LAID TO REST

The tango was born in the brothels at the port cities along the rio de la plata and therefore is synonymous with prostitution:

(From an interview with José Judkowski, author of El tango, una historia con judíos. Dance footage courtesy of El Viejo Almacen, Buenos Aires, 2010)

The Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (in English: Argentine Israelite Mutual Association), or AMIA in short, is located at the heart of Once, the historical Jewish neighborhood and former hub of Jewish life in Buenos Aires. Founded in 1893 as a Jewish burial association called Chevra Kadisha, it has since evolved into an organization that focuses on Jewish community development and cultural services.

On the morning of July 18, 1994, in one of the worst ever terrorist attacks in Argentina, a powerful bomb was detonated by the AMIA headquarters on Pasteur street. Tearing down the 7-story building, it took the lives of 85 people, injured 200 hundred more, and destroyed many of the community archives. The terrorist attack, which went unresolved in the years that followed, left the community in shock and horror.

Yaacov Agam‘s sculpture Monument to the Victims of the AMIA Terrorist Attack, which was erected on an elevated Star of David platform in the courtyard of the AMIA center, offers a 3D visual tribute to the victims while expressing a message of hope for justice and peace.

Shifra Lerer started her life long acting career in the Yiddish theater in Argentina at the age of five. She was only nine years old when she played in Leib Malach’s controversial play Ibergus about the Jewish sex trade in Latin America. Years later, she recall the play, her role and the controversial circumstances surrounding the month long stage production in Buenos Aires’ Teatro Ideal. She can no longer remember her lines, but still remembers the controversy:

Ibergus? … It was a play that made you nervous, made you think about things, made you be concerned abut things…

It was a shameful episode in the life of Yiddish life in Argentina. I can’t tell you much about it because being at this age, I was too young to understand…