Our Tours
Explore the rich Jewish history and culture in Buenos Aires with our specialized tours
Virtual Tour of Jewish Buenos Aires - Second Part
In the second part of the Virtual Tour of Jewish Buenos Aires, we will explore the more polemical and controversial aspects of the history of the Argentine Jewish community. We begin by looking at the political, economic, and cultural background that explains the neutrality of Argentina in Second World War and the coming of the Nazi war criminals to Argentina after the war. We take a close look at the story of Perón and Evita, and with the help of benchmark academic works of leading scholars in the field, we will evaluate the complex relationship of Perón with the Germans and the Nazis on the one hand and with the Jewish people on the other hand. We will learn about the capture of Adolph Eichmann in a Northern suburb of Buenos Aires by the Israeli Mossad. And we will study the last military dictatorship, which killed 30,000 young people, 20% of whom were Jewish. We will focus on the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, highlighting the work of an American-born rabbi on behalf of human rights and the story of an internationally famous Argentine journalist who was kidnapped and tortured by the military regime.
View DetailsVirtual Tour of Jewish Buenos Aires - First Part
This first part of the Virtual Tour of Jewish Buenos Aires will introduce us to the Argentine Jewish community. Beginning with a brief presentation of the story of Portuguese Crypto-Jews in Colonial Buenos Aires who were protected by Franciscan friars, we will then trace the immigration and origins of the current Jewish community of Argentina—the sixth largest in the world. We will explore the fascinating story of the Jewish Gauchos in the Pampas of Argentina, and how the community was formed with its beautiful Sephardic and Ashkenazic synagogues, Kosher restaurants, day schools and Jewish community centers. We will take a close look at the two terrorist attacks against the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 and the Jewish Federation of Buenos Aires (AMIA) in 1994. We will conclude with a visit to a moving Memorial in honor of the victims of the Shoah and of the two terrorist attacks inside the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires and talk about the relationship of the late Pope Francis with the Jewish people.
View DetailsHalf-Day Shared Tour of Jewish Buenos Aires (9 AM - 1 PM)
After pick-up from your place/hotel (some time between 8:30 AM and 9:00 AM), we head to Plaza de Mayo, the cradle of Buenos Aires, where we begin the tour, creating the framework for a deep geographical and historical understanding of Argentina that will allow us to explore Jewish BA in a most meaningful way. We learn about the history of crypto-Jews in Buenos Aires during the Colonial times, who were protected by a Catholic order from the persecution of the Inquisition. We will see the first Memorial to the victims of the Holocaust inside of a cathedral in the world –in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires, the Church of late Pope Francis, the Argentine Pope! In front of the famous Balcony of Evita in the Casa Rosada (the Pink House), we learn from a Jewish perspective about the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and the disappeared during the last military regime of 1976-1983. From Plaza de Mayo, we then go to visit the Libertad Street Synagogue, which is the oldest Congregation in Buenos Aires, founded in 1862 by German Jews, and the Jewish Museum of Buenos Aires, where we learn there about Eastern European Jewish immigration to Argentina in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, about the Jewish Gauchos, and about both the Sephardic and the Ashkenazic communities, so that we can gain a good grasp of the richness and diversity of the Argentine Jewish community. We then visit the Jewish neighborhood of Once –the Buenos Aires version of the Lower East Side in New York-- where we walk its streets with Jewish stores, Kosher butchers, restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets, and see the site of the AMIA (from the outside), where we learn about the terrorist attack which took the lives of 85 people in 1994. This Half-Day Tour ends in Once. (Please note that it does not bring you back to your place/hotel, because at this point we continue with the extended, Full-Day Tour.)
View DetailsFull-Day Shared Tour of Jewish Buenos Aires (9:00 AM – 4:00 PM)*
After pick-up from your place/hotel (sometime between 8:30 AM and 9:00 AM), we head to Plaza de Mayo, the cradle of Buenos Aires, where we begin the tour, creating the framework for a deep geographical and historical understanding of Argentina that will allow us to explore Jewish BA in a most meaningful way. We learn about the history of crypto-Jews in Buenos Aires during the Colonial times, who were protected by a Catholic order from the persecution of the Inquisition. We will see the first Memorial to the victims of the Holocaust inside of a cathedral in the world –in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires, the Church of late Pope Francis, the Argentine Pope! In front of the famous Balcony of Evita in the Casa Rosada (the Pink House), we learn from a Jewish perspective about the mothers of Plaza de Mayo and the disappeared during the last military regime of 1976-1983. From Plaza de Mayo, we then go to visit the Libertad Street Synagogue,** which is the oldest Congregation in Buenos Aires, founded in 1862 by German Jews, and the Jewish Museum of Buenos Aires, where we learn there about Eastern European Jewish immigration to Argentina in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, about the Jewish Gauchos, and about both the Sephardic and the Ashkenazic communities, so that we can gain a good grasp of the richness and diversity of the Argentine Jewish community. We then visit the Jewish neighborhood of Once –the Buenos Aires version of the Lower East Side in New York-- where we walk its streets with Jewish stores, Kosher butchers, restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets, and see the site of the AMIA (from the outside), where we learn about the terrorist attack which took the lives of 85 people in 1994. The Full-Day Ttour continues with lunch at a Kosher restaurant, where we will have the opportunity to share traveling tips with fellow passengers and address questions about Argentina´s political and economic life. After lunch we visit the Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires,** where we cover in depth the neutrality of Argentina during World War II, the coming of the Nazis to Argentina after the war, during the government of Perón, and the capture of Adolph Eichmann by the Mossad in Buenos Aires in 1960. The Full-Day Tour brings you back to your place/hotel. * The itinerary may change depending on the conditions of the weather, traffic considerations and the particular needs and interests of the group. The flow of the tours is naturally unique to each group. **Please note the following: On Sundays and Holidays, the Libertad Street synagogue and the Jewish Museum are closed. On these days we still visit the site and see the synagogue from the outside and learn there about Jewish immigration to Argentina in the 19th and early 20th centuries and story of the Jewish Gauchos. On Fridays and Holidays, the Holocaust Museum is closed. These days we cover the topics surrounding the Second World War and the Nazis coming to Argentina at the site where Perón and Evita lived.
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