The lethal attack, which left 85 dead and hundreds injured due to the explosion of a car bomb, continues to shock the Jewish community and the entire Argentine society.
By Isaac Sacca
Published by Infobae on July 18, 2024
July 18, 1994 seemed like a day like any other: I got up early and went to work at the Yesod Hadat synagogue, where I served as the Rabbi. I was talking on the phone when, suddenly, the call was disconnected. The chair and the floor vibrated, the ceiling of the office where I was sitting fell on me. Convinced that it was a technical malfunction, I left the office to find out what had happened. Not even in my worst nightmare would I have imagined that it was actually a terrorist attack against the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA).
In the midst of chaos and confusion, with dozens of people who did not know what to do, what had happened or how to help, dust invaded the street. I could recognize my father, who was running covering his head. Seeing him safe and sound gave me strength and a certain degree of lucidity in the midst of despair.
Trying to help, I came across friends and acquaintances who were anxiously searching for their relatives, still not knowing if they were alive or not. I tried to contain them, although I admit that the situation overwhelmed me. Despite my training as a Rabbi, I had never prepared myself for a tragedy of such magnitude.
The toll is known: 85 dead and hundreds injured by the explosion of a car bomb, in a lethal terrorist attack that continues to shock the Jewish community and the entire Argentine society.
A few days after the attack, they asked me to write a reflection on the subject. Still trying to organize my thoughts, I began that note by writing the following: “I see a blank page, full of blood stains that prevent me from expressing my feelings and decide what to write about. About the murderers, or about the victims, about indifference, or about solidarity, about the opportunists, or about those who reflect and plan about death or life. I don’t have the strength to talk about what happened, about the past, but I do have to talk about the future.”
From one moment to the next, the world was turned upside down: everything we had known was called into question; certainties were transformed into doubts. Faced with an extreme situation, naturally desperation, helplessness and anguish took over many people. Others found, in the midst of so much affliction and anxiety, the inner strength and courage to overcome pain, face difficulties and begin the long path of seeking justice, renewing ties of solidarity and striving for peace. These people were inspired, perhaps without realizing it, by an ancestral and sublime value of the Hebrew tradition: hope. Looking forward and building a better future from a present that may seem devastating is an attitude rooted in an ancient tradition that changes our perception of reality.
Today, 30 years after that terrible attack, while we reaffirm that truth and justice are essential values for society, it is also essential to build the future, having learned from the past: what world do we want to bequeath to our children? A world of discord, division and violence or a world of solidarity, mutual respect and tolerance? In the face of hatred and indifference, we must seek strategies for peace with honesty and righteousness. Humanity is at a crossroads and we ought to become aware: we must continue to vindicate the values of ‘love our neighbor’, freedom, justice and peace. We may not achieve it alone; however, if everyone does their part, it can stop being a utopia and become a reality. All good people have to unite. A classic Jewish text, Pirkei Avot, refers to this: “It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it” (2:16).
Let us forge an alliance and make a commitment: let us renew solidarity and strive for an ideal world of peace and harmony.
Source: https://www.infobae.com/opinion/2024/07/18/30-anos-del-atentado-terrorista-contra-argentina/
