The Southern Jewish Weekly

By Ethel "Teddy" Moscovitz

Sometimes things aren't what they seem to be at all. It is just what people suppose them to be. For instance: the things our guide told us in Mexico.

"How many Jews in Mexico, Manuel?"

"Oh, senorita - at least a million." (In Mexico you are not called "Senora" unless you are visibly on the brink of the grave ... )

"A million, Manuel? At least!"

You see, it just seems that way to Manuel.

The Central Committee of Mexican Jews reports that there are 30,000 Jews in Mexico ...

I asked a community worker ...

"In Mexico City there are 20,000 ... In the whole country there are five thousand more ... 25,000 all counted"

Well, over five thousand we won't quibble But you see what I mean

"When did the Jews first come to Mexico, Manuel?"

"Ah, Senorita ..." And then came out one of the most exciting legends we have found in all our travels, for it might very well be that the man who is regarded in Indian and Mexican mythology as the father of Mexican civilization might have been a Jew ...

It is not a story which comes from the mind of Manuel ... It is evident in signs all over Mexico.

We were very much surprised to see on the doorposts of many Mexican peasant homes the sign of the Mogen Dovid ...

When we were taken to the famed pyramids not far from Mexico City the sign was pointed out to us again ... This time the star shared station on the rocks of the pyramids with the seven branched candelabra, another symbol of the ancient Jews, and one which was still visible here in the crumbling stones ...

The six-pointed star and the seven-branched candelabra were signs associated with the legendary figure of Quetzacoatal ...

Whence Quetzacoatal came no one knows ... He could have been a ship-wreck victim, or a visitor from the sunken continent of Atlantis ... Quetzacoatal is said to have been a white man with white hair and a long white beard ...

He taught the Indians many things such as cultivation of the soil, science and the arts ... He also convinced them to cease human sacrifice ... More than anything, he taught them how to utilize the cactus plant for food, clothing and protection

It is noteworthy that a Palestinian or Egyptian would be familiar with the usefulness of the cactus ...

Hence the story that Quetzacoatal might have been of Jewish origin ...

The end of legendary Quetzacoatal's life sounds very Jewish, too ...

The Toltec priests became fearful of the rising esteem and respect that the people felt for the person of Quetzacoatal ... The wicked priests arranged a feast at which they got him drunk and disgraced him ...

Quetzacoatal then left the Toltecs; however, his figure appears again in the stories of other Indian tribes ... And today he is a part of Mexican folklore ...

"All right, Manuel, so who really knows when the Jews first came to Mexico ... What of the Jews today?"

I decided that Manuel with his estimate of a million wasn't for me, so I sought out my own sources ... This turned out to be Meir Corona, noted Yiddish journalist and librarian of the Jewish Sports Club, a delightful person.

The Sports Club of Mexico City Jews is the talk of every visitor to that beautiful Capital ...

"Please, Mrs. Moscovitz, this is not a sports club of Jews ... This (Continued on Page 5)
MUSINGS

(Continued from Page 4)
is a Jewish Sports Club . . . Let me tell you the difference . . .
Mr. Corona is persuasive . . . He need not be . . . The answer is all around him in the magnificent library, the art exhibit outside the library door, the posters of concerts and coming events of cultural activities exhibited throughout the club building . . .
This is the way Jews, not sportsmen, express themselves . . .
That Mexican Jews are sportsmen, too, was exhibited in the huge swimming pool, the tennis courts, bowling alleys and Jai Lai court of which the Club boasts . . .
The Club is a magnificent building in Mexico City's fashionable Chapultapec Heights . . . It is luxuriously furnished with a tremendous dining room which is used on special occasions, a snack bar and lunch room, card rooms, a cinema, lecture and meeting rooms . . . Yet, the building is not ostentatious . . .
Membership to the club is determined upon the means of the individual . . . The building was erected through contributions of interested families . . . The membership boasts that here is the one place that Jews of all ages can mix and find common outlets . . .
"This is a wonderful expression of the Mexican Jew . . . " or so it would seem . . .

However, there are actually three Jewish communities in Mexico City: The Sephardic, the European, and what was described to me by the others as "Arab Jews" . . . The three groups do not mix or inter-marry.
The Sephardic Jews speak Spanish and Hebrew . . . The Jews of European extraction speak Yiddish along with the other two languages . . .
I must report that I did not meet the "Arab Jews".
Perhaps the one thing in which these people are united is in their Zionist devotion.
Mr. Corona reminded me that percentage-wise Mexico City Jews contribute (perhaps) ten times as much money to Israel as do Jews from the United States . . .
Ninety-percent of Mexico's Jews belong to Zionist organizations . . . B'nai B'rith seems to be something "for the elite" alone.
The Sports Club is an expression of the European Jewish community, which seems to be the dominant group . . . For information on the "inside" of how this group functions I am indebted to Roz Soltz (Mrs. Gerald) of Miami . . . The Soltzes were our traveling companions . . .
Roz unearthed a long lost girlfriend or two in Mexico City . . .
An active Hadassah and B'nai B'rith Women figure, the untiring organization worker took time off from vacationing to attend the WIZO meeting . . . The lady has my unlimited respect and appreciation
for a comprehensive coverage on the life of an average Mexican-Jewish woman.
This I leave for next week, together with an interview with lovable Meir Corona of the Jewish Sports Club . . .