Agustin Araujo is President of the community of Inca Jews in Cajamarca,
nearly 200 miles and 8,000 feet of elevation into the Andes from Peru’s
northern coast. Because the isolated Cajamarca community had difficulty
accessing any established Jewish entity, its members were forced to
improvise. Every year during the High Holidays, Agustin blows the shofar he
made by hand. Though one restaurant-owning family in the community donated
funds to build a synagogue, the Inca Jews still must use a miniature Torah
sent by relatives who emigrated to Israel over a decade ago.
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