<Communal Life.
[The Sephardi community
life - Pôrto
Alegre, Rio, São
Paulo - Yiddish newspapers]
Apart from the religious and social organizations maintained
by the Sephardi communities in the north, in the 20th
century improvised prayer houses and minyanim [[groups of 10
or more Jews needed for a worship service]], as well as
small charitable organizations, existed in the two major
cities, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. It was at Pôrto
Alegre, however, the capital of the southern state of Rio
Grande do Sul, that the first officially organized communal
activities were introduced. The erstwhile agricultural
settlers who had concentrated in that city after abandoning
their work on the farm established a variety of religious,
charitable, and cultural societies. Pôrto Alegre was also
the place where the first Brazilian Yiddish newspaper was
published in 1915. Gradually, a properly organized community
emerged in the capital (at that time), Rio de Janeiro,
especially from the impetus to provide help to the war
victims. In 1916 a central aid committee was formed, and all
the existing Jewish societies in the city took part in it.
Most of these societies had come into being in the six
preceding years.
The second city in importance, São Paulo, had at this time a
Jewish community (founded in 1915) and several
philanthropical and cultural associations. On December 31,
1916, the cornerstone was laid for the first synagogue
proper. On a smaller scale, Jewish organizations also came
into being in towns near São Paulo, such as Santos,
Campinas, Franca, Santa André and São Caetano do Sul.
[Racist Jewish Zionists and
Jewish communists in Brazil since the 1920s]
The large immigration of the 1920s consisted of Jews of a
variety of social categories and the whole gamut of
ideological orientation. All the [[racist]] Zionist parties
were now represented among Brazilian Jewry, and they left
their mark upon the community [[with the aim of a racist
"Greater Israel" from the Nile to the Euphrates according to
1st Mose, chapter 15, phrase 18, and the Herzl booklet "The
Jewish State" stating that the Arabs could be driven away as
the natives in "America" had been driven away]].
There was also an organization of Jewish Communists. As a
result, Jewish social and communal life was greatly
enriched, but each group adhered to its own formula. This
was one of the factors which frustrated the efforts by Rabbi
Isaiah Raffalovitch (an official of the Jewish Colonization
Association, active in social and educational affairs, and
in immigrant aid) to create a unified Jewish community in
Rio de Janeiro.
Further development of Jewish communal activities was
brought to a halt by the gradual slow down in immigration
and the increasingly nationalistic policy followed by the
Brazilian government.
[[This indication is wrong: Immigration was not stopped:
Nevertheless, Jewish immigration, mainly from Nazi-dominated
Europe, continued by a variety of means. From time to time
special provisions were made for the immigration of people
skilled in certain fields or relatives of Brazilian
citizens. The law also made it possible for the authorities
to accord to tourists the status of permanent residents. In
this manner, some 17,500 Jews entered Brazil between 1933
and 1939. (col. 1329)
And the years 1940-1945 are not mentioned in the
article...]]
[Cultural restrictions step
by step since 1933 - anti-Jewish propaganda - halt since
the entry into the war]
The latter [[the Brazilian government]] resulted in heavy
pressure upon the ethnic minorities to assimilate to
Brazilian culture. (col. 1329)
In April 1938, the government issued a decree prohibiting
political activities by foreigners and contacts with foreign
organizations; in 1941 foreign-language newspapers were
outlawed. The two existing Yiddish dailies had to close
down; the same applied to the Zionist Organization. The
secular activities of the community, represented mostly by
Ashkenazi Jews, were severely curtailed [[restricted]].
Although Brazil had never known any organized anti-Semitism,
anti-Semitic racist propaganda began to appear in
newspapers, and several editions of the Protocols of the
*elders of Zion appeared. This threatening development,
however, was brought to a halt before it could result in any
serious consequences, thanks to discreet counter-propaganda
on the part of the Jews, Brazil's entry into the war on the
side of the Allies, and to the basic fact that Brazil's
heterogeneous society was not a fertile breeding ground for
anti-Semitism.
[More "democratic" climate
and racist Zionism since 1945]
It was not until 1945, however, on the eve of the
proclamation of the new constitution, that a more democratic
climate came to prevail in Brazil. The [[racist]] Zionist
Organization and other Jewish movements resumed their
activities, and the social life of the community functioned
once again, albeit at a more subdued pace.
The establishment of the [[racist Free Mason CIA Herzl]]
State of Israel in 1948 was a source of great encouragement
for the Jewry of Brazil. In the period 1946-47, federations
of Jewish organizations and institutions were formed in the
larger communities, and 1951 witnessed the establishment of
the Confederação das Entidades Representativas da
Coletividade Israelita do Brasil (Confederation of Jewish
Institutions in Brazil) - now known as Confederação
Israelita do Brasil (CIB) - to act as the authoritative and
representative body of the country's entire Jewish
community. Communities in eight states, Rio de Janeiro, São
Paulo, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia,
Recife and Pará, joined the new Confederation. It consists
of about 200 institutions and organizations active in the
fields of [[racist]] Zionism, education, philanthropy,
religion, culture and recreation, sports and interest-free
loans.
