Los judios de Las Acacias

«The Jews of Las Acacias» establishes Rebeca Mactas as a founding author of Jewish-Argentine literature, with a particular focus on documenting theáárole of women in the agricultural colonization promoted by the Jewish Colonization Association created by businessman, banker and philanthropist Mauricio de Hirsch, among whose initialáápioneers was Mordejai Alpersohn, the grandfather of Mactas.A remarkable element of Mactas',s stories is the feminineááperspective from which they are narrated, whichááunderscoresááthe obligatory hard work and compulsory secondary roles of women amidst a rigid patriarchal tradition.These works are not mere tales , as they also include prefatory poems thatááintroduce central themes, such as the ideals of the Haskalah movement, or «Jewish Enlightenment», with its search to revitalize theááJewish spirit throughááa renewed contact with the land. The characters in Las Acacias share the telluricááenvironment of Alberto Gerchunoff',s «The Jewish Gauchos of the Pampas», but the life of these colonists is not portrayed as overly bucolic.ááWhile nature is hostile and strange to them,ááthe characters exhibit a reverent, respectful attitude toward it as well as an endearing love.