A gloomy picture of the situation of Jews in Latin America as far as their ties to Judaism are concerned was painted by Pinhas Sapir, chairman of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization Executives, on his return from an extended visit to Jewish communities in that region. Sapir, who spent time in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Venezuelans said the situation was discouraging because “Jewish education there is very shallow and does not embrace the entire Jewish population.”
He said that 75 percent of the Jewish populations in the countries he visited had no connections with Judaism through studies or educational institutions. He expressed serious concern over the high incidence of mixed marriages and said that even in cases where the non-Jewish spouse converts, the children do not receive a Jewish, education.
Sapir said that while Jewish youth movements proliferate in Latin America, only 100 Jewish youths emigrated to Israel from that region last year. He attributed the aliya lag to Israel’s security situation and to gloomy letters received from earlier emigres. He said the discouraging reports were not always due to lack of housing or unemployment, citing a letter from one recent immigrant who said he had a flat and a job but no friends. That loneliness must be eliminated by us, Sapir said. Asked about the anticipated influx of Jews from the Soviet Union, he said that Israel was capable of absorbing 100,000 a year. Sapir is scheduled to address the Jewish Agency Executive which opens today in Jerusalem.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
