Source: JTA
The World Union for Progressive Judaism will be gathering in Buenos Aires, Argentina for the fourth Conference of the Jewish Communities of Latin America on Aug. 8-12, 2012. The Mishkan Jewish Spirituality Center will host the event for an umbrella group of 1,200 Progressive, Liberal and Reconstructionist congregations in 45 countries representing 1.8 million people.
Rabbi Stephen Fuchs, president of the Union for Progressive Judaism, is scheduled to attend the conference, as well as Jack Terpins, president of the Latin American Jewish Congress; Dr. David Breakstone, vice chairman of the World Zionist Organization; Rabbi Michael Marmur, vice president of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute in Jerusalem; and Miriam Vasserman, a leader of the Israelite Paulista Congregation in Sao Paulo, Brazil, among others.
The agenda include topics such as “Connecting youth and adults to the State of Israel"; “Combating anti-Israel bias"; “Conversions and Anusim"; “Varieties of Progressive traditions around the world"; and “Assimilation, Intermarriage, Changes in the Jewish Family -- what congregations can do to ensure Jewish continuity.”
On a local note, other topics to be explored include “Populism and Anti-Semitism in Latin America"; “Rabbinic training in South America"; and “Conversions performed by rabbis from other regions.”