Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 August 1979 — Page 6

THE

BOOK

By MARTIN PANZER

POST

Panzer

THE JEWS OF ARGENTINA From the Inquisition to Peron ^ by Robert Weisbrot. Jewish Publication Society. 348 pp.

$12.50.

In numbers the Jewish population of Argentina represents the fifth largest in the

world. About 350,000 Jews out of the total live in that beautiful and bustling metropolis, Buenos Aires. Yet for the observance of kashrut there were in that great city, in 1971, only three kosher restaurants, dwindling to one in the very next year. This does not necessarily mean that manifestations of Jewishness are disappearing but rather that Jewishness, influenced in a measure by assimilation, is trending toward more secular emphases on Zionism and socialism, while at the same time the Jews play an important role in the industrialization and modernization process in the coun-

try.

Dr. Weisbrot, who is a 1973 graduate of Brandeis University and who is currently a Teaching Fellow at Harvard, has produced a brilliant and formidable history of the Jews of Argentina, who have

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consistently walked a slender tightrope, their march punctuated with periods of peril and periods of comparative security. The result is a sociological history fascinating in content, with just enough of the quantitative element to supply the average reader with all the necessary hard facts. Currently the mood is far from being optimistic. In a land noted perhaps more for sheltering Nazis than for loving Jews, however, there are nevertheless many Jews who do live quietly and comfortably, hoping against hope for better times, while they see many of their youth breaking away from tradition and Zionism as, one may point out, happens even closer to home. The Jews Of Argentina is important reading for all Jews in other parts of the world. •

THE LATIN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, edited by Joseph Maier and Richard W. Weatherhead. University of New Mexico Press. Paperbound. 237 pp $5.95. Professors Maier, of Rutgers, and Weatherhead, President of the Midgard Foundation, present for the first time a comparative overview of the Latin American university, “showing how universities became the consciences of their nations and the extent to which they influence political life.” Although their work is directed to social scientists and is rather heavy reading for laymen, it nevertheless is a useful complement to an understanding of The Jews Of Argentina, reviewed above, and in one specific instance describes an anti-Semitic group disowned by the rank and file of students but still active in the country. One comment by the editors will certainly find wide agreement: “Serious at tention is seldom given to Latin America unless it is struck somewhere by human, natural, or political catastrophe.”

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Israeli Gays Demonstrate, But As Orderly As A Garden Party

ByJUDY CARR TEL AVIV — The police and their barricades were out in full force in Kings of Israel Square where many demonstrations take place. But never had the Israeli police been called in to control a quieter, more well-mannered set of people. The demonstrators stood in an orderly fashion, their placards raised, with no attempt at provocation. The placards read — “Gay Is Proud.” “Gay is pleasure and being pleasant.” ... Yes, the Israel Association of Gays and Lesbians had dared to come out openly and stage a demo. This is a bold step considering that a religious party is in control of the government. The Israeli religious parties and the rabbinate recently tried to ban an international conference of gays that was to take place in a kibbutz guest house near Jerusalem. THE FIFTY or so gays looked like people you would not pick out in an Israeli crowd — nothing at all different about them except maybe that they were neater and better kepi than the average Israeli who tends to be rather sloppy about his appearance. One genteel elderly lady bore a note on her lapel, “Silvia Murray, Miami”. I spoke to Steven Erenberg, a representative of the Los Angeles Gay Congregation who had come to Israel to assist the Israeli Gays. “About two-thirds of the association are Israelis and the rest are immigrants. They come from all sectors of society and all walks of life. There are even a few Christians,” he said. “They are not missionaries but just people who came to live and work in Israel.” I asked about the activities of the group. “They are not a congregation,” he said, “just a group who get together for parties and talks and similar functions. Israeli gays are behind Americans in making progress in “coming out”. That is because Israelis are so busy just keeping alive. I aim to help the Israelis come out of the closet, get out of their shell.”

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ANOTHER young American said, “Some of us would very much like to come on aliya. But we can not because we would not be accepted in Israel.” Steven mentioned that he had family ties in Israel. I asked how gays are treated in Israel. “They are allowed in the army,” said Steven, “but they are not able to become officers. And their lives are made a misery.” “But is there real prejdice?” I asked. “Have gays lost their jobs for instance?” Steven said that he knew several gays who had lost their jobs when their situation was revealed. WHAT DID he think of the rabbinate and the religious parties’ stand? Was the Association fighting for legal acceptance? Steven said that these were political matters that he was not prepared to go into. “Let’s say that we are fighting for general acceptance — the right to be ourselves,” he said. “We are just human beings. We don’t have horns.” Steven, by the way, is quite a heart throb. I don’t know about the males, but I am sure he is attractive to girls ...

looks the sort of boy you would like your daughter to bring home. The international gay conference taking place here has been the focus of harassment from the rabbinate and the Interior Ministry and the police have threatened they will not protect participants from violence. Three hotels and Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael cancelled conference bookings because of pressure and threats by the chief rabbinate, one of the organizers said. The latest cancellation came from Tel Aviv’s Marina Hotel. The hotel had every intention of honoring the agreement with conference organizers, despite Tel Aviv Rabbinate’s threats to cancel its kashrut license. “But threats became wilder, and finally our lawyer advised us that although we would win the case in court, it would not be worthwhile to lose our kashrut license until the trial takes place, so we gave in,” the source said. Meanwhile, the gays have found a suitable conference location.

Old Tombstones Returned To Israel

JERUSALEM-Tomb-

stones 2000 years old have been returned to Israel by Norway. Bearing inscriptions in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, they have been brought to Norway by a Baron Ustinov when they were discovered at the end of the last century in an ancient Jaffa cemetery. The return of the stones was

part of an exchange deal with Israel’s Department of An-

tiquities.

The Jewish Chronicle of London’s April 3, 1885 issue describes Baron Ustinov as a Christian philanthropist who maintained a hospital op>en to the “sick of all creeds” in his Jaffa villa “in which RussianJewish patients receive every attention without payment”.

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