On Tuesday, October 9, the brand new Union of Jewish Youth of Argentina (UJJA) held its first event in Buenos Aires.
UJJA was able to organize the first debate ever between the candidates for the presidency of DAIA (Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas) which is the institution in charge of the political representation of the Jewish Community in Argentina.
The UJJA was created to bring to the table the topics that have remained unspoken about and to deal with the issues that impact the lives of young Jews and the community as a whole, giving a platform for increased participation of young people and for their voices to be heard.
Unfortunately, one of the candidates decided not to attend the debate due to ongoing discussion within his own party, which still hasn’t confirmed its final list of candidates. This reinforced UJJA’s message, that urgent renewal of the community’s leadership is needed, through youth empowerment, to overcome the chronic difficulties and challenges that community institutions face.
In the end, Matías Sakkal, President of UJJA had a very interesting conversation with Leonardo Jmelnitzky, currently the only confirmed candidate for the presidency of DAIA.
He shared his thoughts on the current state and challenges of the community, the electoral process, the relationship between the community and Israel and about the role of women and young people throughout our institutions.
UJJA is committed to bringing together all voices and opinions to discuss how to improve our community and to deal with the difficulties that we face through dialogue and unity. We hope that this new project can grow into something that can contribute to empowering young people from all over our country, reinforcing their Jewish identity and their involvement in the community’s issues.