Varied cultures of Latin Jews blend on holiday

The Miami Herald Posted on Wed, Apr. 16, 2003 BY NERY YNCLAN nynclan@herald.com

Tonight, Soiby Siedner will have 22 people over for dinner, Thursday, 25. They will be treated to Passover recipes that have fed generations of her family and traveled thousands of miles from Romania to Peru to Colombia -- and now her South Florida table.

''The shredded potatoes with egg and onion and starch is from my mother's grandmother,'' says Siedner, a Peruvian, who moved to Plantation from Colombia three years ago with her husband and three children. ``And from my husband's side I have recipes that go way, way back to his great, great, great-grandmother.''

The Passover spread will be a taste of home for her and thousands of other Latin American Jewish families who have made their own exodus from beleaguered homelands. Economic and political upheaval, particularly in Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia, has brought thousands of Latin American Jews to South Florida in recent years -- so many that the Miami-Dade and Broward Jewish federations as well as temples have set up Latin programs to help the new arrivals settle in and make new friends.

Temples in both counties will be serving Passover dinners tonight and Thursday to those without extended families to share in the holiday that marks the exodus of Jewish slaves from Egypt.

VARIED CULTURES

''They come from every possible country of Latin America, and each has a different culture, different accent, and come escaping different situations,'' says Rabbi Samuel Kieffer of Temple B'nai Aviv in Weston. ``But all of them share in the ancient story of Passover, the exodus from Egypt to find freedom that is still being lived out in their life stories.''

It was the country's economic hardships that drove Karina Butensky and her family from Argentina three years ago.

''We didn't see a future there, so we decided we had to come here,'' says Butensky, a mother of two in Plantation. ``We have everybody still in Argentina. We miss them a lot. It's very hard -- especially on a holiday.''

Butensky says she will still host a warm celebration with many friends and many traditional dishes, including the gefilte fish she makes from scratch.

''Passover is a real family holiday,'' says Butensky, who works at a Hebrew day-care center. ``For Latin families who don't have their families with them, it's very important for friends to sit together.''

Juan Dircie, of Jewish Community Services' new Latin American Immigration Program, says some 450 new families in Miami have registered in the last year. But he estimated that thousands more are going directly to temples or friends for orientation and much needed sponsors so they can stay in this country.

OUTREACH PROGRAMS

Temple Menorah in Miami Beach, for example, has hired six Argentines to handle community outreach and started an institute of Latin American Jewish studies to prepare young people for professions in Jewish leadership.

The Jewish Federation of Broward County has helped start Hebraica, a religious and social club for newly arrived Latin Jews who want to meet other families. Many temples have added services in Spanish one night a week to accommodate the new immigrants.

''The majority are professionals, bilingual, very involved in their Jewish communities back home,'' says Dircie. ``In Latin American countries, Jewish education is very strong. They especially emphasize Jewish day school, where the children learn secular studies in the morning and all afternoon is dedicated to Judaic and Hebrew studies.''

Latin American Jews are from both Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions. The Ashkenazi are usually of eastern European descent, as are most American Jews, and the Sephardi are usually descended from Moroccans, Turks, Greeks and Syrians who ended up in Spain -- only to be driven out by the Spanish Inquisition.

The storied migrations of the Jewish people make for a flavorful blending of cultures that have made their way to the Passover table.

MOROCCAN INFLUENCE

Rabbi Abraham Bencaquen was born in Spain, but his grandparents were from Morocco so the leader of Miami Beach's Torad Mosche celebrates the holiday with a table of Moroccan-influenced delights. His congregation is entirely Latin, the majority Cuban.

''In my house, except for the gefilte fish, we eat like you eat in Morocco,'' Bencaquen says.

The rabbi's favorites include spicy Moroccan fish with cilantro, hot dried peppers and lima beans and meatballs with peas, according to his wife, Rachel, who comes from an Ashkenazi Hungarian-Romanian background.

Rachel was born in Israel but lived for many years in Venezuela and Panama.

''Right now, I'm frying some potato latke, which is from the Ashkenazi,'' says the mother of five. ``Many years ago when I met my husband, I started to learn all the Moroccan foods, and now I make the best from both traditions.''

For those recently arrived, Passover fare will be comfort food to ease the longing of being so far from home.

Aventura architect Maya Hager moved here from Ecuador five years ago to attend the University of Miami. Last year her parents joined her, but she says holidays are still just not the same.

''I'm coming from a small Jewish community where everybody knows everybody for generations,'' she says. ``Everybody here is new -- you don't know where they come from. There are so many temples, so many organizations.

``This holiday is going to be weird. It's the first time we won't be with our family in Ecuador or with my mother's family in Israel.''

Colombian Isaac Wancier arrived a year ago to join his brother who had come the year before. He says the situation is so bad in his country it seems no one can find work and the fear of kidnapping is ever looming.

''You just feel unsafe in Colombia,'' says Wancier, who is working for a Broward refinishing products company. ``It's such a beautiful country, and we can't leave the city because you could be kidnapped. Many more Colombians will be coming -- Jewish and non-Jewish.''

Wancier says moving here has not been a panacea, as he has found it hard to make friends and meet a nice woman.

''I'm 36 and desperate. Starting in a new country is very hard,'' he says. Nonetheless, this Passover will be nice -- his mother is visiting for the holiday.

''Now I have my mama for two weeks,'' he says. ``Then, I eat the junk food again.''