What do two Jewish communities on two different continents separated by more than 5,500 miles have in common?
Just as in the Kansas City Jewish community there are many organizations that assist Jewish people of all ages and backgrounds, the same is true in Buenos Aires, Argentina, says Maddie Reiches, a Jewish Federation board member who traveled to Buenos Aires in December.
“From visiting retirement homes for the elderly, seeing after-school music programs or meeting with Moishe House members, it was cool comparing Jewish communities that are thousands of miles apart but still have the same goal to create a vibrant Jewish life for their community members,” Reiches said.
The weeklong trip was put together by key Federation global partner American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and specifically designed for Midwest-based young Jewish professionals. The trips are part of JDC’s Entwine program.
“I met amazing young adults from Detroit, [Michigan], the Twin Cities, [Minnesota], Chicago, [Illinois] and Columbus, [Ohio],” Reiches said. “We formed great bonds talking about our own Jewish communities and how we can bring back what we learned from this trip.”
Some of what the group saw included the work of the Argentinian organization Fundación Tzedaká, which supports vulnerable and at-risk Argentinians with social, educational and health programs.
“Some of those receiving help were Holocaust survivors who we were able to meet,” Reiches said. “It never occurred to me that Holocaust survivors moved to South America following the war, and I was honored to meet and talk with them.”
Buenos Aires’ Jewish community also has different challenges — the impact of the local economic crisis is a major one, Reiches said.
“There are a lot of Jews in poverty — more than 15,000 — in Buenos Aires,” she said. “That is why it is so important for organizations like the JDC to help in Argentina.”
Kansas City’s Federation supports JDC’s work in other communities via a “core” allocation of several hundred thousand dollars annually, which means the local community is taking care of Jews globally even while focusing on its vulnerable and at-risk populations at home.
The concept of global Jewry and all Jews being responsible for one another was an area of learning for Reiches, she says.
“Before this trip, I thought that most Jews lived in the United States and Israel, but there are thriving Jewish communities all over the world from which we can learn so much,” she said. “I also learned about the Joint Distribution Committee and how they help Jews in crisis all over the world. I really look forward to spreading this awareness to others.”
In addition to sharing stories and pictures from her own experience, Reiches strongly encourages other Jewish young professionals in Kansas City to consider similar trips to global Jewish communities in the year ahead.
“I would highly recommend a JDC Entwine trip to other young adults who love travel and want to have an experience of a lifetime,” she said.
Applications are now open for a weeklong trip in May of 2023 to Morocco and a weeklong trip in June of 2023 to Finland and Estonia.
For more information, contact Becca Levine at Jewish Federation ().
Maddie Reiches in front of Beit Jabad Once - Litvische Shul, a Chabad House in Buenos Aires, Argentina.