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Patagonia’s first new synagogue in over 40 years reveals a growing Argentine-Jewish community
(JTA) — Patagonia, Argentina’s famously beautiful southern region, has been a haven for Israeli backpackers, vacationers from Buenos Aires and, in the 20th century, Nazi war criminals.
What the scenic territory hasn’t had for nearly 40 years is a new synagogue.
That has changed in the last year, as a group of Jews living in San Martín de los Andes have inaugurated the first-ever synagogue in their city. The synagogue is just the second Jewish institution in the 400,000-square-mile Patagonia region, and the first new synagogue in all of Argentina in years that is not affiliated with the growing Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox movement.
Instead, the Hebrew Community of San Martín de los Andes is affiliated with the Conservative movement of Judaism, which is shrinking overall. Its founders have gotten support from Argentina’s Latin American Rabbinical Seminary, based in Buenos Aires, as well as from multiple synagogues in the Buenos Aires area.
The first event in the synagogue was a Passover seder in April, and over the last month, the community held services for the High Holidays for the first time ever in a permanent home.
The small venue, just 1,200 square feet, is located in the center of the city, just a few minutes’ walk from both the bus terminal and Lacar Lake. On Rosh Hashanah, 85 people gathered for a festive dinner, more than twice as many as had taken part in previous years. They included tourists from across Argentina and abroad, as well as people from the local community of about 150 Jews.
“It was very moving, the first Yom Kippur in our own synagogue in our city and we saw the children at the Neilah service with candles,” Eduardo Labaton, president of the city’s fledgling Jewish community, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “It was a very important start of our synagogue services here.”
The synagogue was initially the vision of Labaton, who moved from Buenos Aires 20 years ago.
“We met in houses,” he recalled about past Jewish activities in San Martín de los Andes. “But we couldn’t invite a lot of people to houses.”
Three years ago Labaton, who works in real estate and retail, bought land near the lake and included a space to build a place for the community. But then Claudio Ploit, then the community’s vice president, proposed going even bigger and securing a Torah for the community. Suddenly, the group was talking about building a full-fledged synagogue.
Ploit, a well connected senior leader in the Buenos Aires community who has a tourist business in Patagonia and divides his time between the capital city and San Martín de los Andes, was instrumental in securing resources for the Patagonian project. In addition to the funding from the Seminario, he also secured a Torah from the Weitzman Jewish community and visiting rabbis from the Lamroth Hakol community, both in Buenos Aires.
Tourists walk down a shopping street in San Martín de los Andes, Argentina. (Arterra/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
“I read texts about the deep importance of inaugurating a synagogue but experiencing that firsthand is a very moving experience,” Rabbi Deborah Rosenberg, the director of education at Lamroth Hakol from Buenos Aires who is working with the San Martín de los Andes community, told JTA. “The first Shabbat in a new temple was very emotional for me.”
Before the San Martín de los Andes dedication, the only Jewish institution operating in all of Patagonia was a Chabad house in Bariloche, another vacation spot three hours’ drive south, that routinely hosts hundreds of Israeli backpackers at Passover. (The Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke directed the German school of Bariloche for many years before being arrested in 1994 and becoming a symbol of how easily Argentina accommodated former Nazis.)
Argentina has the world’s sixth-largest Jewish population, estimated at 180,000 according to a 2019 report. But most of those Jews live in the Buenos Aires area, and there are no reliable estimates of the number of Jews living in Patagonia.
What’s clear is that there are more than Labaton and Ploit knew about — and that more are always passing through. Patagonia has always been a desirable region for travel, especially for nature-lovers and athletes eager to enjoy summer skiing. The recent collapse of the Argentinian peso is a crisis in many ways, but it has benefited Patagonia: Argentina has become more affordable for foreign visitors and the only place that many Argentines can afford to travel to.
Last year, the average hotel occupancy rate in Patagonia was 97%. Some of those visitors have made appearances at the new synagogue.
“I talked with a lady from the United States, a tourist that was very moved by the possibility of having a religious service during his trip to Patagonia and also some sportsmen that were in the city for trekking and running that happily joined the ceremonies,” Rosenberg recalled about the dedication ceremony.
Around 70 people were at the ceremony, mostly from major Jewish institutions in Buenos Aires. But local community leaders also welcomed around 15 Jews from the region that they didn’t know before, including a resident of another southern city called Zapala located 150 miles north and a man that came to donate a tallit, or Jewish prayer shawl, to the synagogue.
Mario Jakszyn, a community member who helped organize the event, said the turnout had not been anticipated.
“At first we set a few chairs to avoid the image of an empty synagogue in case few people came, but quickly we had to add more and more chairs,” Jakzyn said.
Jews living in San Martín de los Andes have inaugurated the first-ever synagogue in their city. (Gustavo Castaign/ Courtesy Comunidad Hebrea San Martín de los Andes)
He and another community member, Tamar Schnaider, have been volunteering to lead Shabbat services every Friday. Tourists are always present, he said, and because the group eats Shabbat dinner together, the festivities often do not end until midnight.
