New Shavei Israel emissary to Chile: a real rocket scientist
Rabbi Avraham Israel Latapiat
It’s not every day that Shavei Israel hires a rocket scientist. But our newest emissary, Rabbi Avraham Israel Latapiat, has a resume that could take him to the moon. For now, though, he will be serving a more terrestrial community: the Bnei Anousim of Santiago, Chile.
Originally from Chile himself, Rabbi Latapiat obtained his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently served as a professor in the Central University of Venezuela where he co-founded the “Knowing in Freedom” program, which is attached to the faculties of medicine, economics and social sciences. He is a member of the American Mathematical Society and has published widely on astrophysics, including via the Astrophysics Center of NASA and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Moving from math to mishna, Rabbi Latapiat received his rabbinic ordination from Israel’s Pirchei Shoshanim Yeshiva. He established a kollel (a yeshiva for married men) called HaOr HaKodesh in Caracas, Venezuela, before moving back to Chile, where he lives now with his wife. He is an active member of Chile’s Kollel Hazon Ish, is the South American representative for Machon Anousim, and is director of projects for the Ta’am Kosher certification agency. He is also president of CEDIH, an organization whose aim is “to bring man to the study of Torah.”
Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund flew to Chile in December 2013, where he visited Kehilat Yosef Chaim, a community of 35 Bnei Anousim in Santiago, many of whom have been practicing Judaism for over a decade.
The Bnei Anousim, who have their own synagogue, became close with the local Jewish community’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Moshe Nachimovsky, who in turn contacted Shavei Israel. Since then, Rabbi Nachimovsky and Rabbi Elisha Salas, Shavei Israel’s emissary to Portugal (who is originally from Chile), have stayed in touch with the community.
When Rabbi Latapiat returned to Santiago, he expressed an interest in working with the Bnei Anousim community on a more regular basis. Rabbi Nachimovsky agreed and now both Rabbi Latapiat and his wife have begun visiting and teaching classes to the Bnei Anousim.
Hidden Jews (or Conversos) fleeing the Inquisition first arrived in Chile along with the Spanish explorers in the 16th century. However, the Inquisition followed them and most continued to keep their Jewish identity a secret. Persecution of Conversos only ceased when the country gained formal independence from Spain in 1818. The Bnei Anousim in Chile today, whose exact numbers are not known, are thus direct descendants of this painful chapter in Jewish history.
There are approximately 15,000 Jews in Chile today; 12,500 of them live in the capital Santiago.
Please join us in welcoming Rabbi Latapiat to his new position in Chile!