Whether we are born in Brooklyn, Buenos Aires or San Francisco, we are one people, am echad, with a spirit and a culture that is ageless, enduring, beautiful and powerful beyond words.
On Friday, July 1, at noon, I arrived in Buenos Aires after a 16-hour flight from San Francisco. Once transported to my hotel, I took a nap, had lunch, changed clothes and headed for the oldest Progressive (Reform) synagogue in South America, Congregacion Israelita Libertad. I was to be in Argentina for three weeks to sing, teach and learn, and this was my first stop.
Upon arriving at the astoundingly beautiful 108-year-old synagogue, which in some ways reminded me of my own synagogue, Sherith Israel, I introduced myself to the rabbi, Sergio Bergman. A 40-ish, highly intelligent, warm and charismatic spiritual leader, he is a disciple of the late Rabbi Marshall Meyer, who was a major force in establishing the renowned B’nai Jeshurun in New York and the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires. Bergman has had a huge impact in helping many Jews in Argentina who were hard hit by the economic crisis of four years ago when the banks literally closed their doors and the peso became drastically devalued.
He has turned the crisis into an opportunity, revitalizing Jewish life in Argentina. Many Jews are returning to the synagogue where they are rediscovering the richness and joy of Jewish worship, learning and practice within a liberal framework. Rabbi Bergman is the creator of Fundacion Judaica, a network of Progressive institutions and volunteers who provide needy Jews with food, medicines and other support services. Although a leader of Argentina’s Progressive movement, Bergman is actively engaged in educating Argentinian Jews as to the importance of a strong Jewish community that supports and cares for each and every person.
Within moments of greeting me, Bergman invited me to sing a solo during services. In fact, right from the start of Kabbalat Shabbat, I was handed a microphone by one of the three cantors who lead the prayers at Libertad synagogue, so that I might sing along. In the middle of the service it was my turn to come up to the bimah and I sang my own “Song for Peace” based on the text “Oseh Shalom.”
Diego Rubinsztein, one of the remarkably talented cantors, who regularly sings and plays keyboard at the synagogue, learned my song in just minutes before the service began. I had the pleasure of meeting Diego and two other remarkable cantors, Sheila Nesis and Silvina Chemen, at a conference in Santa Clara sponsored by the Union for Reform Judaism, just five months earlier. It was then, after being completely drawn in by the artistry and soulfulness of these sweet singers that I began to plan my visit to Argentina.
So I sang and then returned to my seat. Suddenly there were many eyes upon me. I will never forget the looks of appreciation and the broad smiles on the faces of those around me. I was simply doing what I do every Shabbat in my own synagogue in San Francisco. The Talmud teaches, “what comes from the heart, enters the heart.” It is true that I opened my heart that Shabbat evening and many more times during my visit to Argentina.
Perhaps the most memorable of all my encounters with the Jewish community was my attendance at a demonstration on July 18, marking the 11th anniversary of the bombing of the AMIA, the Jewish community headquarters building in Buenos Aires. In all 11 years, justice has still not been served. I stood with several thousand others that cold winter morning before the photographs of the 85 victims of the blast, many of whom were young people in their 20s and 30s. As the crowd responded “presente” when each of the 85 names of the victims was called, I found myself adding my voice to those answering in the large crowd.
In that instant, I was not an American, or merely a visitor in a foreign land. I was simply and proudly a Jew among my people. While I traveled to Argentina thinking I would be the one bearing gifts, I discovered it was I who was the recipient of an important gift; an even greater sense of pride than I knew before, in being a Jew.
Rita Glassman is cantor of Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco.
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