Tijuana Jews , documentary by Isaac Artenstein, 2005, English and Spanish with English subtitles, color, 52 minutes

By Donald H. Harrison

Each Jewish community should be as lucky as Tijuana, Mexico's, and have an Isaac Artenstein to document 
its history.  Unfortunately, too few Jewish communities give their histories sufficient attention, resulting in the tales of their founding and growth often being  half-forgotten or ill-remembered.

Artenstein grew up Jewish in Tijuana, and after going to film school at UCLA, he decided to use his craft to tell a story that continues to surprise people who live outside the San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan area.  Yes, there really are Jews in Tijuana, and they have been there since the 1920s when the Prohibition era in the United States made the border city with free flowing alcohol a magnet for tourists and Hollywood celebrities alike.

In Artenstein's film, we meet Shirley Swed, whose husband Jack was acknowledged to be the founder of the community. A Sephardic Jew hailing from Syria, he imported French perfumes that the Hollywood crowd—and people who wanted to be just like them—could purchase near Tijuana's watering holes on the Avenida de la Revolución.

Those were the days when horses raced at Caliente, gamblers enjoyed a casino that long since has been converted to a school, jai alai still was played in its own sports palace, and a dancer by the name of Margarita Cansino wowed the visitors. Once, Mrs. Swed recalled, a certain ill-mannered man failed to treat  the beautiful performer with respect,  so Jack stepped in and admonished him.  "She is just a dancer," said the man.  "She is a lady," insisted Jack. Eventually, the lady went to Hollywood where Margarita became known as Rita—Rita Hayworth, that is.

Following the Roaring 20's, Mexican society reflected some of the stresses caused by the Depression and the march of fascism and nazism across Europe.  Some leading Mexican families in Tijuana participated in anti-Semitic political demonstrations during the 1930s, from which, in some cases, they later repented.  A  member of one such family, who originally denounced Jews, later became the sponsor of the first Jews to be accepted into Los  Charros, an elite society built on the legends and  feats of the Mexican cowboys known as vaqueros.

The 1940s brought World War II, heightening San Diego's development as a military homeport.  When the sailors went on liberty, often they would go to Tijuana where anything a sailor's heart desired—most particularly liquor and sexual favors—could be found on Avenida de la Revolución.  Although its "naughty" image fueled the Tijuana economy during these times, other businesses fulfilled more socially acceptable needs.. More and more Jewish entrepreneurs made their way from Mexico City and other communities of southern Mexico to this city on the northern frontier.

Although Swed came originally from Syria, the Tijuana Jewish community that he founded drew members from both the Sephardic and Ashkenazic world, with many of the latter being refugees from Hitler's Europe. Marriages combining these two streams of Judaism were  common, and initially, despite the differences in their prayer styles, Sephardim and Ashkenazim worshiped together at Congregation Maguen David, which began in Swed's living room.

However, for some the differences in ritual proved insurmountable.  A second congregation, Hatikvah, was founded by Nathan Golden and other Ashkenazim.  The two groups later were reunified, but in the interim staging simchas required some imaginative diplomacy.  Artenstein's own parents solved the problem by having their wedding ceremony performed at Maguen David and then holding their reception at Hatikvah.

Another Sephardic and Ashkenazic family was that of  José and Ana Galicot, pillars of the current Tijuana-San Diego community.  "Janche" as Ana is known to her Mexican friends (She spells it "Hanche" for her American friends) recalled how tense her first meeting was with Galicot's mother, Maty, because of Ana being of Lithuanian (Ashkenazic) background.  However, "after a few days we were the best of friends."  She later became the Hebrew teacher at Hatikvah, with students like Gregorio Goldstein growing up to become leaders of the community in their own right.

Golden—who owned the upscale "Frenchy's" Night Club and was a friend to celebrities and politicians from both sides of the border—became the president of the Tijuana Jewish Community after the Sephardim and Ashkenazim decided to unify.  Eventually, the combined community constructed the Centro Social Israelita.  In the courtyard of that building are statues of Moses and Benito Juarez, two liberators.  A small scale version of Mexico City's well known sports club, the Centro boasts a swimming pool, tennis courts, banquet facilities, meeting rooms and a synagogue. However, It took a while for the Centro to get its own clergyman.  Rabbi Monroe Levens of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego officiated at filmmaker Artenstein's bar mitzvah.

After Golden came Max Weinstock who led the community in the 1960s.. Weinstock brought Cantor Max Furmansky from Argentina to lead the congregation—notwithstanding the fear of Furmansky's family and friends in Buenos Aires that Tijuana was somewhere near the end of the earth.  When youngsters told Furmansky they didn't understand all the Hebrew prayers of the Shabbat services, he acquired from Argentina prayer books containing both Hebrew and Spanish.

A dynamo, Furmansky also helped to organize camping programs for the Jewish youth—programs that Janche Galicot remembers were purposefully opened to non-Jewish children so that they and their families could learn first hand that Jews were just like anyone else.

Life in the United States had its attractions to the children and grandchildren of the Tijuana Jewish community, whether that be the surfing along at San Diego county beaches or attending reputedly superior schools.  Pregnant women would fake nonchalance as they crossed the border so that U.S. Immigration officers wouldn't notice they were on the verge of giving birth to future U.S. citizens.  

As the younger generation became more and more oriented to the United States, the older generation realized that if Tijuana Jews were to stay together as a community, some sort of facility was needed on the U.S. side.  Accordingly, they built the Ken Jewish Center, "ken" a Hebrew word meaning "nest."  This enabled parents who had participated in children's programs at the Ken in Tijuana  to see their children become counselors on the American side.

The families remained loyal to the Centro Social Israelita, often spending long weekends on the Mexican side of the border in celebration of community simchas. Furmansky, like many of his congregants, moved to the United States, but after a lull, Rabbi Mendel Polichenco, an Argentine affiliated with the Lubavitcher movement, was retained to serve as rabbi, teacher and mentor.  Polichenco serves the Tijuana community to the present.

Artenstein completed his documentary with interviews at a Ken Jewish Community gathering in which members of the Tijuana community speak of their various identities: Jewish, Ashkenazic, Sephardic, Mexican, Latino, American—exciting examples of individuals assimilating a variety of cultures.  The documentary left unexamined another Jewish congregation that has been formed in Tijuana, the Congregacion Hebrea de Baja California, most of whose members like their teacher, Carlos Salas-Diaz, have become Jews by choice.