Angry Youth: Argentine Sephardi Communities and the ‘Problem’ of the Young, 1960s-1970s

Adriana Brodsky at UC Berkeley, November 10, 2025.

This talk centers on what many described as the “problem of our youth” among Argentine Sephardim in the years post Cuban Revolution. Youth had been a source of worry for Argentine Jewish community leaders since the 1940s. Then, the problem was the threat of assimilation and a perceived lack of involvement in Jewish communal life. During these later decades, on the other hand, the politicization of many of the young resulted in open confrontations with Jewish community leaders over communal policy and objectives. While in the 1940s youth had not been involved enough, in the 1960s they demanded that their voices be heard. The presentation converses with existing works on Jewish youth (both in Argentina and in the US) and on youth in general in Latin America, but it focuses on Sephardim (minority groups within the larger Ashkenazi community), whose experiences have not received much attention. Dr. Brodsky will outline the main issues raised by Sephardi community leaders as they interacted with and complained about young Sephardim, while also detailing the ideology and actions of members of these Sephardi youth groups. Jewish community leaders had sought the involvement of the youth, but once youth responded to the call to be involved, many were met with dissent and criticism.

Dr. Adriana M Brodsky is Professor of History at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, where she teaches Latin American and Jewish History. Her book Sephardi, Jewish, Argentine: Creating Community and National Identity, 1880-1960, appeared in 2016, and she has co-edited with Raanan Rein The New Jewish Argentina: Facets of Jewish Experiences in the Southern Cone (winner of 2013 LAJSA Best Book Award). Her most recent publication is a co-edited volume called Jews Across the Americas (with Laura Leibman). She has written numerous articles and book chapters on Sephardi food, schools, beauty contests, and Latin American Jewish History in general. She is currently finishing a manuscript on Argentine Sephardi Youth (1940s-1970s). She is co-President of the Latin American Jewish Studies Association (LAJSA).