The group is hoping to hire a rabbi of their own in the future, but in the meantime, they are collaborating with Lamroth Hakol to organize regular services.
Ploit, a triathlete who was in Argentina’s record squad in this summer’s Maccabiah Games in Israel, wants to make the new synagogue a destination for Jewish athletes who come to Patagonia. He’s planning a Shabbat dinner focused on local athletes, and he is talking with the Argentine Maccabiah sports federation about launching a ski camp — and, potentially, Maccabiah’s first winter sports event in Argentina.
This week, Argentina is hosting the Gran Fondo Siete Lagos, an international cycling competition throughout Patagonia’s mountains, forests and lakes. This year’s route begins in San Martín de los Andes, and Ploit has organized a Shabbat meal at the synagogue the night before the race begins. He already has 80 people registered.
“We keep moving,” he said about his community.
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2026 Tribeca Film Festival to Screen World Premiere of Israeli Films, Including Noga Erez Documentary
A still from “What Is To Come.” Photo: Tribeca Film Festival
Organizers of the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival announced on Thursday the official lineup for this year’s event in June and it includes the world premiere of three Israeli co-productions.
“What Is to Come” will be screened as part of the festival’s International Narrative Competition. The drama from Israel and the United Kingdom is about a woman named Yehudit who unexpectedly loses her husband and is forced to start over on her own. “In the process, she finds that abrupt and painful detours can lead to bright roads,” according to a synopsis of the film. The feature is directed and written by Ruthy Pribar, and stars Ronit Yudkevitch, Yaakov Zada Danielm and Tovit Adis Semay. “What Is to Come” will make its world premiere on June 8.
Pribar’s debut feature film “Asia” screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2020 and won three awards, including the Nora Ephron Prize for Pribar, a best actress award for Shira Haas, and best cinematography for Daniella Nowitz. The film also won nine Ophir Awards in Israel.
“Moishe Badhan (or The Tale of a Wedding Entertainer),” will also make its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival this year, in the Viewpoints section. Directed by Gidi Dar and written by Shuli Rand, the co-production from Israel and the US is a comedy-drama about a disgraced Hasidic wedding-comedian who is trying to gather enough funds to marry off his daughter. The cast includes Shuli Rand, Tal Friedman, and American Jewish comedian Elon Gold, who is also an executive producer on the film. The world premiere will take place on June 4.
The 2026 Tribeca Film Festival will also feature the world premiere of the documentary “Noga,” about Israeli alternative pop singer Noga Erez. The movie, which was directed and co-produced by Jono and Benji Bergmann, is a c0-production from Austria, Germany, Israel, and the US. It examines how Erez “must redefine her role as an artist on a global stage” after the Israel-Hamas war breaks out in 2023. The film’s world premiere on June 7 will be followed by an acoustic performance by Erez and her longtime partner in music and life Ori Rousso.
Erez is performing twice at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this month. She has never performed at the festival before and has made history as the first Israeli singer to take to the stage at the annual event in Indio, California.
The 2026 Tribeca Film Festival will run from June 3-14. The event will feature 118 feature films including 103 world premieres, which is the most in the history of the festival, and 86 short films. The festival this year will represent 143 filmmakers, including 55 first-time directors, spanning 44 countries.
“Tribeca began 25 years ago as an act of healing, a mission to reunite our community through the power of storytelling. Today, that purpose feels more urgent than ever,” said Jane Rosenthal, co-chair and co-founder of the Tribeca Festival. “This year’s incredible feature and short film lineup includes stories from filmmakers who make us think, feel, laugh, cry, and ask why. Tribeca remains dedicated to the artists’ voices and diverse perspectives that challenge us to see one another more clearly.”
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Over 1,000 Entertainment Industry Figures Back Israel’s Inclusion in 2026 Eurovision Song Contest
A photographer takes a picture of a TV screen in Wiener Stadthalle, the venue of next year’s Eurovision in Vienna, Austria, Nov. 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger
More than 1,000 members of the entertainment industry have signed an open letter expressing support for Israel’s participation in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) held in May, in response to demands to have the country excluded from the competition because of its military actions in the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Hamas war.
Creative Community for Peace, a non-profit organization comprised of prominent members of the entertainment industry, penned the initial open letter in 2024 in response to efforts by anti-Israel activists to have the European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the ESC, ban Israel from the event and to pressure countries and artists to withdraw their participation from the competition. The open letter voiced support for Israel’s inclusion in Eurovision as well as solidarity with the contest’s participants, while denouncing calls for a boycott of the event.
Hundreds more entertainment industry leaders have since added their names to the open letter, including actresses Amy Schumer and Mila Kunis; singer Matisyahu; actors Jeremy Piven and Jerry O’Connell; television writer, producer, and directors Amy Sherman-Palladino and Matthew Weiner; “Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins; and “Nobody Wants This” co-creator Erin Foster.
