History of the Jews in Argentina
The history of the Jews in Argentina goes back to the early sixteenth century, following the Jewish expulsion from Spain. Sephardi Jews fleeing persecution immigrated with explorers and colonists to settle in what is now Argentina, in spite of being forbidden from travelling to the American colonies. In addition, many of the Portuguese traders in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata were Jewish. An organized Jewish community, however, did not develop until after Argentina gained independence from Spain in 1816. By mid-century, Jews from France and other parts of Western Europe, fleeing the social and economic disruptions of revolutions, began to settle in Argentina.
Central Synagogue of Buenos Aires. | |
| Total population | |
| Core Jewish population: 180,500 Enlarged Jewish population (includes non-Jewish relatives of Jews): 330,000
Several thousand | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Predominantly in Buenos Aires · Buenos Aires Province · Córdoba · Santa Fe · Entre Ríos · Tucumán | |
| Languages | |
| Predominantly Spanish. Some speak Hebrew, Yiddish, Arabic, Judaeo-Spanish, Russian, Polish or German. | |
| Religion | |
| Judaism · Jewish secularism |
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| Jews and Judaism |
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Reflecting the composition of the later immigration waves, the current Jewish population is 80% Ashkenazi; while Sephardi and Mizrahi are a minority. Argentina has the largest Jewish population of any country in Latin America, although numerous Jews left during the 1970s and 1980s to escape the repression of the military junta, emigrating to Israel, West Europe (especially Spain), and North America.
The community numbered about 400,000 after World War II, but the appeal of Israel and economic and cultural pressures at home led many to leave; recent instability in Israel has resulted in a modest reversal of the trend since 2003. During a major emigration wave in the 2000s, more than 10,000 Argentine Jews settled in Israel.