From March 14-22, 2010, 25 students from Hillels at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Houston, and the University of North Texas volunteered with the Jewish communities of Buenos Aires and Basavilbaso, Argentina.

Take a minute to imagine. The center for Jewish life in your community is full of people, young and old, students and professionals, on the first day of the winter break. People are going about their lives as usual, gathering with friends, taking care of business, discussing the weather. Picture these people. Your friends, family, the new guy you think goes to your synagogue, the community children, all gathered together at the most prominent Jewish center in your community. How happy and lively they are! How lucky are you to be standing here, in this beautiful Jewish center, the gathering place of the community? Then the last thing you imagine happens. A van, packed with explosives, comes careening into the side of the building, instantly killing 85 community members, and wounding 300 more. The community members, your friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers, which were so full of life and vigor a minute ago, now lay motionless in the rubble of the iconic building of the Jewish community.

Take a minute to imagine. For the people of Buenos Aires, this is not a nightmare, but a gruesome memory. On July 18, 1994, the Jewish community laid witness to the horrifying attack that led to the most Jewish deaths in a single location since the holocaust – the attack on the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) building.

Like you, they had no reason to be scared. Like you, they would have said, “This could NEVER happen to us.” Yesterday we remembered those 85 victims, because sometimes the impossible happens. We observed a plaque of names commemorating the lost lives. We stared in awe at the beautiful piece of art in the middle of the AMIA plaza, which displays a different image associated with the Argentine Jewish community, changing images as we walked around it. We left candles beneath the plaque of names as we performed a memorial ceremony for the victims. We realized there was no difference between the Argentine Jewish community and our own. We remembered the victims, people we never met, but people we could relate to. This could have been our communities; our friends, our families, us. Take a minute to imagine. Take a minute to remember.

~Zach Spiegel

The Monument to the Memory of the Victims of the Terrorist Attack on AMIA was designed by Yaacov Agam, a world-renowned Israeli plastic artist. Pictures from the group’s visit to the memorial can be found below.

Previous posts from Texas Hillels in Argentina: First Day in Argentina | Comunidad pequena, corazon grande! | L’dor Vador– “From Generation to Generation” | Pictures from our Service in Basavilbaso!

From March 14-22, 2010, 25 students from Hillels at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Houston, and the University of North Texas volunteered with the Jewish communities of Buenos Aires and Basavilbaso, Argentina.