OT: Jewish Gaucho story

Sometimes stories that seem to be oxymorons crop up, like the Jamaican bobsled

team. This pictorial story caught my eye, on Jewish gauchos in Argentina:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/americas_jewish_gaucho/html/1.stm

It's not an oxymoron to me. My grandfather was a Jewish gaucho, although he later became a store-keeper, a "more traditional" occupation for Jews who moved to the New World. My parents immigrated to the U.S., but my mom, who was a high school teacher, was always telling stories about rural Argentina. Argentina is a melting pot, although not to the extent that the United States is. There were immigrants from Italy, France, the U.K., Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East, as well as the neighboring countries. Argentina lacks much of an African-Argentine culture, because their numbers were so small that they got absorbed. Argentina abolished the slave trade in 1813.

*** read carefully this is VERY positive***

the political climate in europe during the middle ages prevented jewish people from, many occupations.

In a way this led to many jewish famiies to place more importance on education. and the highly skilled trades.

indirectly this yielded many jewish doctors, lawyers, musicians, & scientists,

and other people important to advances of all sorts.

 

there is a list of 50 people that anti-semites should look at.

 

for example: Jonas Salk ( meaning and implying if you are predudiced, you should not give your children the polio vaccine)

as well as other similar examples.

 

by the way I am not jewish, But am aware, That possibly because of those retrictions directed Jewish people toward the more Thoughtful rather than physical occupations.

people who have contributed mightly to progress and human welfare- as well as the invention of Kodachrome.

Walter's right, in addition there were strictures on Jewish land owning in a number of Christian countries, so Jewish farmers and ranchers were always a small number

A charming story. When you're in love, the whole world is Jewish.

Thanks for widening my world a bit. When I thought of Latin America, the thought of Jewish gouchos, or Jewish communities, did not occur to me.