil, Marc Turkow, World Jewish Congress Latin American director, reported today on his return from a tour of those countries.
He said that in Bogota, where there are 5,000 Jews, he had to use Spanish or German at his conferences with Jewish leaders because Yiddish is hardly used. He reported that in all four countries he found children up to 15 years of age and adults 45 years and older Jews in the middle age group emigrate as soon as they can. As a result in Ecuador, there are less than 1,400 Jews compared with 3,000 in 1948. Many Jews of German origin are returning to West Germany. The young people migrate to the United States or to other large countries, including Sao Paulo in Brazil.
Mr. Zurkow found a passion in all four Jewish communities to build magnificent schools in which courses are bi-cultural. These schools are rated so highly that non-Jews send their children to them despite an acute shortage of teachers. He said that in Lima, Peru, 98 percent of Jewish children attended Jewish schools. A little Hebrew is taught but no Yiddish. He told Argentine Jews they must help such communities to strengthen their educational programs.
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