{"id":20829,"date":"2016-09-16T00:30:16","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T07:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=20829"},"modified":"2016-09-15T17:21:46","modified_gmt":"2016-09-16T00:21:46","slug":"jews-leave-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/09\/16\/jews-leave-venezuela\/","title":{"rendered":"Jews leave Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"

Moises Brunstein now lives in Toronto, but he still has family in Venezuela. (photo from Moises Brunstein)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Political upheaval, economic disintegration, rising crime rates and the implosion of social services have brought Venezuela to its knees. The lucky ones see Soviet-style, hours-long supermarket lineups; the unlucky see bare shelves in a country said now to have the worst inflation rate on the planet, in some sectors upwards of 700%. The chaos, combined with rising antisemitism, has spurred a massive flight of Jews.<\/p>\n

Caracas\u2019 once-thriving Jewish community of nearly 30,000 has dwindled in just a decade and a half to a quarter its former size. The exodus continues in conditions exacerbated by the sudden departure of foreign investment and international corporations.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Venezuela was among the first countries to recognize Israel and, in 1991, supported revoking the 1975 United Nations resolution comparing Zionism to racism. Jews have lived in relative peace there for hundreds of years, until the last decade.<\/p>\n

In May 2004, Tif\u00e9ret Israel \u2013 the oldest synagogue in Caracas \u2013 was vandalized after demonstrators at a government-sanctioned protest graffitied on city walls slurs such as \u201cSharon is a murderer of the Palestinian people,\u201d \u201cViva the armed Palestinian people\u201d and \u201cFree Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n

In November of that year, armed and hooded state policemen broke into the Colegio Hebraica, a Jewish grade school in the city. During the three-hour sweep of the premises, under the pretext of a weapons search, the doors were locked and bolted with the children inside. Agents found nothing of interest.<\/p>\n

Venezuela\u2019s chief rabbi condemned the raid as community \u201cintimidation.\u201d The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism \u2013 based at Tel Aviv University in Israel \u2013 reported that the intrusion was \u201cperhaps the most serious incident ever to have taken place in the history of the Jewish community.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December 2007, Venezuela\u2019s secret police raided the Hebraic Social, Cultural and Sports Centre, again under the pretext of searching for weapons and drugs, of which they found none.<\/p>\n

Coincident with the Gaza War (Operation Cast Lead, December 2008-January 2009), a number of incidents occurred, beginning with then-president Hugo Ch\u00e1vez expelling the Israeli ambassador.<\/p>\n

Later, in a public broadcast, Ch\u00e1vez said, \u201cFrom the bottom of my soul, I damn you Israel. You are a criminal and terrorist state that is openly exterminating the Palestinians,\u201d and he accused Israel of \u201cNazi-like atrocities.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, the Venezuelan foreign ministry dubbed Israel\u2019s actions \u201cstate terrorism\u201d and government officials were seen wearing keffiyahs and waving Palestinian flags in the streets at an anti-Israel march said to have been organized by Ch\u00e1vez himself.<\/p>\n

On a Friday night in January 2009, armed men broke into Tif\u00e9ret Israel and gagged and bound security guards. The thugs ransacked offices and left antisemitic slogans on the walls, including a call for the expulsion of Jews from Venezuela. Religious objects in the sanctuary were ruined, and a list of the country\u2019s Jews was stolen.<\/p>\n

In February 2009, Beit Shmuel Synagogue was the target of a bomb that shattered windows and damaged a nearby car.<\/p>\n

According to the 2009 World Conference against Antisemitism, the average of 45 anti-Israel articles published a month in 2008 jumped to five a day during January 2009, and there were newspapers that accused Israel of genocide.<\/p>\n

And the situation didn\u2019t improve much after the Gaza War. For example, the country\u2019s main Jewish organization, La Confederaci\u00f3n de Asociaciones Israelitas de Venezuela (CAIV), reported more than 4,000 antisemitic incidents in 2013. And, as recently as this year, the Venezuelan United Nations ambassador, Rafael Ramirez, asked in a speech at UN headquarters in New York whether Israel was \u201ctrying to impose a \u2018final solution\u2019 on the Palestinians in the West Bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little of this is shocking to Moises Brunstein, an expat now living in Toronto.<\/p>\n

