Dr. Mario Gorenstein, chairman of DAIA, the umbrella political representative institution of Argentine Jewry, reported that the armed forces in Argentina had authorized the presence of three rabbis in the south of the country for spiritual religious assistance to some 150 Jewish soldiers and marines involved in the action in the Falkland Islands (Malvinas).
In a phone conversation from Argentina, Gorenstein told Jocob Kovodloff, director of South American Affairs of the American Jewish Committee in New York, that one rabbi, Baruch Plavnik, left for Commodore Rivadavia in south Argentina from where he will continue to the Falklands in an aircraft of the International Red Cross.
Two other rabbis, Miguel Grunblat and Enrique Pines, will follow soon to Chamorro Rivadavia and Rio Gallegos, where the major concentration of troops are located. All three rabbis are Conservative. They will wear military uniforms and iron helmets with Mogen David insignia. Gorenstein said.
Kovadloff, himself an Argentinian, residing in the United States, and who just returned after a two-week stay in Buenos Aires, declared that these appointments represent an historical milestone in Jewish life in Argentina, since never before had the armed forces admitted Jewish chaplains.
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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.