[[The natives were driven away and the jungle was destroyed
for all white and black settlement. There was never any
democracy for the native cultures]].
Education and Culture.
[Schooling]
The first formally organized Jewish school in Brazil was
founded in 1907 in the Philippson agricultural colony;
another school was founded in Pôrto Alegre in 1910. São
Paulo established a talmud
torah [[school]] in 1916. In 1929, there was a
total of 27 schools in the country, with about 800 pupils.
Figures published in 1967 listed 33 Jewish schools in Brazil
attended by 10,409 pupils: 2,907 in kindergartens, 4,611 in
elementary schools, 2,383 in junior high schools and 508 in
senior high schools and teachers training courses.
General studies are held in Portuguese and follow the
official curriculum; Jewish studies take up three hours a
day, with an emphasis on the study of Hebrew and, in a few
cases, of Yiddish. The two major cities each have 13 Jewish
educational institutions. There are also courses in Hebrew
at the state universities in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo,
which, however, are not held regularly and are not of a high
standard.
Only an estimated one-sixth of the Jewish children in the
two major centers attend Jewish schools, while in the
smaller cities the proportion is much higher, sometimes
reaching 80 or 90%. The majority of the Jewish schools have
a national-secular orientation, while the rest are religious
institutions. Most of them are housed in their own
buildings.
[Jewish clubs]
No central cultural organization exists in the country.
There are large Jewish clubs, which from time to time
celebrate important cultural occasions; their activities are
mainly in the field of sports and recreation. In Rio de
Janeiro, the leading Jewish clubs are Hebraica, Monte Sinai,
CIB, and ARI; in São Paulo, they are Hebraica, Macabi,
Círculo Israelita, and CIP.
[Rabbinates]
Neither does the Jewish (col. 1330)
community of Brazil have a central rabbinate. Each of the
two major cities has three chief rabbis who set the tone in
religious affairs; in addition, there are various small
groups of Landsmannschaften
with their own rabbi and synagogue. The larger cities have
both Sephardi and Ashkenazi synagogues; the Conservative
branch (CIP in São Paulo and ARI in Rio de Janeiro) of
Judaism has the most members, outnumbering the Orthodox and
Reform.
[Jewish newspapers in
Brazil]
Jewish newspapers, in both Yiddish and Portuguese, came into
existence during World War I. In 1915, the first
Yiddish-language weekly made its appearance in Pôrto Alegre
under the name of Di
Menshhayt ("Humanity"), and the following year a
Portuguese-language monthly, A Coluna, was founded in Rio de Janeiro.
In 1923 a Yiddish weekly was published in Rio de Janeiro
under the name of Dos
Yidishe Vokhenblat [[Yiddish Weekly]], later
changing its name to Brazilianer
Yidishe Presse [[Brazil Yiddish Press]] (1927). Di Yidishe Folkstsaytung
[[Yiddish Popular]] also came into existence in Rio de
Janeiro in 1927; at first it appeared twice a week, and in
1935, became a daily, appearing as such until 1941, when it
ceased publication. The Yidishe
Presse [[Yiddish Press]] in Rio de Janeiro, which
was founded in 1930, appears mostly as a weekly, and the
weekly Brazilianer
Yidishe Tsaytung [[Brazil Yiddish News]] was
founded in 1952.
Two Portuguese-language weeklies are Aonde Vamos? [[Where we
go?]] and Jornal
Istraelita [[Israeli Journal]]. São Paulo's Yiddish
weekly, Der Yidisher
Gezelshaftlekher un Handels Buletin [[Yiddish
Society and Commercial News]], was founded in 1928; a second
Yiddish newspaper, Di San
Pauler Yidishe Tsaytung [[Yiddish News from Sãu
Paulo]], was founded in 1931 and later became a daily,
appearing as such until 1941, when it was closed down. From
1933 to 1939 São Paulo also had a Portuguese-language
periodical, A
Civilisação. Der Nayer Moment [[Civilisation. The
New Moment]], first published in 1950, appears three times a
week. There is also a Portuguese-language biweekly newspaper
which appears in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and other cities
with Jewish communities.
[Jewish books in Brazil]
The first book in Hebrew, Ziyyun (Ẓiyyun), was published in
1925. Up to 1969, 20 Jewish titles had been published,
mostly in Yiddish. In addition, various books on Jewish
themes have been written in Portuguese. There is also a
small number of Jewish writers and journalists who have
published books on general themes. The publication of books
on Jewish subjects in Portuguese has been supported by such
institutions as Biblos
and, since 1966, Perspectiva
and Tradição.>
(col. 1331)
Encyclopaedia Judaica
