As `Amerikaners', we lived without family to invite over or be invited to, but we were the natural address for every drop- in that arrived to the country and was slightly connected to family or acquaintances from back home. This is how I came to host a Seder with thirteen people for the two days of Yom Tov -- three weeks after having given birth. I understood that this was my challenge in life as an immigrant.

About a hundred and eleven years ago, in 5649 (1889), a group of 136 Jewish families left Europe to try to build a better life farming in the vast undeveloped areas of Argentina in South America. They were the first of thousands more that arrived over the next 20 years in Argentina propelled by the vision of Baron Maurice Hirsch and ejected by the terrible conditions they suffered under the Eastern European governments.

It was the middle of a long hot summer. Each day the sun blazed down from the bright blue sky and the sizzling air didn't stir. Miriam longed to get away for a short holiday to the sea, but sadly, she knew it would not be possible this year. The local girls' school where she taught English did not pay its staff over the summer and recent large dental bills had wiped out all vacation plans.