Sephardi, Jewish, Argentine: Community and National Identity, 1880–1960 by Adriana M. Brodsky (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Sephardi, Jewish, Argentine: Community and National Identity, 1880–1960 by Adriana M. Brodsky Susana Brauner Adriana M. Brodsky. Sephardi, Jewish, Argentine: Community and National Identity, 1880–1960. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2016. 256 pp. doi:10.1017/S0364009418000685 Brodsky's work is a significant contribution to the study of the Sephardim in Argentina that calls rooted hypotheses in the current literature into question and incorporates new lines of research on the subject. The book examines processes of identity formation and modes of integration experienced by Sephardim throughout Argentina and studies the roles played by both men and women in negotiating what it meant to be Sephardi, Jewish, and Argentine in this period. Thus, Brodsky distinguishes her work from previous scholarship in that she does not restrict her study to the experience of the Sephardim in Buenos Aires, nor does she confine her investigation to the role fulfilled by men, making visible the role of women and the inland provinces in the construction and reconstruction of community identities. It is a text rich in conceptual, thematic, and interpretative suggestions. On the one hand, this book could be considered part of the lines of research that have begun to deconstruct some of the myths that prevail in the study of Jews in Argentina (including Raanan Rein's Argentine Jews or Jewish Argentines? Essays on Ethnicity, Identity, and Diaspora [Brill, 2010]). It could also be counted among more recent works that have afforded greater academic visibility [End Page 473] to contemporary Sephardic identities in the Americas (such as Margalit Bejarano and Edna Aizenberg's edited volume Contemporary Sephardic Identity in the Americas: An Interdisciplinary Approach [Syracuse University Press, 2012]). The book is thematically organized and well documented. Its solidly argued common thread points out that Sephardic identities and their boundaries "were built not out of some essence but as a result of conflict, consultation, and agreements over specific issues" (21). In other words, Brodsky emphasizes that far from remaining crystallized, Sephardic and Argentine identities and community boundaries were built and rebuilt in varying contexts and in the course of generational change. Especially interesting is the analysis of the processes of conformation of different community entities in Buenos Aires and the provinces, bringing to light the extent of the Sephardic presence nationwide. Brodsky notes both the longstanding and the new ties established by the Sephardim of different origins in Buenos Aires and the provinces with the Ashkenazim, other sectors of Argentine society, the lands of their ancestors, and Palestine. In this regard, she remarks that the Sephardim imagined themselves as part of a diasporic community and that the "diasporic boundaries helped these Jews see themselves as Argentines" (89). Nevertheless, beyond highlighting the elasticity of community boundaries, Brodsky does not overlook the regionalisms present in the Sephardic subgroups and their failed attempts to form single entities that would represent them in different environments, be they religious or cultural, or at international events. With respect to Sephardic Zionism, this work represents an enriching and highly original contribution, particularly considering that Sephardic Zionism or the role played by the Sephardim in Zionism has been mostly ignored and minimized, and has just begun to be studied more recently. (See, for example, my article, "Los judíos sirios en Buenos Aires: Frente al sionismo y el Estado de Israel," Judaica latinoamericana [2005].) What is more, Brodsky remarks that Zionism gave the Sephardim a space in which to create a new identity and legitimize the establishment of their own organizations, emphasizing their identity as Sephardim among an Ashkenazic majority while developing a strong identity as Zionist Argentines. Therefore, "they integrated themselves into the transnational Zionist structure, adding another layer to their clearly Jewish and Sephardi identities" (132). As mentioned above, Brodsky highlights the role of Sephardic women, another theme seldom discussed in the current literature. She examines women's social, philanthropic, and Zionist activities as well as their role in the private sphere through the transmission of ethnic culinary traditions, and their absence in later generations. She mentions that while men were at the head of community institutions, women were at the forefront, articulating precisely what it meant to be Jewish Sephardi and/or Argentine. The diasporic focus...