Pesach in Argentina

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April 30th 2008

Published: June 15th 2008

Pesach started Saturday night and Ilana showed up at my house right on time at about 8:00. She had just come from a Boca Juniors soccer game. We drank a little wine to get in the holiday spirit, and headed over to the Jabad on El Lazo literally right around the corner from my house. We walked inside and up the stairs. Entering into the seder hall, I dumbly held the valuable entry tickets in my hand as I realized that there was nobody there to take them. The room looked pretty full, and we sat down at the only table that seemed to be full of people our age. As I started up a couple conversations in Spanish, I quickly realized that our tablemates were half Israelis and half American. Our dominant conversation language quickly switched to English. Almost everyone was just passing through Buenos Aires on their various trips, but one American girl and one Israeli were living in Buenos Aires. The seder got started just before 9 and ended at about 2 AM. The best part was the company at our table...we had a good time getting to know each other. The food was pretty decent also, but the actual seder could have been more interesting. The rabbi and his male family hung out up front and led the whole service. His younger son led a flawless rendition of the four questions although it sounded a little too mechanical in a reading voice, rather than sung.

During the dinner portion of the seder, the rabbi was making his rounds to all the tables and as he made his way to ours, I wondered what he would say. I waited no longer. After a few quick introductions, he decided to make a group statement to the men at the table. It went something like this: "I want only two things from you. Marry a Jew and marry a woman. Failing to do either of these are equal." Hence, it is the same in his eyes to marry a non-jew as it would be to marry a man. Hence, they would both make you equally de-jewified in the eyes of this Jabad Rabino. I was a little astonished at actually hearing this philosophy out loud and it left me with a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth.

As dinner wound down, most people took off for the rest of their evening, and I ended up being one of the last few people to leave. My new friend, Dana was talking with a swinger-looking-couple who may have been in their 30s when we exchanged contact info. They were planning on finding a low-key boliche, while my plan had been to go to a porteño costume party that I had heard about at my program dinner the week before. I really felt like keeping it low key, so declined the boliche offer (which sounded more like a wild goose chase for the perfect boliche) and headed home. I didn't even end up going to the costume party - just chillaxed for a bit with Ilana and then passed out.

I had set up with Nacho (from Almas Mugrientas) to go to a soccer game on Sunday, so I got up at 11 and tried to make my way out there. Nacho and I had planned to meet at 1:00 and he called me shortly after I woke up (around 11:15) asking if I could get there by 12. Aight, Nacho cheese - I'm not fucking superman...even in a taxi it would be almost impossible. I went to Webster Schlebster's house and picked him up. Then, we took the Subte to Nacho's place and from there Nacho drove his newly purchased vehicle to la cancha de Argentinos Juniors. Nacho is a diehard San Lorenzo fan so we were on the side of the away team and even for this relatively low profile game, the cancha (stadium) was packed! We had supposedly met up with Nacho's brother outside but I never met him due to the fast-paced massive crowds. La Hincha (fan base) de San Lorenzo was present in full force (possibly even moreso than the home team, Argentinos Juniors).

During the game, I had to check my surroundings to make sure I had actually come to a soccer game and not a broadway production. Some of those professional soccer players are pretty good at faking injuries/fouls! Some of them were actually real though...two players were carried off in stretchers during the game (no deaths). The stands are separated from the field by a very high barbed wire fence. Fans were hanging up signs on the fence while stepping (not always so carefully) on the barbs...

The game was 1-1 by halftime and the Argentinos goal was scored on a penalty kick. It ended up 2-1 with a last minute goal by Argentinos. The most noticeable aspect of the game as far as differences in how Latin Americans watch a sports event is in the way they cheer on the teams. Instead of cheering that San Lorenzo made a great play/save...they would just yell horrible things at the other team for even thinking of coming close to scoring. "Putos!!!!!".... "....la puta que te parrió!". Also, in addition to the pep band, the crowd barely goes a silent minute as they cheer their tens of prideful chants...I can't believe they have so many and everyone knows them all! By the end I was even getting in on the singing after having heard a couple of the same ones over and over. It wasn't the most interesting soccer game, but it was my first soccer game...a milestone for my trip here.

After the soccer game, I got back into the pesach mood for the 2nd night seder. Ilana and I went to Hillel this time - see if there were any noticeable differences in the two seder styles. How could there not be, right?

The Buenos Aires Hillel is in Belgrano and I got there about 30 minutes late, but there was still about another 30 minutes before they started the seder (Jewish Standard Time + Argentina Standard Time = JST * 2) - A very scientific equation. There was about 40 people there...at least 30 of which were American. There turned out to be three girls from my program there who I hadn't talked to ahead of time. My table turned out to be the most international table there! There was a guy from England who had been in Buenos Aires for only a week trying to learn Spanish, a couple from the US, and a few Argentine men who do various things for Hillel. The Hillel house has a huge backyard and it was so hot inside I wondered why they hadn't decided to hold the seder outside...I would have even sat outside alone (maybe). They even have a pool in the backyard (although it wasn't full). I guess a pool without water is just a hole.

The food was better at Chabad. I'm not sure what I ate at Hillel, but the chicken was somehow injected with filling and rolled up. It wasn't bad...but I prefer the task of taking the meat off the bone (if for nothing else than to know where it came from). I spent the whole hillel seder trying to decide about two substances on the seder plate. One was charoset and the other horseradish. The problem was that I couldn't tell, by look smell or taste. I never did figure it out...

The seder itself was better at Hillel (for me). It was smaller, more personal, and the tables were organized in a way that I felt much more a part of the seder (or at least that I had the opportunity to be). Unlike the 5-hour Chabad extravaganza, the hillel seder lasted about 3 hours (including shmooze time!). I had a good time, but quickly realized that pesach was my weekend and whatever classwork I hadn't done was creeping up on my monday!

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