Argentina

DISCOVER SOUTH AMERICA’S LARGEST JEWISH COMMUNITY!

Though some converso Jews made their way to Argentina during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, large scale Jewish immigration to the country did not begin until the 19th century when Jews began arriving from Eastern Europe. Later waves of immigration brought Sephardic Jews from Turkey and North Africa. In the 1930s, the large Jewish community in Buenos Aires made up 5% of the city’s population. Jewish life became somewhat more difficult as a result of political changes after WWII and the acceptance by the Argentinian government of Nazis fleeing Europe. Tragedy struck the community in 1992, when a suicide bomber attacked the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, and in 1994, when the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association was attacked, leaving 85 people dead and 300 injured, most of them Jews.

With approximately 250,000 Jews, Argentina is home to South America’s largest Jewish community, along with the distinction of being the sixth-largest Jewish community worldwide. Argentina boasts numerous Jewish schools, synagogues, kosher restaurants, and youth groups.

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