1. Argentina Has the World’s Largest Spanish-Speaking Jewish Community
Argentina’s Jewish community is not only the biggest in Latin America but also the largest Spanish-speaking Jewish community in the world.
In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, the community swelled to an estimated 450,000 as many Europeans sought shelter after the Holocaust. But years of emigration and assimilation took a toll.
Currently estimated at 180,000-220,000, the community is heavily concentrated in the capital, Buenos Aires, although a smattering of smaller vibrant communities remain throughout the provinces.
2. The First Jews Were Fleeing the Inquisition
The Spanish Inquisition and subsequent expulsion spurred a major wave of Jewish emigration from Spain and Portugal to the New World. Unlike the Portuguese Jews who found safe haven in North America and were able to establish communities, living openly Jewish lives, the Jews who immigrated to South America remained conversos, hiding their Jewishness in public. The Inquisition and its edicts still applied in Argentina, a Spanish colony, but were not as actively enforced, allowing the immigrant Jews some freedom.
The most famous converso born in Argentina was Francisco Maldonado da Silva, born in Tucumán in 1592. When he discovered his Jewish ancestry, he adopted the name Eliyahu Hanazir (Elijah the Nazarite) and started openly practicing Judaism, even circumcising himself. He was arrested and imprisoned for six years before being burned at the stake in 1639, along with the 11 other Jews—the largest Auto-da-fé in recorded history.
3. The First Minyan Was in a Park
Jewish immigration from Western Europe began in the second half of the 18th century, largely fueled by Jews from France looking to escape the escalating social disruption and impending revolution.
The story goes that two Jews—Henry Joseph from Britain and a German Jew—were standing in Plaza Francia on a Wednesday afternoon when the church bells called for mass. Everyone around them scattered and they remained alone in the park, holding Yom Kippur prayer books. Although they had both married Christian women, they agreed to form a minyan right there the next Yom Kippur. That minyan ultimately became the first synagogue in Argentina.
Read: 15 Synagogue Facts
4. Syrian Jews Arrived in the 1880s
Sephardic Jews arrived in Argentina from Spanish-speaking Morocco around 1880. They created their own community and even a newspaper called Israel. Since they shared a language with the locals, however, they quickly assimilated.
The next wave of Sephardic immigrants came from Syria—predominantly Aleppo and Damascus—prior to WWI. They formed solid communities, building shuls, schools, mikvahs and kosher butcheries, and remain the backbone of Jewish life in Argentina today.
5. Ashkenazim Arrived From Russia in 1890
With vast land reserves and new policies guaranteeing freedom of religion, Argentina opened its shores and encouraged mass immigration. Desperate to escape pogroms and antisemitic persecution, Russian Jews—with the help of wealthy benefactor Baron Maurice de Hirsch—purchased land to create agricultural colonies.
On August 14, 1889, the first mass group of 824 Russian Jews (136 families) arrived on the S.S. Weser, bringing their rabbi with them. Prior to their arrival, they purchased farmland, the tools they would need, and food to tide them over until their first harvest, but when they arrived they discovered that the seller hadn’t kept his word. They found themselves stranded and starving. Sixty infants died that winter.
6. There Were Jewish Cowboys and Farmers
Some returned to Russia and others made their way to local villages. The remaining 50 families finally received the land they had purchased and slowly became successful gauchos—ranchers.
When asked what he wanted to name the colony, Rabbi Aaron Goldman chose “Kiryat Moshe.” Just as Moses led the Jews out of slavery in Egypt, his community had escaped Tsarist Russia to the freedom of Argentina with the help of Baron Moshe (Maurice) de Hirsch. At its peak a bustling Jewish shtetl with at least three synagogues, a Yiddish theater, and Hebrew teachers’ academy, the town still bears its original name, Moisés Ville.
7. There Were Pogroms in 1920
What started as a workers’ conflict in a metal factory became a full-fledged pogrom, the only one in the Americas. Hundreds of Jews were attacked by the masses, incited and encouraged by the government and police, especially in the Once neighborhood. “A la caza del Ruso - Catch a Russian!” became the rallying cry of the mobsters, while the Jews tried to fend them off with, “Yo, Argentino - I am Argentinian!”
The exact number of victims is unknown, but then US ambassador Frederic Jesup Stimson wrote that the 1,350 dead and 4,000 thousand injured were primarily Russian Jews.
8. Local Rabbis Banned Conversions
Faced with a spate of inauthentic conversions (primarily organized by Jewish men wanting to marry local non-Jewish women, often doing the conversion on the same day as the wedding with no preparation or study), in 1927, three rabbis banded together to impose a takanah prohibiting conversion to Judaism within the Argentinian territory: Rabbi Shaul Sutton Dabah from the Syrian community, Rabbi Aharon Goldman from the Ashkenazi community, and Rabbi Yosef Yedid from the Syrian community of Jerusalem.
This rabbinic ruling was a novelty in Jewish law, but it was ultimately adopted by all Orthodox communities within Argentina as well as Syrian communities throughout the Americas. While nowadays there are Argentinian converts, they complete the process outside the country.
9. A Blind Jew Helped Capture Eichmann
In 1960, Adolf Eichman was captured by Mossad agents in Argentina and was tried and executed in Israel.
