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Venezuelan Synagogue Attack an Inside Job and a Sign of Wider Attacks on Latin Am. Left

7:23 am By Maegan La Mala · Latin America| Religion| Venezuela| israel · 5 Comments

6 Sep 2009

I’m often attacked and accused of being anti-Semitic, usually by one person, because I write about Palestine and draw connections among various occupied territories including Puerto Rico. Even when I wrote about the attack on a synagogue in Venezuela early this year, I was accused of not covering the story, or at least not in a way that some agreed with. Turns out that there was more to the story than met the eye. From NACLA:

In the early morning hours of January 31, vandals broke into Tiferet Israel, a Sephardic synagogue in Caracas. They strewed sacred scrolls on the floor and scribbled “Death to the Jews” and other anti-Semitic epithets on the walls, before making off with computer equipment and historical artifacts. Understandably, the incident frightened and upset many in the Venezuelan Jewish community. Right away, U.S. news outlets, including The New York Times and The Miami Herald, linked the incident to Venezuela’s increasingly strained relations with Israel, after the two countries suspended diplomatic relations two weeks earlier over Israel’s bombing of Gaza, then still under way.

A Herald editorial went so far as to describe an “official policy of anti-Semitism” in Venezuela and implied that Chávez’s foreign policy had unleashed a wave of anti-Semitic violence in the country, culminating in the assault on the synagogue.1 Some international NGOs were no more nuanced. Just hours after the break-in, the U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was already implicitly comparing the Chávez government to the Nazis, calling the synagogue attack “a modern-day Kristallnacht.”2

But the Caracas police investigation bore out a different story. Authorities quickly realized that the synagogue’s security fence had been cut from the inside, prompting detectives to investigate the break-in as an inside job. Within the week it became clear that the attack had in fact been a robbery disguised as anti-Semitic vandalism, carried out by the synagogue’s privately contracted security team. Eleven men were arrested for their role in the plot, and their statements to the police indicated that the graffiti and desecration were intended to throw off investigators.3

Israel Dubs Swine Flu “Mexican Flu”

7:40 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Religion| israel| language| mexico · 4 Comments

28 Apr 2009

yaakov-litzman_1 There has been one reported case of the swine flu in Israel so far, but Israeli officials aren’t calling it that. Ultra-orthodox Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman says that calling the disease by its name is “religiously sensitive”:

“We will call it Mexican flu. We won’t call it swine flu,” said Mr Litzman, who belongs to the ultra-religious United Torah Judaism party.

Pigs are considered unclean under Jewish dietary laws. Muslims also do not eat pork for similar reasons.

That’s all well and good, but calling it Mexican is no good either. The BBC reports that scientists in Israel are concerned that the term will “stigmatize Mexico”.

Via / BBC News

“Jewtinos” Get their own Clothing Line

7:45 am By Maegan La Mala · Culture| Fashion| Religion · Comments Off

31 Dec 2008

“Jewtinos”, people of Latino and Jewish origin, aren’t a huge demographic for marketers, and therefore the door is left wide open for those looking to cater to customers wanting specialized products that represent this ethnicity and/or faith combination. Enter Adriana Lopez, founder of the new clothing line Jewtina, who is making clothes that reflect Latino Jewish culture.

“I’m very proud to be Jewish and also to be Latina, but I never found anything anywhere that allowed me to express both of these sentiments,” Lopez told EFE. Born in Los Angeles, the fruit of a marriage between a Colombian father and a Mexican mother, both of Jewish descent, Lopez said she felt the need to creat something that would distinguish people like her.

“I always joked, telling people that I was Jewtina, and one day my husband, who’s Cuban, told me I should register the brand and I did, said the 35 year-old businesswoman.

Adriana sees opportunity in this market, not only in the U.S. but also throughout Latin America, in countries with sizable Jewish populations, such as Argentina and Brasil.

Via / RPP Noticias

Argentine First Lady: “Don’t be afraid of anti-semitism”

5:54 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Argentina| Latin America| Religion| Venezuela · Comments Off

27 Mar 2007

Religious diversity and tolerance isn’t a topic that’s raised that often in predominantly Roman Catholic Latin America. But Argentine senator and First Lady Cristina Fernández de Kirchner met Saturday with the Jewish community in Caracas, Venezuela and urged Venezuelans to not be afraid of anti-semitism:

“Latin America has a long tradition of respect and absolute coexistence of different nationalities and religions…Our history (in the region) also includes pain, persecution,” the senator said during her keynote speech before the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Venezuela’s Israeli Confederation (CAIV).

Fernández de Kirchner compared the annihilation of Jews during the Holocaust to the dictatorship that seized power in Argentina 31 years ago, “following a bloody coup d’etat.”

A question that might come to mind is where Judaism falls in Chavez’s new socialist Venezuela, not to mention the president’s newfound friendships with Iran and Syria.

The Rabbi habla español

8:05 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Religion · 4 Comments

25 Oct 2005

A synagogue in Florida is looking to attract Latino congregants and is using the preferred tool of marketers these days — español:

Beginning next month, Sabbath services at Temple Beth Torah/Tamarac Jewish Center will be conducted in Spanish and Hebrew.

Spanish religious services will continue the second Friday of every month in an effort to entice the Argentines, Cubans, Peruvians and Colombians to attend.

It is just part of the movement in Broward and Palm Beach counties to attract Latin American Jews and to change with the new demographics.

I am admittedly ignorant about Jewish culture, but I never knew that synagogues were in the business of recruiting new congregants to the religion the way Christian churches are. Or are they reaching out the an already existing base of Spanish-speaking Jews? And is that base so large so as to constitute a decision to conduct services in Spanish?

Temple Beth Torah Rabbi Michael Gold says he sees this addition as a chance to grow his 600-household synagogue that started in 1972 in a small storefront. Gold isn’t sure how many Spanish speakers attend now, but he thinks there are about 20 to 30 families. He’s pretty certain that number is going to grow. Services in English and Hebrew will remain at 6 p.m. Fridays.

The need to change toward becoming multilingual “is a reality,” Gold said. “If we do this once a month, they would bring family, and they’ll bring friends and they’ll become part of the mainstream.”

I think it’s great for Spanish to be available at all houses of worship for whomever would like to receive service in their native language — I’m just surprised that the demand is so presumably high. I’m also surprised that an ancient religion such as Judaism is more open to reaching people in their native language than so-called modern Fortune 500 companies. Latino marketing in the synagogue — who knew?

Via / The Orlando Sentinel and Hispanic Tips

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