“Just like many other times in Jewish history, when we were too comfortable in a place, we face the fact that we might have to leave”
urbulent unrest in Chile’s capital of Santiago — home to 80 percent of the country’s Jews, around 20,000 — triggered an existential crisis for the community over the last month.
“I’ve never seen such violent acts in the last 40 years,” says Rabbi Jaim Waissbluth of the local Aish HaTorah congregation. “Just like many other times in Jewish history, when we were too comfortable in a place, we face the fact that we might have to leave.”
Rabbi Waissbluth says in recent days many members of the community “saw with their own eyes their businesses being destroyed and burned down, in only a few minutes.”
After four weeks of riots that left at least 25 dead, the Chilean government reached an agreement with opposition political parties to hold a referendum next April on replacing the country’s constitution, imposed during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in 1980. That announcement was intended to calm the nerves of Chilean society, particularly those of the vibrant Jewish community, many of whose members are now seriously thinking of leaving the country for good.
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