January 6, 2026 – Where We Have A Much Less Ambitious Agenda For Today: Touring Jewish Buenos Aires

Still a bit tired from yesterday’s adventure, we waited downstairs in the lobby for today’s tour guid, Matias, who comes from the same tour company that yesterday’s tour guide came from.

Uncharacteristically, Matias is running late. A quick email to Maximo, and he tells me it was his own mistake. There are two Bel Air hotels in Buenos Aires; he sent Matias to the wrong one.

Jewish Museum of Buenos Aires

Our first stop was the Jewish Museum of Buenos Aires, documenting the Jewish community of Buenos Aires and all of Argentina back to its origins. Argentina has a long history of accepting immigrants from all over the world, similar to the US.

In the 1880s, Baron Maurice de Hirsch developed the idea of Jewish settlements in the Argentinian pampas. Eventually thousands of Eastern European Jews made their way to one of these settlements, where they were initially supported and guided in their new life as farmers and ranchers. This created Jewish Gauchos, Argentinian version of the American cowboys in the US western states.

We continued on through the exhibits, all of them familiar: artifacts from synagogues, a graphic film on October 7 that we opted not to watch (preaching to the choir, here), etc. All in all, a nicely done collection of Jewish life in Buenos Aires and Argentina.

Matias also explained how the Jewish community of Argentina is tightly integrated into Argentinian society: four generations later, Jews speak Spanish, work in every kind of profession – very similar to the Jewish community in the United States.

I told Matias about my connection to Argentina: my grandmother’s brother who came to Argentina in the 1920s after the US began restricting immigration from Europe. My great-uncle eventually made his way to Montevideo, Uruguay, where he grew his family, and I have family there still! I showed Matias the photo of me with my newly discovered 3rd cousin whom we met for lunch back on December 22, 2025 (3rd day of the cruise).

Templo Liberdad – Temple Liberty, Reform synagogue

The Reform and Conservative movements of Judaism came to Argentina in the 1960s. There are Reform and Conservative seminaries in Buenos Aires! The only ones in South America.

Templo Liberdad was built first. Once again, we had to provide our passports to gain access to the synagogue. Security is taken seriously in the Jewish community!

Here are some photos of the interior of the Reform synagogue. The sanctuary is huge, and is still used.

Orthodox synagogue

The Orthodox synagogue felt a little more familiar and closer to what we’re used to in Conservative synagogues. In Orthodox Jewish synagogues, men and women sit separately. In this synagogue, the divider (metchitzah) is down the middle (men on one side, women on the other), instead of a more traditional separation of women sitting up in the balcony.

The stained glass windows are simple, with only Stars of David.

1992 Bomb site

We visited the memorial to the victims of the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy that killed 29 people (Jews and non-Jews).

1994 Bomb site

In July, 1994, the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires was targeted by Hezbollah, killing 89 people – the worst Jewish disaster since the Shoah until October 7. A new building was built. Additions have been made to the building over the years, the latest being the bollards and entrance are now painted orange in memory of the Bibas family murdered after October 7.

Garment district/frum neighborhood

Our last “stop” so to speak, was through the garment (“shmata”) district and religious neighborhoods, both of which reminded me of the garment district and Lower East Side of Manhattan (or my old neighborhood in Queens).

Our tour ended with Matias dropping us off at a recommended kosher restaurant. He helped us order. It turned out to be too much for 2 people.

After lunch we took an Uber back to the hotel to rest up for a bit. Lunch was so huge, a real dinner was out of the question. At some point hours later, we decided to walk over to Freddos and have one last ice cream. My personal favorite: Chocolate Doble Tentacion.

Tomorrow: Some time to kill in the morning, and then it’s time to head to the airport to come home.