Sarah Brown-Campello
Macabi 1/9/10
Interview with Natalio Furmanski
Macabi is a Jewish country club located roughly one hour by bus from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Macabi is owned by all who possess property there, and each have the same type of house and amount of land. It is possible to be part of this country club and not own a house as well. There are dorm-style rooms available for rent inside the community attached to one of the largest buildings in the club. The club offers fútbol, tennis, a large gym, indoor and outdoor basketball, a few restaurants, a large Olympic size swimming pool, numerous activities for all age groups, and space. The community is gated and walled off from the rest of the town in which Macabi is located in. There is security at all times of the day, keeping watch for the safety of the members.
On Saturday, Janurary 9th, Dickinson interviewed Natalio Furmanski in spanish. He is a Jewish middle-aged athletic man who has been a member of Macabi his whole life. He “grew up” during his vacations at Macabi, and is raising his young family there in the same way. He kept referring back to the wonderful memories and friends he has made at Macabi. As a child, he made all his friends at Macabi, and at his Jewish school, hence all his friends, including now, are Jewish. Jewish organizations have always been important to him, and because he is very involved within them, his friends are predominately Jewish, although this is not his intention.
Natalio Furmanski described the importance of Macabi as socialistic Jewish institution. Everyone is given the chance to be a part of Macabi. Homes can be purchased within the gated Macabi Country Club community. However, each house is the same size, and they are all close together. The size encourages people to live outside their homes, and intermingle with the other members of the community. Natalio states that Macabi is important because it offers the Jewish people a safe place to be among their fellow Jews in a fun environment. This intermingling is very important in the community and is a reoccurring theme throughout the activities and structure that Macabi offers. Natalio stated that the community board strongly discourages gardens so that the moment someone walks out of their home, they may converse with their neighbor. The asados, or outside grills that are built onto the side of the house to cook Argentine meat, also reflect this mentality as they face the asado of the house next to theirs. This means that at dinnertime, two families may be cooking at the same time and eating close by, furthering this desired social interaction. However, if one lacks monetary funds, one can still be a member of Macabi. Macabi has dormitory rooms that sleep up to six people, enough room for most families and a possible friend. He mentioned that while someone at Macabi may have a huge mansion in the city of Buenos Aires, they will have the same size house as everyone else in Macabi. This system leads to few noticeable class distinctions. The manner of dress is also very informal at Macabi, feeding into the idea of an informal social environment. While Natalio Furmanski was told he was doing a formal interview, he was dressed in an athletic black shirt and khaki shorts, fitting in with the rest of the community. This encouraged socializing and informal atmosphere is meant to develop a stronger, more unified Jewish community.
While Natalio spoke of how open the community is, he did mention how everyone was predominantly Jewish. Of the five thousand members of the Macabi country club, seventy percent of them come from an all-Jewish background, whether religious or not. The remaining thirty percent are of mixed marriages, but in most cases, the children are raised Jewish. The importance of having an all-Jewish country club is seen by Natalio’s passion in talking about Macabi. Macabi offers many ways for the Jewish people there to mingle and meet. Activities for all ages are available, from child-day care and games, to tennis matches and Jewish folk dancing. This makes sure that for all ages in life, one can be surround by members of their Jewish community.
Natalio Furmanski did not speak much about religion in Macabi, rather just the secular aspects of having people who are alike and share the same values around each other. On campus, there are few religious symbols or relics. The only religious symbol I observed was the star of David around the pool used as decoration. Other than that, anything “Jewish” was largely secular. Keeping Kosher did not seem like a large priority of the community, as the three restaurants I observed served ham and cheese sandwiches, a popular meal for Argentines. The color scheme is largely white and blue, which recalls Israeli colors, and there was some Hebrew on some signs. The bus to Macabi was also full on Saturday morning, which is still Shabbat, leading me to believe the majority of the community is not largely orthodox or too conservative in any way. The purpose of this community, seem to be more culturally centered, than religiously.
Natalio’s interview was long and passionate. He obviously believes in the importance of the Macabi’s community to the Jewish people, as he has chosen to work here and be the director after being a member of the community his whole life. He is raising his family there, and at one point in the interview, he asked us to stop taping because he was having an emotional moment. Natalio’s interview brought light to the importance a secular Jewish place can have in the larger context of the Jewish community.