“We have been shocked and disappointed to see some members of the entertainment community calling for Israel to be banished from the contest for responding to the greatest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust,” the letter stated. “We believe that unifying events such as singing competitions are crucial to help bridge our cultural divides and unite people of all backgrounds through their shared love of music.”
“Music should bring us together,” said O’Connell. “No artist should be silenced for where they are from. These boycott efforts destroy the very connections the arts are meant to build.”
Those who signed the initial open letter back in 2024 include Helen Mirren, Boy George, Liev Schrieber, Sharon Osbourne, Gene Simmons, Debra Messing, David Draiman, Mayim Bialik, Julianna Margulies, and Ginnifer Goodwin.
“Artists and culture are being dragged into the angry, misinformed politics of the moment,” said Osbourne in a released statement. “Attempts to exclude Israelis from the international stage twist art into a tool of division and erode the shared humanity that the arts are meant to preserve. I’ve watched this play out for over three years, and it just breaks my heart.”
The 2026 Eurovision semi-finals will take place on May 12 and 14, and the final live show will be on May 16. The competition is being held in Vienna, Austria.
After the European Broadcasting Union confirmed late last year that it will allow Israel to participate in the 2026 ESC, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Slovenia, and Iceland announced they will not participate in this year’s event.
Spain’s national broadcaster RTVE said it will not broadcast or participate in the event, which marks the first time the country has completely boycotted the ESC since it began participating in the competition in 1961. Spain’s Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun called the move “brave.”
Meanwhile, the EBU confirmed this week that for the first time ever the live shows of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest will be available to watch for free in the United States. It will air on YouTube but also be available for viewing in the US on the Peacock streaming service.
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Yale University Admits Role in Crumbling Public Trust in Higher Education
Graduates enter Old Campus at Yale University for Commencement Day exercises, in New Haven, Connecticut, US May 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Bryan Woolston
Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut blamed itself and other elite colleges for having played a role in crumbling public trust in higher education in a new committee report published on Wednesday.
Racial preferences in admissions, prohibitive sticker prices, declining academic standards, and advocacy of divisive progressive causes which polarized the American public to the point that “national divorce” became a byword on social media in recent years all contribute to a sense that elite higher education considers itself a class apart and above regular people, the report said.
Citing polling showing that just over a third of Americans, 36 percent, have “confidence” in higher education as opposed to 57 percent who did in 2016, it noted that “trust in higher education has declined faster than in other institutions and sectors.”
The statistics reveal uncertainty regarding the purpose of higher education and its relevance to a democracy that is contemptuous of gatekeepers and hollow indicators of status.
Yale University’s own opaque system of “preferences” in undergraduate admissions — which it said privileges the wealthy, athletes, and some minorities — is one source of discontent that needs to be addressed, the report said.
Yale University infamously adopted racial preferences under the leadership of president Kingman Brewster in the 1960s, despite growing evidence that the practice created an environment of academic maladjustment and racial division. This led to the creation of segregated programming and academic programs for African Americans, as well as a summer remedial program for minority students — PROP (Pre-Orientation Program) — that was eventually rebranded in the late 1990s when its apparent subtext proved unpalatable to a new generation of students.
“We recommend that Yale reduce preferences for special classes of applicants. We also believe that the admissions system can be made more effective and less onerous for applicants by establishing and making a public minimum standard of academic achievement necessary for consideration,” the report continued. “Under the current system, Yale informs potential students that everything matters, leaving applicants scrambling to second-guess what the university wants.”
The report authors, drawn from across Yale’s faculty, went on to recommend adopting a “minimum SAT score” or “Yale specific entrance exam” to “ensure that no student is admitted without the requisite academic preparation ability.”
Elite undergraduate admissions is a matter of growing importance to the Jewish community, as it has seen its representation in some Ivy League institutions plunge. According to a report issued by the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance in March, Jewish undergraduate enrollment at Harvard has plummeted to lows not seen since the eve of World War II and the Holocaust, falling to just 7 percent.
The same report also found that Jews are the only minority group at Yale University whose admittance rates have declined since the university expanded the size of its undergraduate class in 2018. The revelation has revived memories of elite education’s 20th century practice of “restriction,” by which admissions officers relied on a “holistic assessment” of applicants to deny admission to Jews.
Yale’s new report also touched on the charged issue of viewpoint diversity, a point of vulnerability for most universities.
“The campus has not been immune from pressures toward conformity, intimidation, and social shaming that have affected the rest of higher education and, indeed, the rest of American society,” it said, referencing a 2015 viral incident in which a Yale undergraduate shrieked at professor Nicholas Christakis because he had implored progressive students not to be hypersensitive over Halloween costumes portraying people of color. “Echo chambers do not produce the best teaching, research, or scholarship.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.