Benei Sión, also known as Sabatarios and Cabañistas in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, are an

ethno-religious An ethnoreligious group (or an ethno-religious group) is a grouping of people who are unified by a common religious and ethnic background. Furthermore, the term ethno-religious group, along with ethno-regional and ethno-linguistic groups, is a s ...

group that believe in the Iglesia del Nuevo Pacto (Church of the New Pact).Bargman, Daniel Fernando. 1994
Entre el Cristianismo y el Judaísmo: La Iglesia Israelita del Nuevo Pacto

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one o ...

. The group originated in Chile where it had by 1994 around 6000 members but is present since the early 1950s in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

via

chain migration Chain migration is the social process by which immigrants from a particular area follow others from that area to a particular destination. The destination may be in another country or in a new location within the same country. John S. MacDonal ...

where it had 3000 members by 1994. It has been proposed that the group derives from

Crypto-Jews Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek ''kryptos'' – , 'hidden'). The term is especially applied historically to Sp ...

active in

colonial Chile In Chilean historiography, Colonial Chile ( es, link=no, La colonia) is the period from 1600 to 1810, beginning with the Destruction of the Seven Cities and ending with the onset of the Chilean War of Independence. During this time, the Chilean ...

. While originating in the

Araucanía Region The Araucanía ( ), La Araucanía Region ( es, Región de La Araucanía ) is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions, and comprises two provinces: Malleco in the north and Cautín in the south. Its capital and largest city is Te ...

of Chile the group deny to be

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sha ...

(Araucanian). One leader has been quoted saying "We are Jews and that's how we feel, because we have the same aspirations as the Jewish people".

References

Christianity in Argentina Christianity in Chile Ethnic groups in Argentina Ethnic groups in Chile Groups claiming Jewish descent Jewish Argentine history Jewish Chilean history Jewish Christianity {{Argentina-stub

See also

References