Lothar Hermann, a blind German Jew, discovered Eichmann’s presence in Buenos Aires through his young daughter Silvia, who became acquainted with Eichmann’s son. He sent 26 letters to the Mossad to convince them that he was right about Eichmann’s identity and location, which ultimately led to the successful operation.
Afterwards, he was imprisoned by the Argentinian authorities who were bitter over the covert operation and released only after signing a letter stating that he did nothing to help with the capture.
10. Cesar Milstein is a Local Jewish Nobel Laureate
Argentina has produced five Nobel prize winners, including Jewish doctor Cesar Milstein, son of a Jewish Ashkenazi family from Bahia Blanca, who (with others) developed the hybridoma technique for the production of monoclonal antibodies. He was awarded the prize in 1984.
11. The Rebbe Sent His First Emissary in 1958
Before the Rebbe sent Rabbi Berel Baumgarten to Argentina, Chabad and Chassidism were virtually unknown there.
Known for his warmth and charisma, Rabbi Baumgarten attracted an eager crowd of youth, hungry for the Chabad approach to spirituality. The first students he sent to study in Chabad yeshivahs in Israel and North America came back and formed the base of Chabad outreach in Argentina.
On one of his visits to the Rebbe, he was quite demoralized, and instead of writing his usual long and detailed letters, he wrote only a short note.
“What happened with long letters?” the Rebbe asked in surprise.
Rabbi Baumgarten explained that in comparison to the large new Chabad center in England that he had recently visited, he had nothing to show.
The Rebbe opened a drawer in his desk and said, “Here I have the notes of the students you send. I don’t need buildings, I need souls.”
More than 1,200 students have since graduated from the local yeshivah founded by Chaim Lapidus and Professor Abraham Polichenco at the advice of Rabbi Baumgarten.
12. There is a Large Sephardic Satmar Community
In the late ‘50s, three wealthy Satmar families living in Argentina brought a rabbi to lead their small community. Their community was based in Flores, where many Syrian Jews lived, attracting an infusion of young couples to the Satmar way of life. By the ‘70s, the original families had left the country leaving the community with mostly the Sephardic members.
13. 85 Died in the AMIA Bombing
At 9:53 am on July 18, 1994, a bomb destroyed the AMIA Jewish community center, killing 85 people and injuring many more.
The attack changed the way of life for Jews in Argentina, compelling institutions to build barricades and conduct security checks in front of their buildings.
No one has ever been held responsible for the attack, and the Jewish community still demands justice every anniversary.
14. Jewish Soldiers and Chaplains Served in the Falklands War
In 1982, Argentinian dictator Leopoldo Galtieri decided to reconquer the Falklands (Malvinas) Islands from Britain, sending many young and unprepared soldiers to war against a professional army. Among the conscripts were a number of Jewish soldiers, many of whom would report suffering at the hands of antisemitic commanders.
Facing an unprecedented situation, the Argentinian army called in some young rabbis to chaplain these soldiers, including Rabbi Tzvi Grunblatt, director of Chabad In Argentina, and his brother Rabbi Natan Grunblatt, head of Kehot Publications in Spanish.
After the war and the collapse of the dictatorship, the soldiers were largely forgotten until 2012, when Hernan Dobry, a Jewish reporter, wrote a book about the Jewish chaplains. In 2022, the Hebraica Society honored the soldiers in a very emotional ceremony.
15. There are Kosher Hot Dogs and a Menorah-Lighting at Boca Juniors Matches
The biggest soccer team in Argentina is Boca Juniors, with thousands of Jewish fans. In the early 2000s, Chabad got the go-ahead to light a Menorah at half-time during Chanukah games, which has since become an annual tradition.
Local rabbis also opened a kosher hot dog and burger stand, and many Jewish fans make sure to stop by and lay tefillin at the Chabad booth outside the stadium.
Read: The Public Menorah Is a Declaration of Freedom in Buenos Aires
16. ‘Once’ Is a Central Jewish Neighborhood in Buenos Aires
Although not the largest by number—that title goes to Belgrano with its 30,000 Jews—Once is the most traditional Jewish neighborhood. Between its clothing and textile stores, yeshivot and synagogues, you can find kosher parrillas (Argentinian BBQ), Israeli, Syrian and Ashkenazi cuisine all within a few blocks.
17. There Are 56 Chabad Centers in Argentina
Since 1978, under the leadership of Rabbi Tzvi and Shterna Grunblatt, Chabad has spread across the country. Today, the nation boasts 56 Chabad institutions, with nine of them in the provinces. These institutions include synagogues, advanced yeshivas for men and women, schools with more than 2,000 students, and social services organizations that serve children, seniors, and everyone in between.
18. The Jews Don’t Only Live in Buenos Aires
Thriving Jewish communities can be found throughout the provinces, with Chabad centers providing kosher food, mikvahs, and Jewish education in Cordoba, Rosario, Tucuman, Bahía Blanca, Salta, Mar del Plata and Concordia.
Argentina is also home to the Southernmost Chabad center in the world in Bariloche, Rio Negro, providing Shabbat meals and other services to tourists enjoying the beautiful Patagonia.
19. There Is a Kosher McDonald’s
Since 1997, Argentinian Jews have been proud to be the only destination outside of Israel where one can enjoy a kosher Big Mac. When Jewish businessman Eduardo Elsztain built the Abasto Mall, he made sure there was a kosher option for Jewish shoppers.
Read: 22 Facts About Kosher
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