Marshall Meyer - in Argentina

In Argentina

Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer's charisma turned him immediately into an important figure in the Argentine Jewish community. He founded the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano, a rabbinical school that soon became the center of Conservative Judaism in Latin America. In it were ordained dozens of Spanish-speaking rabbis that would serve communities in Argentina, Latin America and the rest of the world.

Rabbi Meyer also founded and led Comunidad Bet El, a congregation that became a model of many other Conservative synagogues both in Argentina and Latin America. The congregation established its own day-school.

During the years of the military regime of 1976-1982, Rabbi Meyer became a strong critic of the military government and its violations of human rights. He worked to save the lives of hundreds of people that were being persecuted by the regime and he visited prisoners in jails. He worked to free the renowned journalist, Jacobo Timerman, who dedicated his book, Prisoner Without A Name, Cell Without A Number, to the rabbi, who "brought solace to Jewish, Christian and atheist prisoners".

In 1983, when democracy returned to Argentina, the newly elected president, Raúl Alfonsín, recognized the work of Rabbi Meyer by bestowing upon him the highest Argentine decoration, Order of the Liberator General San Martín. Rabbi Meyer returned the United States in 1984.