A first-generation Venezuelan, Brunstein\u2019s Romanian parents arrived in Venezuela by Red Cross boat in 1941, after having been prisoners in Nazi-occupied France. With no command of the language and no money, Brunstein\u2019s father worked his way up to become president of the local hydro authority.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lived a very nice life,\u201d Brunstein told the Independent<\/em>. That is, until Ch\u00e1vez came to power. Twelve years ago, at age 29, it was time to go, Brunstein said. With only four suitcases, he came to Canada, leaving behind all of his books, furniture and currency. Some cousins remain in Venezuela, but his father\u2019s side has left for Florida, Australia and Spain; his mother\u2019s side for Canada.<\/p>\n

It is his belief that the state is trying to squeeze the Jewish community out of Venezuela. \u201cIn 2010 and 2011, the main building where Jews had stores was extricated by the government,\u201d he said. \u201cMy mother, a lawyer, saw her offices taken over.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything changed when the government aligned themselves to Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. The Palestinian flag flew in the Venezuelan congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brunstein last visited Caracas in 2009 for a cousin\u2019s wedding, and found security to be unusually high. \u201cYou don\u2019t wear yarmulkes in public,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n

There are various reasons why many Jews remain in the country, he said. The elderly aren\u2019t necessarily mobile and have no command of a second language; those with businesses find it hard to leave.<\/p>\n

Brunstein mails his mother basic foods, medicine and personal hygiene products, as well as a Passover care package.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, an expat living in New York, Freddy Steiner, runs his apparel and clothing stores in Caracas \u2013 Componix Clothing \u2013 from the United States, but his visits back home have steadily declined.<\/p>\n

In 2000, about a year after the Ch\u00e1vez revolution, Steiner moved his family from Caracas to Miami.<\/p>\n

\u201cPure safety, the number one issue,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe kidnappings start[ed] to rise, the security was deteriorating. More and more people leave each year, knowing how much this is affecting the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caracas, he noted, consistently is ranked among the 10 most dangerous cities in the world, with medical services next to non-existent, except for the wealthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire economy is in a coma, shut down,\u201d he said. \u201cSince early spring, malls and restaurants shut down at 7 p.m., there\u2019s no electricity and no water.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Rabbi Ariel Yeshurun of Sky Lake Synagogue in North Miami Beach, which has a sizeable Venezuelan membership, many of his congregants express concern about family who remain in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

Abraham Levy Benshimol, former president of CAIV and of the Ascociaci\u00f3n Israelita de Venezuela, said that, in addition to the difficulties experienced by all Venezuelans, those Jews who remain are facing increased challenges because of the exodus. \u201cYou still have the same number of schools, but you don\u2019t have the same number of contributors,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that\u2019s a big problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chaya Perman, the wife of Rabbi Moshe Perman, director of Venezuela\u2019s Chabad Centre, said, \u201cThe recent anti-Zionism is part of what is going on internationally.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Perman, \u201cnearly every Jewish family is affiliated in some way,\u201d with some 90% of Jewish children attending Jewish day school; kosher meat, pizza, and bread products are still available. Given the overall circumstances, however, houses of worship are using up financial reserves to keep afloat, though they are \u201cnot yet at the point where they think they need help from wealthy Jewish communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For the Permans, two married children with their husbands and 15 grandchildren remain in Venezuela. They, much like the rest of the community, don\u2019t know whether tomorrow will be better or worse. But there\u2019s always hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a wait-and-see attitude,\u201d said Perman.<\/p>\n

Dave Gordon<\/strong> is a Toronto-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in more than a hundred publications around the world.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moises Brunstein now lives in Toronto, but he still has family in Venezuela. (photo from Moises Brunstein) Political upheaval, economic disintegration, rising crime rates and the implosion of social services have brought Venezuela to its knees. The lucky ones see Soviet-style, hours-long supermarket lineups; the unlucky see bare shelves in a country said now to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[801,6320,6317,6319,6318],"class_list":["post-20829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-antisemitism","tag-chavez","tag-economic-crisis","tag-emigration","tag-venezuela"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}