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Next Year in Argentina

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Wikipedia article




'Next Year in Argentina' (original title 'El Ao Que Viene en... Argentina') is a 2005 documentary about diaspora Jews, who have either decided to remain in Argentina or move to Israel. Argentine-Israeli filmmakers Jorge Gurvich and Shlomo Slutzky travel to Argentina to speak those who have stayed behind.

Summary



Next year in Jerusalem, goes the prayer that Jews have been chanting through two thousand years of exile. Yet nearly 60 years after the founding of the Jewish State, some who've emigrated to the Holy Land still long for the home they left behind even if home meant poverty and persecution, as it did for many Argentine Jews.

I always raise the subject of my being Jewish upfront . . . for me its like my mark . . . its my pride says one director's brother. When people ask why he doesn't move to Israel, he responds: Argentina is the best country in the world.

Argentina has a long history of anti-Semitism and political unrest, which came to a head in the early 90s when attacks on its Israeli embassy and Jewish community center left 116 dead, most of them Jews. For many Jews, Israel was the only way out, which was also the case during Argentinas recent economic crisis. But now, more than ten years after the attacks, and with the countrys economy on the rebound, Argentinas Jewish community is staying put.

Directors Jorge Gurvich and Shlomo Slutzky grew up in Argentina, and made aliyah as adults. They have built families and careers in Israel but still visit Argentina frequentlyperhaps out of a desire to stay in touch with friends and family, but also because, on some essential level, Argentina is still their home. While Shlomo and Jorge continue to straddle two worlds, some of their friends have returned to Argentina after making aliyah. And many, like Gurvichs brother, refuse to even consider immigrating to Israel.

Many see aliyah as an unwise tradeoff; while Argentine Jews exchange anti-Semitic slurs in the shadow of the attacks, life in Israel demands the far more immediate and permanent sacrifices of a country that is perpetually at war. Israelis believe that in order to be Jewish you need to live in Israel, to sacrifice yourself and to give up your children for the defense of the country, says Laura, whose husband was killed in the community center attack. Laura resents the Israeli perception of Diaspora Jews that makes us . . . feel as if were not Jewish. The truth, she says, is that I dont have to live in Israel in order to be a Jew.

While the vast majority of those who have immigrated to Israel may not return, some are still plagued by self-doubt and continue to question their decision years even decades after moving to Israel, especially in the wake of the intifada and Israel's economic recession.

But for Gurvich, any need for Jewish identification is satisfied in Israel where he is not preoccupied with my Jewish identity it seems natural to me. And yet, he is drawn back to Argentina, and continues to regard this country as his home.

I have family in Israel, Im an Israeli filmmaker, but my heart is still here, in faraway Argentina, and this tears me apart, he reveals.

See also



Other documentaries about World Jewry:

*'In Search of Happiness'

*'Jews of Iran'

*'From Swastika to Jim Crow'

*'Reconstruction'

References



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Category:2005 films

Category:2000s Hebrew-language films

Category:Documentary films about Argentina

Category:Documentary films about Jews and Judaism

Category:Israeli documentary films

Category:2005 documentary films

Category:ArgentinaIsrael relations

Category:Jews and Judaism in Argentina

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