casa--> hogar y ledor vador / house --> home & generation to generation

Liliana's patio looks so nice!

I had the pleasure of spending the past week with a JDC Entwine college trip from Cornell University. We spent the first few days in Rosario, Argentina getting to know the Jewish community of Rosario and painting the apartments of residents. These were the same apartments I was at with the UVa group that came a few weeks ago so it was really great getting to see what they had painted now being used by residents. For example, Liliana's patio now houses beautiful plants...it's amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do! Aside from painting we also visited many of the other Jewish institutions in Rosario including the Kehilah, Bialik School, USAR, and Beit Scopus.

When we finished painting we had the opportunity for a ceremony where we put up mezuzahs on three of the apartments. The residents of two of the apartments were there to put them up with us while the third was put up on an apartment that is currently uninhabited. This led the group to a fruitful discussion where some were saying they were upset they didn't know the residents that would be living in the third apartment and others bringing up the Jewish values around anonymous giving and how painting a house and putting a mezuzah up for an anonymous family is just as if not more valued in some cases. I personally appreciated that for some of the apartments we got to see the resident's pure joy on their faces about having a mezuzah on their door while the third we might not ever see but we know when they enter their house for the first time and see the mezuzah, there will hopefully be an innate feeling of comfort and feeling of home. This led us to talk about how the pure act of putting up a mezuzah really changes the house (casa) into a home (hogar). I know when I first entered my apartment in Buenos Aires and saw a mezuzah on the door I felt at ease and knew I was moving into a home. 

Manie, 100 years young at Ledor Vador

Gangam style performed by elderly at AMIA

The rest of the week was spent in Buenos Aires where the group got to know a much bigger Jewish community. Friday was spent first at a school playing with children, then at an elderly home, taking part in an elderly modern dancing class (they performed Gangam style for us), and Shabbat with a young professional Jewish minyon. I loved the aspect of Ledor Vador (Hebrew for generation to generation) this day brought as we worked and met with people from all different generations. I even got to see my friend Manie again who is 100 years old and when asked what her secret for living a century is, she replied by putting a finger to her lips and saying "its a secret, I can't tell you". I love spending time with the JDC Entwine trips that come, as I said when the UVa trip came, its wonderful seeing the Argentina Jewish communities through their eyes.

Thank you JDC Entwine and Hillel at Cornell University for letting me share this experience with you!