02/02/2026
Orchard Cove resident Lydia Umaschi shared her story about growing up in Argentina, focusing on insights into the country's history and Jewish culture. Umaschi highlighted notable figures in Argentine Jewish history, including Baron Maurice de Hirsch, who sponsored the large-scale immigration of Jews fleeing persecution in Russia in the late 1800s.
"The people who came had no idea how to work the land or do agriculture," Umaschi said, but those who settled in the agricultural colonies established by the Jewish Colonization Association were called the "gauchos judios." Umaschi shared some items that would have been used by Jewish gauchos, including a gourd and bombilla used for drinking mate, a traditional herbal drink, and a facón knife.
"They used it in the field, they used it to cut the meat and cut the wheat, they used it as a fork—they used it for everything," she said.
She also highlighted rabbi and international human rights activist Marshall T. Meyer, who founded the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires and led the Comunidad Bet El congregation. Meyer later became the rabbi of Congregation Bnai Jeshurun in New York City.
"He attracted the young people like crazy, because no one had seen a rabbi like him before," Umaschi said, noting that when he founded the rabbinical school, he started with four students. He ultimately trained 110 rabbis, many of whom are still working in Latin America, Spain, and the United States.
Umaschi also has a connection to Jewish education in Argentina, noting her synagogue opened its own school in 1995. The school has grown from 50 to more than 650 students. She said a reason for the school's success was the decision to teach in Spanish and English while offering Hebrew as an elective, and its commitment to including students with mental and physical disabilities.
Umaschi also highlighted a unique piece of Argentine culture: tango music. Describing it as "the music of the city of Buenos Aires," she played recordings of "Esta Noche me Emborracho" and "Cambalache" as performed by Carlos Gardel.
"The idea in America is that every song sung in Spanish talks about love, beautiful girls, and living a nice life, but tango is nothing like that. It's philosophical and pessimistic in its view of the world and can talk about the real world and bad things that can happen," she said.
The program was hosted by the Orchard Cove Shalom Club, which explores Jewish culture, history, and values through education and community programming.
