Argentina

More than fifty years before the first Jewish settlers arrived on the shores of Manhattan in 1654, there were already Jewish people in the Southern Hemisphere. Today, the Jews of Latin America reside mainly in Argentina (250,000) and Brazil (130,000).

A wave of Jewish refugees fled to Argentina before and after World War II. Emanuel Lichtenstein, who served with Chosen People Ministries (then the American Board of Missions to the Jews) in Vienna, helped his fellow Jewish refugees after he came to Argentina in 1942.

In the 1960s, Victor Sedaca, an Argentinian Jewish believer, established the Beth Sar Shalom Center in Buenos Aires. Sedaca emphasized reaching out to the Jewish people of Argentina. Roberto Passo joined the Mission in 1982 and served for twenty years. Under his tenure, the work continued to expand its sphere of influence.

Chosen People Ministries has two fully functioning outreach centers and a Messianic Jewish congregation called Derech Ha Emuna. Through these facilities, we oversee a Bible institute, hold services, and host Israeli travelers.

Although Buenos Aires is the center of Jewish life in Argentina, there are also Jewish communities in several other cities. Groups of volunteers serve as a bridge between the ministry center in Buenos Aires and other Jewish communities across the country by bringing special gospel-related activities to other cities in Argentina and throughout Latin America on a regular basis.